Happy Easter from the Doggies!

We've been roadtripping all weekend with crazy doggies in tow. It's been filled with a lot of car sickness, but they had a good time with a big backyard to run in and Drake to play with. Hope you all are having a wonderful Easter weekend!






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Garden in the Making

We have been busy busy busy the past several weekends getting ready for the spring gardening season, and I'm so excited. Hopefully by the end of the week we'll be ready to start planting!

We started out with building a fence so that Macy & Lily wouldn't be able to dig through and eat up everything. Eric spent a few weekends planning it out and putting it together.

Then it was time to build a few beds, and surprisingly, 6' boards fit in the little Civic.

We used untreated wood on the beds since treated wood can leak chemicals into the soil. The wood we bought may rot quicker though so we're going to have to keep a close eye on it over the next few years.

My strawberry plants were shipped a week early, so I was frantically trying to figure out how we were going to fill the two beds we had already built. Thankfully, we were able to get a load of soil delivered on Friday, and boy was it a LOT of soil!

I spent Friday afternoon in rainboots and a rain jacket filling up as much as I could. It was definitely some heavy lifting and hard work.

Eric then finished the last bed today and we have everything all ready for plants.

And boy did it wear him out!

I think we're both going to sleep great tonight and stay tuned for seedling progress and planting!

Garden Planning, Part 1

 We are deep into garden planning now that spring is just around the corner. Eric has been working hard on building a fence to keep doggies out and I've been busy starting seeds. Here's a look at what we're planning...I have high hopes for this thing! Hopefully it doesn't disappoint too much...

I've been using smartgardener.com to tweak and finalize our bed layouts:

And here's the breakdown of what we're going to be growing:

HERBS

• Rosemary
• Spearmint
• Chives
• Lavender
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Paprika
• Thyme

VEGGIES

• Bell Peppers
• Tomatoes - lots for canning salsa, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, you name it!
• Lettuce
• Carrots
• Celery
• Snap Peas
• Beans
• Potatoes
• Sweet Potatoes
• Broccoli

FRUITS

• Strawberries
• Oranges 
• Lemons
• Apples

Yes, you read the last three correct. Stark Bro's is a Missouri company that has several fruit trees, several of which you can grow in POTS! Lemons and oranges will be in pots (and will hopefully yield lots of good fruits for jucing), and we're going to attempt planting an apple tree...although doggies very well may ruin that plan.

So, on top of learning how to garden for the first time, there will also be a lot of learning on canning, juicing, and new recipes! Here's to a busy spring and summer!