Back in the Garden...Finally

You would think with the wave of beautiful weather we've been having that I would be in all of my garden glory. Truth is, sadly that is not the case. I spent a week in my basement making two more screen doors (one featuring a beaver, another a moose) and a second week in the hospital with my son. He had a 5 day EEG to determine if he was having seizures. Happily, he is seizure free. However, they have diagnosed him with a pediatric sleep disorder. So we are awaiting a visit with another neurologist that specializes in sleep disorders. Oh joy! After our release from the hospital we celebrated with a weekend of camping! What fun we had. If you ask me...it was just what the doctor ordered. LOL.

But now, I have returned to the garden to find...WEEDS, WEEDS, WEEDS! My beautiful iris' are starting to bloom and all I can notice is the overrun, unkempt, disheveled look of my once beautiful gardens! Since weeding can take soooo looooonnnngggg... I decided to start my gardening work by planting the veggie garden yesterday. Can you say Pro-Crast-In-Ation?

Hubby and I spent all day putting the finishing touches on the garden (square foot guidelines, weed pulling, etc) and when the kids came home we planted all the seeds. For a grand total of 532 seeds/plants! Not including berries and garlic which were already in the garden. Our detail garden plan looks like this:

I'm so glad we finally planted. It feels like I've missed some beautiful growing days but...life happens! I guess the only thing left to do is: Pull Weeds. Today. Tomorrow. Until Snow Flies.

Craftin' for the Garden

Have you ever started a project but didn't want to tell anyone? You have that overwhelming feeling that it could be good or a COMPLETE DISASTER! And if you say anything to anyone you'll jinx your own chances?

That's what happened with me with my most recent Garden Project. Once we put mulch on the veggie garden walkways it looked so pretty. I'm still not loving the mulch color but it is by far the nicest looking garden I've ever had so I decided that it was time to actually try to label my plants. For those who label their plants, I am jealous of your organization. I, however, lack all the necessary skills for such an endeavor...usually. But, I was determined to change my slacking ways. So, being still very cold here in 5B and with the seedlings needing very little of my attention I decided to get CRAFTY! You know, I just love me some Crafts!

Anyhoo, I started scouring the internet for clipart of taters, peppers, lettuce, etc. for inspriation. Then I hit the dollar store where I found some blank wooden plaques (I had to remove the gaudy ribbons~which my hubby found in the garbage later! He shouted, "HA! I knew it you've been having brothel parties here, Haven't You?" Oh, yeah, he thinks he's funny.) I drilled holes, sand the edges, painted, sanded again, then painted the veggies, then scoured the internet for a fun font, then used transfer paper, and finally painted the veggie names. I was sure that I would ruin them at every single step in the process but except for a few minor blunders I think I did okay.

So. I think I'll put exact variety info on the back. I'm still trying to figure out a way of making it easily changeable.