How Does Your Garden Grow?

The garden is doing very well! We have had a ton of people asking us for updates. So, I decided to post some pictures of our progress so far.

Carrots at 10 Days

Corn at 10 days

Green Beans at 10 days

When we planted the green beans, we used a booster from Burpee. It's made for green peas and green beans. We forgot to add it to the peas, but added it to the green beans and can tell a HUGE difference. Our green beans are growing like crazy. We definitely won't forget the peas next year!

Box 1 at 3 weeks. We have green beans in the top left hand box and cucumbers in the top right hand box.

Box 1 has green beans, strawberries, cucumbers, watermelon, canteloupe, mixed bell peppers, green bell peppers, banana peppers, and okra.

Green beans at 3 weeks

Box 2 at 3 Weeks

Box 2 has corn, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, carrots, asparagus, onions, red onions, green peas, cauliflower, broccoli and eggplant. Salad Box @ 3 Weeks This is standing to the side of the box. On the far left side, it's mustard greens that are doing so well, and on the very top, those are radishes that are growing like crazy.

The 3rd box we call our "salad" box. It's full of greens, lettuces and herbs. It has mustard greens, collard greens, caesar lettuce, salad mix, spinach, radishes, cilantro, dill, basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary.

Box 1 at 1 Month Weeds are starting to appear, but we don't have very many since we put the weed barrier down.

Box 2 at 1 Month

The corn in the upper left hand corner is leaning - we had two full days of STRONG, crazy wind and they took a beating but the roots are still completely under and they are doing well! On the left side and on the bottom left are yellow squash and zucchini that are really starting to grow like crazy!

Salad Box at 1 Month

I'm standing in front of it this time. The second column, top row is the mustard greens. Second row, third column is a salad mix (the expensive stuff you buy in containers at the grocery store), and the third row, fourth column are the radishes. They are growing like crazy!

In fact, we got our very first radish at 1 month.

Here it is, after we picked it.

Box 1 at 6 weeks

The green beans (top left) and cucumbers (top right) are now in tomato cages - we have been teaching them to climb and they are doing really well. The bottom left are watermelon and the bottom right are canteloupe.

Box 2 at 6 Weeks

Salad Box at 6 Weeks

There have been some very plump and happy caterpillars and ladybugs have a feast on our salad box. Darren and I bought some organic vegetable safe bug spray, and sprayed everything down a couple of nights ago. It's time to start picking some of that lettuce, and spray again and hopefully it will take care of the problem.

Yellow Squash at 6 Weeks

Our first squash!

When we got in from being out of town this weekend, Darren checked on the garden and was able to pick a couple of banana peppers. I will have to get some pictures of them!

Needless to say, we are thrilled with the progress are garden is making. We were late planting everything and didn't get everything in the ground until May 1st, but the only thing that it seems to have bothered are the strawberries. We haven't had any sprouts in those boxes but as you can tell - everything else is taking off just fine!

Square Foot Gardening - Part Two

Square Foot Gardening - Continued!

After you get all of the soil in, its time to start sectioning off your garden.

Measure measure and mark at every foot. In the book, they tell you to use small wooden slats to divide the sections, but we decided that we would just use colored (heavy-duty) string.

I picked hot pink! We just knotted the ends, pulled it tight, wrapped it around the nails and tied it off on the end. Then we hammered the nails down (bent over) so the string couldn't slide off.

Darren picked bright yellow. And the third box, we mixed with yellow and pink.

Then we started laying out where we wanted everything, and marking it. It's important to take in account how things grow when you do this! For example, cucumbers start to take over, so you want them towards the outsideand melons grow on vines so you need two squares nex to each other for them, etc.

All marked!

Everything is layed out and marked (except for the last box - we ran out of markers and had to go get more the next day).

The basis of square foot gardening is being able to plant a lot, in a small amount of space because you plant based on how the plant grows and how much space it needs. You can plant 16 carrot seeds in one square foot. In that same size square, you can plant 4 corn, 2 lettuce or 1 broccoli. Melons take more than one square - you can plant one per every two sqaures.

Darren and I drew out boxes and listed everything we wanted to plant. We took that list to the store, so that we could check everything off that we needed. When we got back we wrote in where we wanted everything and then kept that list with us as we planted, to make sure we planted as directed.

NOW everything is planted and marked. We sprinkled some vegetable fertilizer over the top, and watered everything in really, really well. Now, we just wait!

Square Foot Gardening - Part One

When Darren and I decided to move back to "the country", one of the first things that he mentioned was how badly he wanted to start a garden. I had a bit of hesitation - I could just imagining ME weeding and ME plowing and ME taking care of it. But Darren assured me that this was going to be a partnership and this was going to be OUR garden and it didn't have to be huge. The next week, he made a trip to Barnes and Noble and picked up this really great book on square foot gardening. The basis is to be able to plant a lot of stuff in a small, easily accessible space with little to no weeding.

This is how our garden started! We haven't organized the garage yet, so Darren's tools and tables are not set up yet. He made do by finding an extension cord and pulling everything out into the driveway.

My very handy husband, building our boxes. Each box is a 4' x 4' square (6 inches deep)

The book suggests that a regular family of 3-4 have 3 boxes. 1 for vegetables, 1 for salads and 1 for canning, preserving or giving away.

All 3 boxes set out. It tells you to keep about 3' of space between boxes so you can move around the boxes easily.

After the boxes are in place, you take a weed barrier and roll it out underneath the boxes so that the interior of the box is completely covered.

Darren picked up these handy little plastic stakes to tack the netting down.

After you get the barrier down, the book suggests you pour out all bags of soil (which consists of peat moss, vermiculite and compost) on a tarp to mix well, before you put it into your boxes.

