Planting the Garden

We planted our garden a week ago and are so excited to watch it grow! As you can see, we started from scratch on our new lot. We cleared about a 35' x15' area of our back/side yard and tilled in a couple inches of composted mink manure. We will continue to amend the soil each year, but that in itself made it so much richer! It also helped that we raked out mounds and mounds of rocks.

At the front we made 7 rows for planting seeds. In order from front to back, they are peas (half sugar, half snap), radishes, carrots, beets, bush beans, lettuce mix, and spinach.

I planted my peas and radishes about 3 weeks ago so we are starting to see those seeds sprout. I am always amazed by the miracle of life!

I bought some adorable vintage spoon garden markers for my mom this year (here on etsy) and I am wishing I had some of my own. Gardens can be decorated too, right? In fact someday we would love to beautify this area greatly by adding split-rail fencing, trellises for climbing flowers and grapes, and stepping stones for easier access.

We also bought and planted all of our starts. We made it a family affair and Maddie loved helping plant the basil, sweet peppers, and jalapenos.

I love baby plants. Let's document here how small they start and then I'll take pictures as they get gargantuan. Above is a tiny cucumber and below are the zucchini and yellow crookneck. They look so small and innocent right now... you just wait.



We transplanted 3 strawberries from our old house for sentimental purposes, and added one new one to make a small row.

We also planted these small onions, 6 tomatoes (Early Girl, Better Boy, Champion, and Jet Star), pumpkins, and cantaloupe. There is room at the back for more, but I think we'll start small this year and see if we can keep up!

It has been raining buckets all week so it's been nice to not have to water the new seeds. I was almost afraid they would wash away... the rows were almost submerged at one point... but I think the rain was good for establishing things. Now we just need some sunshine!