Monday, April 29, 2013

Weekend Recap: Adventures in Gardening

It has been to nice to welcome Spring with open arms! 
We've been doing so much work in the yard and now that everything is turning bright green and thriving, the payoff has been incredible. J is typically the laborer in the yard when it comes to planting and pulling weeds, but I actually like to mow the lawn so he can focus on the landscaping. 

A few weeks ago (in between rainstorms), we built two 8 x 4 raised garden beds (we used this tutorial). The view below of the boxes was through our window screen. The hardest part was tilling the yard without a tiller (especially after it rained and the soil got heavier). We laid weed barrier around the boxes, laid mulch over the barrier, and then it was time to fill it with a soil mixture. We ended up using a combination of garden soil (flower + vegetable), mushroom compost, and top soil.
We made sure to finish the boxes 2 weeks ago in preparation for the annual plant sale at the Wylde Center in Oakhurst this past weekend. We've gone for the last few years and we were ready to start our garden! 
We ended up getting 4 various heirloom tomatoes, various peppers, eggplant, squash, horseradish, lettuce, cucumbers, and various herbs (mint, basil, spicy oregano, lavendar, lemon balm, etc.)
 Once we got home, we were in a race against the rain (or so we thought) so we immediately went to work on plotting the garden and planting.
 
 
 We even put up the tomato cages and trellises for the cucumbers. 
 Since this is our first year, we decided to start with easier vegetables and herbs. I want to also do strawberries, but apparently they need a separate bed because they are perennial and spread quickly. As J says, we are one step closer to living off the grid (or at least being more self-sustainable)! 
Wish us luck! We know this will be a learning process, but hopefully we have some good veggies!
 
 We ended the weekend at the Frida & Diego exhibit at the High Museum. It closes on May 12th so make sure you check out this beautifully done exhibit! Just try not to go on a rainy Sunday, like we did, to avoid the large crowds (and nightmare coat check lines).
Lastly, happy birthday to the world's sweetest mother. We had the best time celebrating with you on Friday night. I am so proud to be your daughter and thankful to have such a beautiful (inside-and-out) mom! 

P.S. Thanks to my lovely husband for taking most of these pictures [aka. if they are good, then he took them]! xo

3 comments:

  1. good luck! looks like you have a manageable size plot there. i've been trying to grow vegetables from seeds, but it's too early in the spring to tell how successful it will be. this is my first yard where i'm planting flowers in the ground, which is opening up a whole new world of possibilities.

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    1. Thanks Julia! We waited too long to grow from seeds, but that's our plan for next year. I can't wait to hear how your garden does. Lord knows I'm counting on exchanging best practices with everyone I can! We have tons of flowers and bushes, but this is our first round with vegetables (outside of container tomatoes and peppers).

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  2. That looks so amazing!! Can't wait till Jeremy and I can do this too!!

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