Garden Adventures

A few weekends ago, we decided to plant a garden in the back, back yard - the place where old tools, random items, and old paint go to die. Because the ground in our little community consists primarily of rocks and no dirt, I suggested to Weather Boy's dad that we create raised planter boxes. Made the suggestion on April 22nd, and on April 29th, we were heading to Home Depot to get the items we needed.

Now, back in the day, a trip to Home Depot was part of our Friday night routine: Dinner, Home Depot browsing, home. Now, it is an adventure given the addition of the boys. Weather Boy's dad took too long picking out wood (I think they are 2"x8"x8') and getting a new rotary saw (I think that's what their called) that by the time we started picking seeds to plant, the boys had had enough. The seeds are next to the water fountain, so in between having to hold the boys up to the fountain, we picked out the following seeds: corn, baby carrots (wanted normal ones, but oh well), chilis, green onions, cilantro (last three items for Weather Boy's dad's salsa), basil, peppermint, and I think that's it.

Next we headed to get dirt. Thirty bags later, we were loading up the truck and heading home. Weather Boy's dad built the boxes while I cleared out the area of piles of dirt and random items. We started adding dirt. 15 bags each = 15 cubic yards. We decided on Saturday we'd just plant one box for now and plant the other on Sunday.

While Weather Boy and dad planted the seeds, I stated adding the 15 bags fo dirt to the other box, and Drewbie helped by stomping down the dirt. He got tired of stomping so I took over. When all the dirt was in, Drewbie decided it would be fun to lay in the dirt. Then roll in it. Then bury himself in it. Keep in mind that on the way home from Home Depot, we had all the windows open because the manure smell was sooo strong. We let him roll and he loved it. Some how he got his chin a little wet, so the dirt clung onto it and it looked like he had a beard. I'll add pictures of this later.

We had previously planted tomato seeds in a pot and transplanted some to the second box after we picked up some tomato cages that Uncle John wanted to get rid of. I think Weather Boy's dad didn't leave enough dirt on the little plants when transplanting them so I don't think they are going to make it. Luckily we have plenty of seedlings right now.

Our corn started growing first and then the carrots. We are waiting for more to spring up for us to watch. We worked on the garden area again last weekend and now just have one huge pile of dirt to get rid of instead of a bunch of random ones. Here are some pictures of the day.