Our Backyard Garden

I first got into garden as a therapeutic escape about 5 years ago.  I had a 10’ x 10’ space in my backyard where I planted strawberries, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, and raspberries.  That first year was very fruitful with all of the plants but since then the raspberries have taken over.  And I am perfectly okay with that. 

My first ever zucchini plant.

Mike has always been into gardening as well.  After he broke his leg in a motorcycle accident (long before we were dating), I think he also used gardening therapeutically.  I hear stories about all the peppers and tomatoes he grew that year and about the salsa that he made with them. 

So I guess you can say we both really enjoy gardening.  Both for pleasure of watching something grow and for the therapy and relaxation that it provides.  Maybe it is the feel of dirt between my fingers or the fact that such a small seed can create such a bounty of life, but whatever it is, I love it!  I sometimes feel like we should move to a place where we can garden all year round.  That's how much I love it!

So, since this is the first year we have had a huge backyard to ourselves, we decided to make our dream backyard garden. Well at least start it!

We still have that 10’ x 10’ raspberry patch that always provides us with more berries than we know what to do with.  But we are also planning to build 2 garden boxes (for now) and plant things that require a lot of space (pumpkins, beans, squash, etc) on the side of our house, which is about 25’ long. 

Our first raspberry sprout this year.  The strawberries try really
hard to grow but the raspberries take over by May.

We are very excited to say the least.  I am especially excited because I’ll be growing as our veggies grow! 

The weather just has not been cooperating with our plans.  It has been a cold and snowy spring.   We were able to cut down an “on the fritz” tree with the awesome help of our neighbors and Mike dug out 4 or 5 huge bushes last summer!  

                             

I’m hoping to start building the boxes next weekend and be able to fill them by the middle of May.  We still have to move sprinkler heads, dig up some grass, and level the ground a bit.  We have a lot of work ahead of us!

We have planted our seeds and are watching them slowly sprout up.  We are still (un)patiently waiting for our pepper sprouts to appear.  

First sprouts... Name suits the speed!

I will keep updating on the process and hopefully that will start next week!  Happy Spring!