2012 Backyard Garden

A few weeks before Levi was born, I was looking out the back window of the house at the garden boxes Sam had put in the fall before, and I worried that with a newborn on the way, they would remain bare this growing season. I had a bag of seeds, and all kinds of little starter planters I had hoped to do, but hadn't had the time or energy.  But I decided I should at least try - so I skipped the starter kits, and just took my bag of seeds right to the boxes.  I planted peas, carrots, beets, kale, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, and radishes, and tried to keep it wet for a few weeks, even though the irrigation water and sprinklers weren't on yet.  Part of me thought it wasn't really going to grow at all.  I had been spending all my time and energy on growing Levi, and it seemed like the seeds were taking forever to germinate. Box by box, little tiny green plants began to emerge.  It's been a few years since we had a garden, and I had forgotten how much I love watching the little plants emerge and grow.

 By the time Levi was born, the radishes were ready for harvesting. And the peas were starting to need a trellis to grow on.  A few weeks later, the spinach and kale were big enough for harvesting baby greens for my smoothies.  And the past few weeks we've been enjoying more peas than we can possibly eat.

Our peas got even taller than this  - I think they were close to 6 feet tall.  

 Spending summer evenings out in the backyard eating straight out of the garden is one of my favorite family activities.  I love watching the kids pick and eat as they play.

The other night Noah again complained of being starving right before bed, but proclaimed kale would quell his hunger.  So, out to the garden he went, where he picked and ate several kale leaves, and said he was satisfied.  I welcome a kale snack at bedtime any day!  The pea plants, spinach, and broccoli all got pulled today (it's getting too hot for them) and we've since added onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, and we're trying to get watermelon to grow (our plants keep dying for some reason?) When we went to the farmers market last week, I didn't feel the need to buy any of their produce, because we were either growing it ourselves, or we could go pick it ourselves for much cheaper.