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. 

How it All Began

Oct 3: The beginning: Raised beds about
a week after Phil and Wes built them.

One day in late September, I was out running errands with my mom, aunts, and sister-in-law to be. We went to a wedding dress shop and Laura modeled a few dresses. We went to get supplies for the quads first birthday. Meanwhile, Phil was hanging out with our friend Wes. Wes is who inspired me to put together the little container garden I had last year.

I guess they weren't sure what they wanted to do so they decided to put in a couple of raised garden beds in our backyard. I, of course, found out that this was happening well after it was all underway. We have been talking about doing a garden forever. I really pushed for it, but Phil always said it was a lot of work. I have Wes to thank for getting Phil into the idea.

Throughout the rest of the fall, we filled the beds with soil we got from the park near our house. We also composted vegetable scraps, egg shells, and coffee grounds directly in the beds. We have had more snow than usual this winter so for the last few weeks the beds have been covered in ice and snow.

2010: Attempt at container
gardening on the patio.

My experience with containers last year was mediocre. I attempted to grow tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapeños, green beans, zucchini, and cucumbers. The zucchini and cucumbers failed pretty miserable. They had a promising start but I think they didn't have enough room. The peppers grew so easily and produced very well. The tomatoes I had higher hopes for but I'm blaming the squirrels. Some kind of pest that I never laid eyes on ate holes in my beans and they ended up dying.

I think I learned some good lessons from my experience last year. Especially, that things can go wrong and what kind of things. And sometimes it's out of your control.

I'm letting Phil make a lot of decisions and do most of the planning for this year's garden. The only thing I really want are LOTS OF TOMATOES!