I can't believe its been over three weeks since my last update. All I can say is that between getting the garden ready and a very mobile 11 month old, I feel like we've been busy-- a good busy, but phew, it's been crazy. I do recall asking my mother in law what my husband was like as a baby and she said, "He was so busy and into everything that I took him to the doctors and asked him when it would stop. The doctor said sometime around when he turns 3! It was exhausting!" All I can say is that our tan children must take after their daddy more because those are my two busy bees! But, it makes for some funny stories for when they're grown and chasing their own kids!
There are two very exciting things going on:
1. Our snow peas have sprouted! I have to confess I was getting very nervous since right after I planted these we got a light dusting of snow, but now they are doing beautifully! I did plant two more sections two weeks later and so it might spread harvesting and eating them out or they'll all start growing really fast and even out. You just never know.
2. We have finally begun to get rid of the main portion of our
grass weeds. Let's just call it what it is-- a bunch of crab grass and dandelions and clover. I can't say that I'm sad to go because in truth I am overjoyed! We had originally planned to rent a sod cutter but the only place that rented them was a bit of a drive and there were some other complications, so we took the money we would have spent on the sod cutter and bought some other gardening tools and have been doing it by the sweat of our brow. Well, not quite the
sweat of our brow, but our arms are getting quite the workout! A lot of people were worried our kids wouldn't enjoy this and they love working with the hoes and rakes and especially finding the worms!! Can I say that again, they
love finding the worms! Thankfully our yard is quite populated with them which is awesome for the soil.
After a two days of digging, we are about half way through the yard! At the end of yesterday I began breaking the dirt up into sections and dug out a small walking trench for us to easily access everything. Then we planted a row of two types of lettuce (we will plant a two rows for the next few weeks so we get our lettuce spaced out) and some carrots as well.
Earlier in the week we planted chives in containers and onions and garlic along patches of the fence. Speaking of the fence, our neighbor who lives on the other side of the fence finally noticed something was going on. I was prepared for her to think we're nuts (which she does) but she actually thought it was a pretty cool idea. Phew, I was nervous she was going to turn us into the township and even though we've read through the zoning laws and made sure we're in the clear, you just never know.
Out behind the shed our strawberry beds are almost both done and truthfully we haven't done too much here since we have some time before the zucchini, corn, and cucumbers go in.
The kids have loved watering things outside-- they will faithfully ask me about watering the onions and now lettuce and carrots. Its a fun activity for them to do while watering with a water can is still realistic.
I'm not going to sugar coat this experience and say there haven't been cranky moments, but on the whole it has been a wonderful family activity. We've been spending so much time together rout back and working on projects with one another. Our kids have such an ownership of what's being planted and growing! When our peas began to sprout we all celebrated! We've also been enjoying finding verses on gardening. "So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." 1 Cor. 3:7
And real quick-- here is how things are progressing indoors-- everything is doing well except our spinach:
What are you planting? Any tips on growing carrots?
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