garden update and completed rain barrel

i finally hung the garden gate. oh my how i love it! still need to cut the side post down and top with finials or birdhouses. thanks to my dear dad for coming over and tilling the garden for me with his power tiller. i don't know if any of you have ever tried to till a garden by hand....it is difficult and exhausting. i was so glad my dad had the power tool and the time to help us out.

our old potting bench was also moved into the garden area. i plan to grow something up the trellis to make it appear to be in a room of its own. chicken wire side gates are up to keep the pesky rabbits at bay. still need to line the bottom of the fence with wire to make sure they do not sneak in.

the boys and i planted seeds last week. carrots, lettuce, sunflowers, and marigolds. corn and pole beans will go in this week along with the tomato, peppers, and herb plants. our lettuce is already starting to sprout up!

plant markers and tomato cages are in and waiting. i divided the garden into sections with jute so the boys could each have a space and know where things were planted.

i signed up for a class on how to make a rain barrel. unfortunately i was sick with the flu that day, but my friends who also were taking the class put mine together for me. thank you lorie, amy and leslie!! i finally got around to painting it and installing it to the gutter. these are bit unsightly, so one of these days i will get some plants in around it. one project at a time. but for now.... let it rain!

who needs a gym when you're building a garden

did i mention how physically difficult building this garden has been? oh, there are no complaints here, i just had no idea that it would be this physically draining. i thought that building small beds would be an easy project. wow was i wrong. but i am loving every minute of it!

over the weekend i used a post hole digger (thanks dad!) to dig the holes for the gate posts. they are in cement and with all the rain we have had will most likely take a week to dry. that gives me time to find some gate hooks so that i can hang the gate. i will also even up the posts on the top and M wants to top them off with bird houses.

luckily the rain stopped yesterday and lucky for me it was during C's nap time. with my rubber boots on and already muddy jacket i headed out to work some more. i have a pile of bricks, left over from another unfinished project, and decided to add some visual interest to the front of the garden. these are just sitting there for now, hopefully this afternoon i will get them buried into the ground a bit. this makes it easy for the mower wheels to go over while mowing the grass. i also need to get these box woods planted and mulch around them.

i finally got all the dirt from the end of the driveway hauled back to the beds. some bags of compost and also mixed in some mulched leaves. once the dirt dries out i will get the beds tilled and we will be ready to plant. it is coming along and the kids and i can not wait to get plants in and watch them grow. i better get out there and get those bricks in the ground.... stay tuned.

tis the season

for the flu! ugh! what a yucky weekend, thank goodness it's over and hopefully that is our only flu experience for a long time. i have been meaning to update my blog for awhile (where does the time go?!) but got busy busy with a project and then hit with the flu. sorry if you are a daily lurker and had nothing new to look at here. i am going to get better at posting more often...fingers crossed. ;)

so.... tis the season....FOR GARDENING!

for three years i have been wanting to make raised vegetable gardens in our backyard. with picky eaters, i thought it would maybe help them with their vegetable intake if they had a hand in the process.

in a sunny part of our yard we started the building. i had some helpers but after just a few smacks of using the hammer they were done. then they decided that a snack in the garden would be good. i hope they are as excited for snaking in the garden once we get some vegetables growing!

it took the better part of the entire day to get these two beds made. chicken wire around the exterior of the beds to keep those pesky rabbits out. a rusty gate i had stored in the attic for this project will be the door to our garden. these will be organic beds, so i could not use grass killer to kill the grass in the beds (and i was too lazy to dig it out). instead, i layered cardboard and then newspaper and then filled them with dirt. the truck load of dirt i had delivered to the end of my driveway was a three day workout for me. not much dirt fits into a wheelbarrow...back and forth, back and forth. wow, was i hurting for a few days (a good kind of hurt!)

our garden project is getting closer to being done. i still need to set the posts that will hold the gate and find something to hang the gate with. i need to mix in some organic soil and then i think we will be ready to plant. well....that is once snow and freezing temps get out of our forecast! stay tuned throughout the season and watch our garden grow.