Garden Geek

It's been raining a lot here lately, but I'm not complaining. It's refreshing. And, my garden loves it.

The Knight teases me because the girls have started to refer to the garden as "Mommy's outside babies." I guess I am a little attached to it. I go out every morning to say good morning and check on the plants, and again in the afternoon. I take lots of pictures of it. And when I'm outside playing with the kids, it is not unusual to hear me talk to the plants.

Oh well. I'm just so thrilled to have finally been able to grow something, I'm am completely geeking out over it. I'm already trying to see if there is a way to expand the garden next year. Plus, I can't believe how incredibly easy it has been! Square foot gardening is definitely the way to go; I've had to weed the garden only twice now, and it took about five minutes to do. Super quick and easy.

I've got plenty of fresh green in my fridge and my spinach is coming up nicely. The onions and carrots are getting bigger, and the broccoli plants are huge!

How is your garden doing so far? What is your favorite vegetable to grow?

Garden Geek

Gardening Update.

Our garden is coming along well, or at least I think so. Since I have no previous experience with gardening at all, I don't have anything to compare it to.

We have kale, romaine, mustards, snap peas, spinach (not up yet) and carrots in one box.
Then broccoli and onions in the other. Still eight more boxes to fill; I'm going to put in bell peppers and strawberries.

Trying to plan out the garden has been a little harder than I thought. I'm trying to get three harvests out of every square foot, but I'm not sure if I am planning it right. The charts in Square Foot Gardening are helpful, I just need to find the time to sit down and plan it out.

I'm not sure if I am doing the composting right. It just doesn't look like it's doing anything.

I also have a bunch of herbs that a friend gave me that I am going to plant on a porch planter.

I really want this garden to work out, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

What are you growing in your garden?

Gardening Update.

Gardening Obsession

The Mermaid is now obsessed with gardening.

She is going to be participating in a homeschooler's fair later this year and her project will be...gardening!!

Today we planted some veggies and herbs to be transplanted later into our garden:

Lavender
Broccoli
Bell Peppers.In addition to the avocado we are attempting to sprout, we also sprouted a garlic clove and are attempting to sprout a sweet potato. Here's the garlic clove on day one.Here it is on day three. It sprouted fairly quickly.
By the end of the week I had switched it over to soil.Still no sign of sprouting on the potato yet.
We're also trying to grow a pineapple plant. Like the avocado, it can be difficult to succeed and it will take at least a couple years for the plant to produce fruit, if any. But it looks cool and we'll have fun trying.



We've also attempted to sprout lentils, with no real success so far.
And we did an experiment to see how plants drink.

For every plant or project, The Mermaid has a gardening journal in which she writes the date planted or project started, and if applicable, the day sprouted and harvested. Then she draws a picture and takes notes.

She also has a page in her journal dedicated to the layout of our 32 square foot garden that we plan on putting together this weekend.

She's so excited and her enthusiasm is contagious. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather!!

Gardening Obsession