Gardening Take Two

Okay, this time I think we got it right...

It only took me an extra day to move the forms to a new "sunnier" area of the yard so we were once again ready to plant. Maddy wrote out our plant markers for us and Miranda and I drew up a map of our garden so we could keep track of what is where.

We got all of our supplies ready and waited for Jake to get home. We forgot that it has been getting darker much earlier, but we still managed to get most of the seeds planted and watered anyways.

The girls were very excited about planting the holly hock seed they got in the mail from Nana, as well as the sunflower and snapdragons seeds that they picked out.

Patrick was content just to play with the hose and make lots of mud. True boy...

We planted around the 24th of September (yes I'm slow updating), but now you can see how our little garden is progressing.

We have beans...
peas...
sunflowers, (top photo) cucumbers and a bunch of radishes in that one crowded box down there. The radishes were the first to come up and gave us hope that the rest of our seeds would eventually come up as well.

So far this gardening thing is a lot of fun. Either Patrick or Miranda helps me water every morning and Maddy does it in the evenings. We all get so excited when we find a new start or find that something is noticeably taller.

I will still be surprised to see if/when we get any veggies from any of these teeny little starts, but so far so good...

Houston, We Have A Problem...

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, we have been bitten by the gardening bug and have been busily preparing an area and building boxes to house our newly purchased seeds.

Today, with the help of my Mother-in-law, I mixed the mulch/peat moss/perculite mixture and filled one of the boxes. I then hammered on the grid to separate the box into one foot squares and coiled the soaker hose around the inside of the box.

Looks great right? (besides our somewhat silly choice of color) But as I checked on it throughout the day something was missing. . . sunlight! See how only the top is getting some? Yeah, that's not a good sign.

Only one of the boxes gets full sunlight and I don't even think it is 5 hours. Hmmm. I think we may be relocating a garden tonight. Doh!


At least Patrick and Jake got to be manly and use tools. I think they were both equally pleased. Patrick has been toting around his play toolbox and tools ever since!

Even while he sleeps...
Well, we still have a little while until we have actual plantings in our garden, but we are at least enjoying our time spent together anyway. Anyone else having better luck out there?

Patrick Is A Bow-way...

Getting Ready To Garden!

For most states this is harvest season. Time for picking final fruit and vegetable crops. Time for pie-making and canning. Time for tilling compost into your soil to prep for next year's crop.

...not so for us here in Arizona! We are right at the beginning of planting season. Feels very strange to be thinking of planting beans, carrots, broccoli and cabbage, while the rest of our friends and relatives up north are frantically finding ways to cook up and store those tomatoes before the first frost! (really, I'm not sure how it is up there right now...just guessing)

I don't know if I told any of you here about this book, but it was the focus of a church lesson last Sunday about how to prepare a garden here in Arizona. I have actually read this whole book, and so it was the first Sunday in a long time that I wasn't totally lost!

I got all re-excited about starting my garden after finding out that THIS is the time of year to start planting. Still feels so backwards, but we're going to give it a try. Jake and I built our frame for a 4' by 4' square foot garden today, and if I wasn't so tired I would post a picture.

Don't worry, as this project moves along I have a feeling I will be posting many pictures. That's one thing I know how to do to. Take lots of pictures. Glad my skills are going to finally come in handy around here!

Night all! Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend...

Tagged!

My friend Tina tagged me to share 6 things about me that you may not know. I feel like I've been doing an awful lot of talking about myself, so instead I'll share 6 things about my family.

1. Star Wars is our favorite movie(s). (old or new)
2. Everyone here gets really excited when we have breakfast food for dinner.
3. Out favorite outings usually involve parks, animals or water.
4. It tends to be really loud at our house, especially at dinner and on game nights.
5. We're all big readers and not big tv watchers.
6. Regrettably, I have turned all of my kids into Maroon 5 and Jason Mraz fans. *note to self* must get edited cds!

That's all I could really think of right now. Instead of tagging 6 people, I'll just let those interested volunteer. (I'll only start naming people if I don't get volunteers!) Link back to me in my comments if you want to play along. I would love to hear what makes your family different/interesting/strange!

p.s. Kris, I know you were tagged too so you're off the hook...this time!