Happy Birthday To Me

Well, it’s not really my birthday yet.  But I thought it would be a good time to give an update on my birthday present - my vegetable garden.

It’s pretty much done.  My husband worked really hard on it over a few weekends and totally whipped it into shape.  I haven’t been able to plant everything yet, though, because the weather has been so unpredictable.  One day it’s sunny, the next it’s raining cats and dogs.  I’m glad to have the free water, but I have to wait for the mud to dry out before I can proceed.

So far I have planted spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and two different kinds of onions.  Still to plant are corn, potatoes, peas, lima beans, pinto beans, black beans, pumpkins, cantaloupe, zucchini, peppers (hot & mild),  and various herbs.  Oh, and don’t forget the flowers. Phew! that is pretty ambitious, but a girl has to eat.

Things are already starting to pop.  It’s so exciting to see those little green shoots coming up.  Lettuce, spinach, and (I think) carrots, broccoli and cauliflower are coming up.  I’m not a hundred percent sure, though.  I wrote the names of the things with a sharpie on plastic stakes that I put in the ground, but then it rained and washed off the writing.  Until things grow bigger and thus more recognizeable, I’ll just have to guess - I can’t remember where I planted what, plus I lost my hand-written paper plan.  Yep, there’s nothing like being organized. Here is a picture of stuff growing:

The nice thing about my garden is that not only is it practical, but it’s beautiful, too.  My husband put a lot of effort into making it pretty.  As I mentioned before, this is going to be a flower garden as well as a veggie garden.  See that arbor in the back? We can grow decorative or fruit vines around it, plus I can just sit there and enjoy the beauty of my garden.  I just need to find a bench that fits in there.

Above is the front gate view.  It’s pretty, isn’t it?  I potted those flowers myself.  After a rocky start, they seem to be flourishing now.  You can see my garden rain-barrel in the corner, up against the brick.  It’s almost half full.

I’m happy now that we had someone come out and remove the grass for us.  It has been over a month since that was done, and so far no weeds or grass have popped up to strangle my baby veggies.  Since I’m planning to have this garden for years and years, I think that was a wise investment.