Square Foot Garden 2009

Just wanted to share some pictures of my garden this year. Last year we made some plans to do raised beds, but never got a round to doing it. One date night Troy and I were at Barnes and Noble and I found a book about square foot gardening and we decided to give it a try.

It was a lot of initial work, but I think it will be worth it in the long run. Troy made six 4X4 boxes, six 2X4 boxes and we bought lattice for making the grids for the top.

Troy and Jameson putting weed cloth and cardboard in the bottom of the boxes.

The soil mix is a made up on compost, peat moss and vermiculite.

Connor and I making the mix. Later I decided it was easier to mix it all in the boxes.

My first watering system- drip hoses. I wasn't happy with how it didn't get the whole square wet.


Here's the garden this week- click on the pictures to see them larger

Not sure if something is eating my seeds I am trying to plant in the lower quadrant, I have another butternut squash plant I will probably put in that spot


Herb Garden- Lots of dill for pickles this year, hopefully the marigolds will help keep the pests away


Beans, Peppers, Onions, & Cucumbers. We put up a grid for the cucumbers to grow on.


More beans, zuchinni, celery, another pepper, kohlrabi and pole beans


This was supposed to be the strawberry bed, but I had trouble finding strawberries, so next year I'll finish planting the rest of it


Lettuces & broccoli


The tomato boxes- you can probably tell these are deeper than the 4X4 boxes. You can also see my watering system, which I think covers much better. I have it set up on a timer for 15 minutes a day. Much better than the hour or more I had to do with the soaker hoses.

One of the benefits of using this system is less wedding. I did have about an hour of weeding to do after being gone for 10 days, but I think some of my compost might have had some weed seeds in it. Since then, I can spend less than 5 minutes a day and get it completely weedless.

Spring

Wow, for me time has seriously flown by since February.

It seems like just yesterday we were doing this....


And now thankfully we are enjoying this...

Still Alive

I'm not sure why it's so hard to get back into blogging, but I am obviously not figuring out how to fit it into my life these days. I have been subbing full time for a special ed teacher whose husband has cancer. It has been a longer than expected assignment and while I am enjoying it, it is definitely more of a challenge for me to get things accomplished.

Thank you for the encouragement to come back. I hope maybe I am getting a little better at balancing- but I'm not going to promise that I am ready to commit to regular updates.

Anyway, here are some belated Valentine's Day pictures. We had a special family dinner Friday night and then the next night we chaperoned the youth dance.



And while I am at it, I might as well post the Easter pictures as well. The kids decorated eggs on Saturday and then we had Stake Conference on Easter Sunday. Yes, our kids opened their baskets on the way to church. After church we went to Troy's sister's house for dinner and an egg hunt.

A funny

I have forced myself to sit down at the computer for a few minutes. Paying bills and other related fun stuff was on the agenda. While I am here, I have to share a quick funny from Genna last night.

We were in the car last night at the gas station. Genna asked if I could see anything black on her tongue. I said that no, I couldn't. Then she asked to see my tongue. She couldn't see anything black on my tongue, either. I asked what she was looking for. Serious as could be, she replied, "taste bugs." We got a good chuckle out of her sweet curiousity.

Knock on wood, I will get caught up on some blog posts tomorrow, since we have nothing on the schedule, which is an amazing feat for a Saturday in our house.

Puzzling...

I do want to apologize for my long blog break. I have neglected my poor computer and all those I keep in touch with electronically. It really has been a busy month and I will try to catch you all up on what's been going on.

The good news is that less computer meant more time spent with my family. We did 7 different puzzles this past month. It was relaxing and actually quite addictive.



If you'll just be patient with me a bit longer, I'll post about our busy February.

Pinewood Derby

Our Cub Scout days are quickly drawing to a close. Yesterday we participated in our last Pinewood Derby. It should have been our easiest year ever, especially since Connor quickly decided on the same exact design he has done the past 2 years, but somehow it ended up being one of the most challenging years. We had trouble with paint not wanting to dry and wheels that kept going in crooked. Then there were Genna's butterfly wings. We had to clip them down a bit so they would fit underneath the sensor bar on the track. As usual we were putting on the finishing touches, only hours before the weigh in. Despite all the difficulties, everyone was happy with how the races went.

Connor won first place in his Den with his rocket car

Jameson worked really hard on his vintage 7up can car

Genna got the cinder block award for the car that took the longest to get down the track

Welcome Home!

On Saturday Troy's sister Tiffany's husband Orin got home from his year in Iraq. We are so thrilled to have him home safe and sound!

Someone surprised them with yellow ribbons for a mile & a half from their place. It had to have been cold when they were out their tying all those bows.

Sunday we hosted a welcome home party for Orin at our house. It was a lot of work getting ready, even though all the food came from Sam's Club. But I figured I could miss out on my Sunday afternoon nap to show my appreciation for Orin's service and his family's sacrifice.

Sign made by Jameson

Heather Kunz put together an awesome video of pictures from Orin's tour of duty and we watched it with the Giles' projection screen in our living room. I should have invested in kleenex boxes around the room. I wish it wasn't so long or I would post it here.

A little boy who wouldn't let his Daddy out of his sight!

Tiffany & Orin (sorry the picture is so blurry)

There were many who came out to help welcome him home.



Words can't express how grateful we are, Orin for your service to our country!