Family Garden Project

Our home has a little fenced in backyard with a shed, patio, and grassy area.  I had hoped to put a garden in, and once we found out Andrew was accepted to the phd program here and we wouldn’t be moving for many years I moved forward with those plans.

This was our starting place:

Emily and I spent a few weeks out in the garden removing the weeds and grass. It was a long slow process and I have the dirt under my fingernails to prove it. Emily’s attention span greatly increased when we turned our attention to hunting for worms.

After two weeks we had made it to this point:

For mother’s day, Andrew said he would build a fence around our garden for me.  We woke up early Saturday morning and went to Home Depot to collect supplies. When we got home I spent hours ripping out the remaining grass while Andrew put in a fence.  By the end of the day we still had a little grass to remove, some onions and wild herbs to take out, and a gate to build and put in the fence.

Andrew and Emily have been going out most evenings after dinner to work on the project and I occasionally join in the best I can (evenings are when I feel the worst).

This last Saturday Andrew and Emily spent the entire day outside finishing up the garden. Andrew turned over and sifted through all of the dirt, removing as many rocks and clay as possible. He mixed in topsoil and then put a nice layer on top. He removed all of the remaining weeds and plants to make room for our vegetables.  He laid a stone path that he might add to once we’ve got everything in the ground.  I came in and out throughout the day helping with these various tasks, and then planted our tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumber plants. I’m hoping to plant the rest today.

We don’t get a whole lot of sun in our backyard, so we are now just hoping something grows. It is a grand experiment and has been an incredibly fun family project.