Although we grew a garden faithfully for five summers in our yard at our first home, we have not had that same track record at our second house. When we moved in at the end of May 2013, I was so overwhelmed with unpacking and getting our yard under control that we decided to skip planting a garden that year. The following year I had a newborn and was still too overwhelmed to fathom planting and taking care of a garden. After that point, life just kept on being busy year after year and we never got around to starting a garden in our backyard until the spring of 2017. After Ron built a wonderful, large garden box at the top of our back bank, we hired a boy from the ward to fill it with loads and loads of fresh dirt. We then got the kids' help to plant our favorite vegetables that I then maintained, watered, and harvested that rest of the season. Although we loved eating the bounty of fresh vegetables that grew in our garden, I did NOT love the abundance of weeds that grew as a result of unknowingly buying unsterilized soil that was FULL of weed seeds. We even had stinging nettles growing in our garden which was a definite first for me! After taking a break last summer (due to having Emmett and being too overwhelmed by life again), I got the kids to help me pull out the weeds this fall and cover the entire garden box with flattened, cardboard boxes and fabric weed barrier pinned down with garden staples. We then put our garden "to bed" with the hopes that things would not be as out of control this Spring. I am happy to report that the cardboard and the fabric really worked and we were able to rip out all of the weeds and lay down some fresh top soil in one afternoon this week. We then pulled all of the kids back out of the house today to help us plant our favorite garden veggies of peas, tomatoes, broccoli, green peppers, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, and pumpkins. It was so fun to work together as a team and to see how nice and neat the garden looked when we were done with the vegetable plants all lined up in neat, little rows in our weed free bed. We can't wait to harvest the "fruits of our labor" in the months to come!
Lia working away planting the peas along the fence.
Logan pausing from his work to take a picture.
Ella helping to plant the pepper plants.
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