On a Garden

I never pictured myself as much of a gardener.  However, maybe it's because I turned thirty or maybe I was just tired of buying tomatoes and fresh basil from the store, but I asked if Tom would help me plant a small garden for my 30th birthday.

Our soil here is full of clay and we don't have the proper tools to plant a garden in the ground.  So instead, we planned a small raised bed.  I didn't want anything big for fear that this would be a complete disaster and I would kill everything.  So, Tom looked up some plans online and built a 4 by 10 foot bed.

Once the frame was in the ground, we had to do a little work to get it level and then pull out all the sod.  Then, Tom filled it with dirt and we added some plants.  For the first year I planted: two basil plants, two tomato plants, two red pepper plants, two cilantro plants, several green onion plants, a lemon thyme plant, and a lavender plant.  Thanks for Andrea and George for the thyme and lavender as well as some of the funds as my birthday gift to complete the project.

Thanks to Tom's siblings and their kids for the rain gauge, thermometer, watering can and colorful decorative pieces to add a bit of color to my garden.

We also felt if we were going to have a garden, a rain barrel would be necessary.  It's located right next to the garden which makes watering a snap!

My cilantro did well in the beginning, but know it's starting to flower.  I was able to use it in several dishes though and have used the basil and green onion as well.  Our tomatoes are growing like mad now so we've been eating lots of BLTs and lunch meat sandwiches with home grown tomatoes.  I think next year I might try some lettuce.

Luckily, since it's a raised bed, there has been little weeding or maintenance.  I love being able to run out a use something from my garden for dinner-makes everything taste better knowing you've grown it yourself.  Thanks to my husband Tom for building this wonderful birthday present!  I hope we will be able to enjoy it for years to come!