The start of 2012

Phil shoveling dirt

 Phil and I used our day off today to get the garden prepared a little for this year. We raked some leaves and added them to the larger bed. Phil made many trips to Carondelet Park for some free dirt. There was quite a bit of trash in the dirt so we had to be careful to pick out what we could find, but it's free!

We use plastic bins I previously used for a container
garden to haul the dirt in our van.

The large garden bed that as we filled with the new dirt.

All of our hard work paid off. I don't even know how many
trips it took to fill the big bed.

Small bed - only took 1.5 trips!

I was thinking about doing some cardio before yoga tonight, but after all the shoveling and raking I did today I think it is necessary.

Next up starting seeds. I'll also be doing a post that shows our layouts for each bed this week. We are going to do things a little differently this year. 

Seedling Update

Our little seeds are doing well. They are now little plants.

Here are the Superbowl Sunday seeds after 2 weeks.

Here are the seeds I started last week:

Pretty soon we'll be planting our lettuce and spinach seeds outside!

One Week Later

The seeds Phil started last week started growing already! Some of the tomatoes, peppers, and the broccoli came up. I think the broccoli was first.

I started a new tray today with yellow pear tomatoes, banana peppers, marigolds, and two types of zinnias. I also found some seeds from last year!

Phil has been busy putting in a new side door today. He has been working super hard. 

Besides starting new seeds, I've been trying my hand at making my very first homemade sauce. I already know one thing I need to do differently next time, but I still think it is going to be delicious.