The Garden - Part 1

A couple of weekends ago when my mom and brother came to visit, I mentioned to Nate, as he was already super exerting himself digging up all my hostas, that some day I'd like a garden. I then pointed over to my massive peony patch and said, "I think that would be a good spot." To which Nathan replied, "We can do that." I have a feeling that I'll be fighting the "it's impossible to kill me" peonies and their massive root system for the next 50 years or so, but it's awesome to have a space to grow a few veggies of my own in the meantime. A million thanks to Nate for digging up all my peonies in addition to doing a load of other yard work! Really, when I mentioned someday I had no idea that would mean this year! Nathan is good inspiration for me as he has a HUGE garden along with lots of good tips to pass on - I've already made a few phone calls to him with questions about simple things that probably make him roll his eyes! :)


Yesterday I straightened out the edges, turned some more dirt over, pulled out more bluebells than you can imagine (along with some already fighting back peonies), and planted my first veggies. As you can see (okay, I realize you can't see much) I planted lettuce starters. In addition to lettuce I planted onion (pre-started onion stinks to plant but smells yummy by the way!), sweet peas, and cucumbers. I had a few OCD moments when I realized my rows weren't straight and that I'd probably planted things too close together, but I managed to resist the urge to "re-do." Pathetic, I know... :)


Soon to be planted are a couple of green peppers, three types of tomatoes, carrots, and green beans. I think I'll end up planting the tomatoes in pots since I'll probably run out of space. That might actually be nice though since they get so huge and tend to take over anyway.

I'm hoping that I didn't take on too big of a task with starting a garden this year. I'm hoping that once everything is up and growing and I get a newspaper weed barier laid down, that things will take care of themselves pretty well. I highly doubt that I can count on Olivia for any weeding help, but maybe this fall she'll like to help pull the carrots out of the ground. I'm looking forward to some home-grown veggies this summer! There's somethig extra tasty about eating veggies you've grown yourself!