Hoping summer is on its way...

...because we finally planted our garden! This year we took a different approach and are hoping to maximize our space by doing some raised beds. We had hoped to build a few planter boxes but after we (and by we, I mean Chris) purchased and built the first one we weren't very satisfied with the end result so we'll revisit it again next year. The wood we bought was so warped we couldn't build a nice looking box so we'll have to buy a more expensive wood or plastic. So Chris dug the rest of them sort of free form style. So far we are happy with that. We also invested in some soaking hoses so we can minimize water on the plants. We brought in compost and added nitrogen and are hoping these improvements will make a big difference. We are staking more things this year too in an effort to go vertical thus maximizing our space more. Chris has worked really hard in the garden for the past three weekends and the kids have worked hard helping to clean out a lot of debris. Things are starting to shape up now. We planted tomatoes...28 of them!, pumpkins, squash, carrots, watermelon, basil, cilantro, parsley, lettuce, spinach, bell peppers, a variety of chili peppers, strawberries, rhubarb and raspberries. In the fall we plan to plant some onions, garlic and maybe broccoli and more spinach, and some peach trees...since the dog ate the last two. It feels good to have it in and hopefully the sun will start to shine and we won't get an early winter. I guess the good thing is that we've only had to water once!

After a long day in the garden.