My Gardens.....

I am a gardener through & through. We live in the suburbs and consequently have a pretty small yard. Most of it has been turned into a garden or flower beds. I love it. It has been a lot of work but what else do I have to do??? Seriously - the kids have really enjoyed the time outside, since we don't live in a place that we can just let the kids run around outside by themselves. We don't have a back yard - only a front & side yard. Jake was laughing tonight that our neighbors probably think we are a little nutty since we have been in the garden all weekend long! And what a perfect weekend it was.....

Here are some pics from the yard this year. I have been collecting these since the first bloom - although I did miss the Peony's & Lupine. I also had more tulips but only took the shot of that particular one because it reminded me of Twilight....(LOL).

As for the garden part...I have planted and planted and planted. For such a small space I really have a variety. Here is my final (and complete) list: tomatoes (many varieties), peppers, peas, lettuce, celery, pole beans, bush beans, corn, radishes, carrots, basil, dill, chives, cilantro, sage, parsley, beets, collard greens, onions, broccoli, cabbage, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, sweet potatoes, butternut squash & pumpkins (please God don't let these seeds come up since the kids insisted on planting them even though I didn't want to.....). Wow... That is a heck of a lot of stuff. We also have a row of sunflowers growing along the fence. As you can see by the photos - I don't plant the normal rows in my garden. I kinda use the square foot method - although I don't use the raised beds and all that jazz....I just cram as much into a small space as possible. I planned my garden by drawing a grid (on paper) and then I used sticks and string to make a grid in the garden for my planting purposes. It was SO helpful and I will do it again next year. The neighbors did ask what the heck I was doing the day I did that..... We still have bean & tomato supports to build and I am going to build a trellis for my zucchini out of the branches we trimmed off the lilac tree. I will keep you posted with photos!

Yesterday while I was weeding the garden, Jude came along and he said, "Mommy, I've got an idea - you can take care of the plants and Daddy can take care of the money." Isn't he a funny boy. He came up with that all on his own.