Monday, April 12, 2010

The Garden!

This weekend we planted our vegetable garden. Here is what it started out looking like.


Luckily those stumps didn't take all day to remove - in fact we made pretty short work of it. And here is how it ended up:

(the blue stuf in this picture is grass seed)

We managed to get the whole thing done in a few short hours. Once we got the stumps pulled out, my mom and I headed out to Lowe's to buy some dirt, pete moss, manure and plants. (As well as some grass seed because we didn't use the whole are that the bushes used to take up for the garden.) Mom and I got back from Lowe's and dad and Derek had the dirt all mixed up and leveled out. We decided to extend the garden around the side of the house, so they had to dig up some pretty serious roots that were around the corner as well as a bunch of grass and weeds and stuff.  When we got back we spread the pete moss, manure and a little extra dirt around and mixed it all togeter, and then we were ready to plant! Here is what we ended up planting:

4 blueberry bushes
6 strawberry plants
1 greek oregano plant
1 basil plant
1 pasrely plant
1 cilantro plant
9 broccoli plants
9 lettuce plants (these just came in a little container of 9)
1 zucchini plant
3 pepper plants (1 red, 1 yellow, 1 green)
2 tomato plants
2 cucumber plants

I think that's everything. It's a pretty small garden, but there are only two of us, and I figure we can start small and always make it bigger if we need to. I'll keep you updated on what is successful and when everything is ready.

It was such a successful Saturday. I think we started around 2:30 and were finished by 6:30. So we took showers and went to our favorite Mexican restuarant - Mi Pequena Hacienda, and then went to go see the movie Date Night. It was cute and funny. Definitely enjoyable.  Sunday my parents came over for breakfast then we went to church  but weren't sure what to do afterwards because we thought we would still be working on the garden. So we went back to our house. My dad helped Derek fix some issues he was having with his lawnmower and my mom and I decided to head back to Lowe's to buy some flowers for the gardens in the front yard.  We planted those while my dad and Derek watched the masters. I'll post pictures of the front gardens once we get mulch down. Derek is very specific about a certain kind of black mulch and they were out of it this weekend, so we'll have to get that mulched and hopefully by then the flowers will be a little bigger and I can show you those.

Once we finished planting we had an early dinner at Shamrocks, a little restaurant in our neighborhood that is another one of our faves, and then mom and dad headed back up to Columbus. It was a beautiful weekend - the weather was perfect. I got my 12 mile run in Saturday morning while Derek was at soccer games and before mom and dad got here. We got to be outside all weekend - which is pretty much all I could ask for. We got a new vegetable (and fruit) garden and got our flowers planted. It was all paid for with a Lowe's gift card that my parents got Derek for his birthday. I got to see my parents and spend some quality time with them. I don't think I could have asked for a better weekend.



10 comments:

You Can Call Me Jane said...

Congratulations! Your garden looks wonderful!!

Kari said...

That is awesome, Anne! yay for gardens!

Kari said...

p.s. are those plants annuals or perennials?
p.p.s. when will they be ready to eat?!

Anne said...

Kari - the oregano, blueberries and strawberries are perennials and the rest are annuals.

The lettuce should be ready in a couple weeks, but it will be done by June.

Some of the strawberries will be ready in june, the rest throughout the summer. All of the herbs should be ready soon too. With the herbs you just cut off what you need and they keep growing.

The blueberries I don't think will do anything this year - I think next year they will start producing fruit.

Everything else - tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, zuchini and broccoli should be late summer. I'm not 100% sure though - I'll keep you updated.

Jenny said...

I love your garden! I'm so jealous, I just live in an apartment and there's no way I could do this. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Anonymous said...

Your garden and your 12 mile run are both inspirations to me! I can't wait for updates on your home grown food! What a satisfying treat that will be.

jenna said...

i want this!! :) i love shamrocks anne! can we go soon?!

Molly said...

That is so awesome! I really would love to plant a garden when we get into a house. I'll have to come ask for your suggestions!

carissa said...

your garden looks yummy already! keep showing us the progress!

Kristin said...

Hi Anne! So fun to stop by for a visit today. I enjoyed reading about your new gardens! I think you've got more planted already than I even have planned for this year! Look forward to keeping up with your gardening adventures :-) Cheers! ~Kristin from Windy Poplars