The "manual labor" part of this project really hits home when you have to shovel all of that soil mixture into each of the boxes. Darren and I took turns so it didn't take us that long. You want to fill the boxes all the way to the top.

Here is all three of them filled with the soil mixture!

It's looking good, isn't it??

I'll post the rest of the instructions later!

Cookie Monster!

Coco has learned that when the timer dings on the oven - food is about to come out of it. She gets so excited knowing that she might get something! Yesterday evening, I was baking cookies for Darren and while they were in the oven - I was in the living room, reading a book while she laid beside me on the couch. Every 12 minutes, that timer would ding and Coco would jump up and go running into the kitchen and stood in front of the oven...waiting!

Here she is, watching me take the cookies out of the oven!

She just kept eyeing me when I put them on the counter, to move them to the cooling rack. She guilted me into a piece of that last cookie! Sshh...don't tell Darren!

On a completely unrelated note - do you see how my Pampered Chef baking stone is almost black? It looks horrible - but it bakes everything up with PERFECTION!!!

When I moved around the counter, to put the cooled cookies in a tupperware, she ran around the island to stare me down on the other side! Needless to say, this spoiled cookie monster wound up talking me into sitting down and picking out all the raisins from the rest of that cookie so she could have a snack with her dad!

Hall of Faith

Years ago, when Darren and I were dating we started talking about collections and different things people collect and what we each collected. When I told him that I didn't collect anything, I really thought that he was going to fall over in shock. He said "who doesn't collect something"? Me, obviously! I told him that in college, I collected picture frames but soon grew out of that and then had all these picture frames I didn't want in my "grown up" house. He said that he thought I needed to collect something and what did I like enough to collect. I told him that they only thing that I thought I liked enough to have a lot of were crosses. I love them all. All shapes, sizes, material - I just love them. And so...an obsession was born! I wasn't really sure about this collecting thing at first, but now I love it. I collect crosses like other people collect trinkets and pictures. Each one of them has a story or a memory or something special to make me remember them by. I'm hoping that one day, even if my children don't want to hang them in their homes, they will keep them and be able to say "my dad gave my mom this cross when they had their first baby, or when they got married, etc." The other day, I was in Hobby Lobby (when am I not in that store??), and I wondered into the clearance section. They had all of these beautiful pictures and framed sayings for 66% off, so of course, I dug through all of them until I found one that I couldn't live without.

This frame was normally $24.99 and I paid just $8.50 for it! That makes me so happy. I knew that it would look great hanging with my crosses.

It says:

Faith To hope for things which are not seen but are true

It was really hard to try to get a picture that showed all of them. This is the best I could do and some are still cut off. Don't they look wonderful?

This cross was given to me by a dear friend of mine, the afternoon of my dad's funeral. It says: In Loving Memory Gone, yet not forgotten, Although we are apart. Your spirit lives within me, Forever in my heart.

I was having a bad/stressed to the max day a while back and my mom stopped and brought this to me. I just love it!

This is one of the first crosses I ever bought for myself. I bought it because it has the Lord's Prayer on it.

This is the first cross my in-laws ever bought me. They went to a craft festival and my mother-in-law said she thought of me and thought I would like it. The details on this cross are amazing! Those tiny little grapes are perfect!

The scroll says:

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit. John 15:5

Darren bought me this cross, shortly after we got engaged.

It says:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. Love never fails. Corinthians 13:4-8

One of Darren's cousin's gave us this for our wedding.

One of his cousin's wives gave us this for our wedding.

This cross says: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

This one is based on the "Footprints in the Sand" poem, which I love. It says:

My precious precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering when you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.

If you look closely, you can see little tiny footprints on the cross.

Darren bought me this cross last week when he was out running errands. He said "I just thought of you and how much you love crosses and turqouise, so I thought you should have it". Isn't he sweet?

I can't help but walk down the hallway where these hang everyday and just look up and admire them. All the different occasions and memories that are marked by these crosses just makes my heart smile.

In Bloom

Although our yard needs a LOT of work - there are flowers in bloom everywhere that are just gorgeous. We came home from running errands yesterday and I just couldn't help but take some pictures. (Pardon the quality, these are from my phone).

A whole flowerbed full of knockout roses.

In this gorgeous red color. They have little hints of white running through them.

What you see as you pull up in front of the house. Don't these just make you smile?

As you can tell, I am not a photographer and the wind was blowing like crazy, but I just love this bright pink!

This is coming around the walk way to the backdoor. I love, love, love crosses and when Hobby Lobby had this for 50% off, I couldn't pass it up. I paid a mere $7 for it and it just makes my heart happy.

Then I stumbled upon this little sign and I had to have it too! Another one of Hobby Lobby's 50% off treasures - cost me just $5.

Don't mind the weeds - like I said, we have a lot of work to do. It takes a lot of work for everything to look this beautiful but to be honest - God does most of it. I just love this time of year. When the weather is perfect and there is a nice breeze and everything is in bloom! I wish this lasted all year long!

Dad

Three years ago today, my father passed away. Sometimes it feels like it just happened yesterday and other days - its seems like a million years ago.

I still have a lot of the same emotions and am coming to the realization that I probably always will. I just feel like sometimes - you don't ever get over a loss like that.

As long as we remember those we have loved and lost...they are never truly gone...they live on in those of us that remember them.

Dad,

You're gone but not forgotten. We speak of you everyday and laugh at your old jokes and still re-tell your old stories. We continue to tell Matthew about you and all your future grandchildren will be told what a wonderful person, loving father and what a giving man you were. I love and miss you old man! I'm drinking a Miller Lite for you tonight - I know you're probably enjoying a cold one yourself. :)

Until I see you again,