From Lawn to Garden Post 10

I am so excited that our yard no longer resembles the above picture. We have dug out 99% of the grass that is in front of the shed and behind the shed beds are in place, a trellis for cucumbers is being constructed, and a dual composting bin is being built. Lots of changes! I was just about to head outside while my kids were napping or reading and plant some marigold seeds but have been faithfully taking pictures and not sharing them so I felt a blog update was long overdue. We did have a lovely easter celebration with extended family. What a joy to celebrate that Jesus is alive! ""Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?""- 1 Cor. 15:55

In the garden so much is going on and being done. Today we were outside planting swiss chard, marigolds, and sunflowers and my husband set up a soaker hose in the future home of the tomatoes. I didn't have my camera with me since I was busy planting, but I wanted to give you an idea of all that can change from a day to day basis.

First, heres my gardening girl putting her boots on before we begin. This boots have been a HUGE mess saver! Worth every penny and then some. However, they can get hot so I'm sure if the weather ever decides to stay warm we may switch to good ol' crocs at that time.

Our peas are growing and growing! I've been pinning snow pea recipes in anticipation of their bounty! Just since we took this picture they've grown about two inches and this was just last week!

Our chives are in containers and growing nicely!

We also have bush beans in an old plastic tub container that had cracked but is holding the plants nicely. Again, since this was taken, the plants have several leaves and inches of growth (just since last week!!)

Our lettuce is coming up. I'm going to say that I much prefer starting plants outside than indoors. The seedlings seem so much hardier and tolerant of the weather and soil. The lettuce plants are all doing well and a week and a half ago we planted another row of each. We paused last week and didn't add any more but I think this week we will plant a few more. Once the cucumbers get going we hope to plant some more in their shade and extend the growing season for them.

We have red, white, and scallion/green onions all growing with the green onions being the only ones started from seed. The tops of the onions are soaking up sunlight and doing very well.

And here you can see the garden on a whole. We are maximizing every square inch!

We do need to finish our pole bean trellises this week but last week I played around and made this little trellis (maybe for some grape tomatoes?) but def. not for the big tall pole bean plants.

These are the tools that we have used to cut the grass and weeds up. A regular shovel, a yellow twisty thing, and a clawed rake. I'm sure they have some technical terms, but this is our lingo for them and it makes a tons more sense!

Now, moving on to some unwelcomed garden guests. The birds were pulling the onions out and then just leaving them nicely on the ground. I guess they are beggars who'd like to be choosers as they stole and then returned them. Um, thank you?! We also had a rabbit issue. We put the have a heart trap out a few weeks ago with some carrots. The carrots were eaten and then the bunny disappeared. I thought perhaps it took the carrots as a parting gift to remember us by and left. Days went by. Weeks passed. I thought clearly the rabbit was humane and took the hint and left. I was sorely mistaken. An idiot. She hadn't left! She had babies!!!! So, now, thanks to pinterest, we will be trying a tobacco sauce voodoo mix to spray around the yard (completely natural and not harmful in the long run to the rabbit). Sheesh! Anyway, we did tie some good ol' fashioned tin plates to poles around the onions and the birds have called a truce and have stopped pulling up the onions. Score one for us pests, I mean God's creatures.

As we have worked to clear out the pond and behind the shed, our kids have found this rather interesting moss. We call it magic moss for the reason it looks so teeny and magical and it magically keeps the kids busy digging it up and they magically unbeknownst to them have cleared some land in search for more of it.

Our little guy loves to play out back. In the car or better yet, the dirt. I jokingly told my husband we've let be grass fed... or dirt fed. We do take it out of his mouth and most of the time it's from him putting his dirty hands near his drooly mouth... but not all the time.

And lastly, we began work on a quick stone path from the edge of the grape trellises to the back gate so we can wheel our little wheelbarrow thing with more ease and also to establish beds in the back. It's been busy. And a lot of work. But man, its so rewarding! " Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies will have their fill of poverty." Proverbs 28:19 Want to see our other posts, click here. Have a solution for rabbits, please share-- we can use all the help and ideas we can get!