Planting a Garden

When we lived in Michigan we had a great garden. We planted bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and chili peppers (which the boys tried once, then never again, HOT!!). The only thing that didn't grow well was the cucumber, everything else was great. I loved being able to step out into the garden and grab what I needed to make dinner. There is nothing better than homegrown vegetables!

When we moved to our current home we tried to plant a garden again. The garden didn't do well. It failed for several reasons. One big reason it failed was because of the deer and rabbits. We planted a couple of things without any protection from the animals. We also didn't take into account the hotter humid temperatures.

So we decided to try again and this time we were smarter. One reason our Michigan garden did so well was the soil. We were able to get really nice soil from the township. It was free and it worked wonders. Since we don't have that same luxury here, we had to find another option. Our good friends have a wonderful garden and they offered to let us get soil with them from a local landscaping company. The soil was great! Unfortunately, it came before we had anything else ready, so the soil sat in our backyard for a couple of weeks.

When my parents came for Tanner's birthday we decided to take advantage of the extra hands. Chad isn't one to sit around, so the first morning my parents were here, we all hopped into the car and set off for Lowe's and Home Depot.

This trip first started out as a tree hunting trip. We have an area on the side of our house which use to house a "Doctor Seuss" plant (as we lovingly refer to it). Chad pulled the plant out and we wanted to put a tree and some bushes in it's place. I don't know about you, but every time we go to the home improvement store we end up buying more than we intended. As we looked at trees, Chad saw the pavers and immediately started thinking about our garden. So at the end of our shopping trip, instead of just a tree, we ended up with a tree, five bushes, ten plants, three stakes, netting, two tomato cages and 31 pavers.

It would have been nice if we were able to get all these things at the same store, but no, we like to shop around. Of course this means that we go to several stores and end up going back to the first store to buy the item we are looking for! We did find some good deals shopping around though. One store we went to had all of their vegetable and annual plants half price. The vegetable plants were great - they already had good sized veggies growing on them. We ended up getting 2 tomato plants (each already had four tomatoes), five bell pepper plants, and about 8 marigold plants (good for warding off rabbits) for $10.50. It was amazing! The squash, zucchini, and cucumber plants at the home improvement store almost cost that much.

Once we got everything back to our house the boys set to work. While Chad dug a trench the boys transported the pavers from the car to the backyard. After the garden box was constructed Chad and my Dad worked on getting the tree into the ground. We decided to get a Japanese Maple. It was perfect for the area we were working with. We were sad when the guys at the store accidentally broke one of the branches while putting the tree in our car. Luckily, the tree still looks great.

The tree had a wooden box at it's base, so we had to get some tools out to get the box off. Trevor wanted in on the action when he saw Papa starting to dismantle the box. Papa handed over the tools and Trevor finished the job. He was pretty excited!

Chad and Dad did a great job putting the tree into the ground. It was heavy, but they were able to get it in place without any problems. So glad Dad was here to assist Chad!

After the tree and bushes were planted we moved on to the garden. Dad helped me plant all of the vegetables and flowers, while Mom helped us with the spacing. It was exciting to see the plants go in. So nice to have a garden again.

To prevent the deer and other animals from helping themselves to our produce, we installed a netting barrier. It's a thin netting, so it is barely noticeable. We love the way it turned out!

After a long hot day in sun we loved seeing the finished product. It was well worth all the effort. Thanks Mom and Dad for all of your help! It just wouldn't be the same without your help. Plus, I don't think we would have been able to get the tree out of the car!