Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Our Garden

Now that we have a yard big enough, we wanted to plant a garden this year.  With a suggestion from Gramps, we decided to use the square foot gardening method.  It's actually pretty easy and the book has great ideas about gardening, watering, composting, etc. 

 Here are Daddy & Lola making some measurements for the raised beds.  We made a 2x2 bed for the kids, & a larger 4x4 bed for the family.  


 Brantley was a mess on this particular afternoon.  He did a little more playing rather than helping...

 Sweet Lola Bear

Helping Daddy put the beds together.

 Being a complete mess.

 Lola helped measure the slats, she loved using the pencil to make marks. She had the pencil & sharpener on stand-by for when Daddy was ready.

 Getting rid of the grass inside the bed.

 Installing the weed barrier

 Brantley playing...

 & playing...
 Lola helped Daddy mix the soil, nutrients, & compost together.

 Once Brantley noticed she was playing with dirt, he had to get in on the action.

 He loved playing in this before we planted everything.

 Squaring off the individual feet.

 Lola planting her carrot & sunflowers seeds.  She also chose to plant cucumber.  All Brantley wanted to plant was corn, so we did.  It will be interesting to see if we grow any ears.

 Brantley continues to play...
 Muddy hands.

 Smoothing out the big bed.
 Last chance to stick your hands in the mud...

 While Daddy was finishing the beds, Lola helped me plant flowers for the front porch.

 I am not sure if you can see it, but we wrote out in pencil on the wood what was planted in each square.

 Ready for planting.

 Lola planting Brantley's corn, while...
 Brantley played!

 Watering the plants...

Ta-da, the finished product!  We planted marigolds, sunflowers, 2 kinds of tomatoes, squash, zucchini, okra, cucumber, peppers, corn, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, etc.  It was a super fun project for the family.  I can't wait to see what our little squares will produce.