My Garden...

The next list item that I'm working on was actually one that I had forgotten I had even added to my list. My best friend and her hubby have been planting a vegetable garden at their home for the past couple of years... and we love to go up to their house when all the veggies come in and steal a stash of tomatoes, squash, zucchini, and cucumbers. Last year, we had so many cucumbers that we even gave some away to some of our friends and some still went bad. :) Anyway... each year, we say we are going to do a little garden, too. And, each year, we get busy and don't do it. Then, when late June comes around and everyone is pulling out fresh veggies, we are regretting the fact that we didn't plant a garden. 

Part of the reason that we haven't done it is because we are always so busy in the spring. There are sports (tball, etc.) to work around, the boat preparations, vacation planning, among other things, and we just don't ever get around to it. Another part is that neither of us really have much knowledge on what to do to successfully plant a garden and neither of us have ever had a green thumb (probably because we are usually too lazy to water and/or tend any of our plants). 

So, I decided that I was going to actually make it happen this year. Cilla had told me about a nursery that she and Bret had visited that had everything we could want. I think what really made me do it is that she said they had strawberry plants and blackberry bushes... two things that I knew I would love to have and that the kids would really enjoy. My plan was to go out to the nursery and get some tomato plants, a blackberry bush, and maybe a bell pepper plant. Cilla had given me a few strawberry plants, so I thought that should be plenty. 

Well, this place was freaking awesome and it sucked me in so fast. Before I left the nursery, I had purchased:

3 tomato plants

3 habanero plants

3 banana pepper plants

3 bell pepper plants

1 squash plant

1 zucchini plant

1 blackberry bush

2 pumpkin plants

1 watermelon plant

Yep... all of that. Now, people, we live in the largest subdivision in Lexington, not the country. :) 

However, we do have a good sized yard... a little less than a quarter of an acre (I know for your country folks, you are laughing... I would be too on a normal basis). In Lexington, a quarter of an acre is a really good sized yard. Anyway... I came home with all of this stuff. And Brad looked at me and said, "Where's it all going to go?" And, I pretended to have a plan. 

Really, I was thinking, "What the hell did I get all of this stuff for? I don't even really like peppers and what am I going to do with all of these pumpkins in the fall? Etc." 

This all happened on Friday night, which is also the night that a HUGE, HUGE storm came through Lexington. Yep, after I had just sat all of the plants on the back porch. So, I'm laying down with the kids and then I hear the storm coming through. I come running down the stairs, grab Jake's Spongebob umbrella (you know, big enough to cover my head, barely), and sprint onto the backporch to save my plants that are being knocked over as I watch. 

I saved them all. :) I was the hero. And I was completely and utterly soaked. My hair wasn't, but the rest of me was so soaked that when I came running back into the house from the porch, my flip flops hit the tile floor and I about went flying through the air, plants in hand. Fortunately, the table stopped me and I didn't die saving veggies. 

While Brad and Bailey went to practice on Sunday, I started my garden. I had walked through the yard about 50 times on Saturday morning and had a semi-good idea of where everything would go. Having never gardened before, I didn't really know how hard it would be to till the ground without a tiller. Ha ha ha. 

I spent Sunday evening in a pool of my own sweat, digging with a hand shovel in my new garden, pulling up grass and weeds in like 90 degree weather (I did get a good start on my tan though!). About halfway through, I thought I had lost my mind for sure and thought that veggies could be purchased at the Farmer's Market. But, I stuck with it. And, I have it all planted now. I worked on it and finished it all on Monday morning. Well, almost. The pumpkins and the watermelon are still sitting on the porch to be planted. I should get them in the ground tomorrow morning. I am SO proud of my little garden. I am semi-obsessed. I've been out there to check on it about 5 times each day. lol. I have a little fencing around it to keep the rabbits out. And, so far so good. I thought it looked like a rabbit had been in there yesterday, but if so, the plants seem to be making it. I'm even getting little banana peppers! :) YAY! 

This is what I accomplished on Sunday. I extended it on out to make it about twice this size on Monday (if you can see the shovel in the background, that's how far it goes over now). I will post complete pictures of the full garden and my pumpkins and watermelon after I get those in the ground. :) 

What's perhaps the most hilarious part of it is that I really made the crazy choice to do this on a whim. I hadn't really consciously decided that since it was on my list, I would do it. I just did it. And, now, if I actually get veggies out of this garden, I can mark it off that I have learned to plant a vegetable garden! Of course, I don't have any veggies just yet, but if I do, then that's one less thing on my list! So, here's the start of my "progress reports" on this particular item. And, I'm pretty excited to share... I'm going to post some pictures of the garden as it grows!