Raised Bed Gardens: Produce!!!

It's been a while since I posted about our raised beds.  They have done absolutely wonderful!  We have harvested way more produce than any summer before! 

Here is the most recent harvest. 

We had a lot more zucchini than what is in the picture, but we've been cooking and eating it like crazy! I've been most impressed with our potato harvest.  I planted about 16 seed potatoes and so far we've harvest about 10 pounds of potatoes and there is still more in the garden that we haven't dug up yet!  Our tomatoes are turning red daily and are absolutely delicious!!!  Now we are starting to think about planting some fall vegetables where the potatoes were.  So much fun!

 

Father's Day Gift

So I know that Father's Day was 2 weeks ago now, but I just had to share Ainsleigh's gift for her daddy!

I was pinspired by this sweet little girl!

It was difficult to find the time to take the pictures because Daddy was home with her all week while I was finishing my last full week of school.  When I got home in the evenings he said he needed some adult time! Ha!  So on Saturday morning, she got up a little before six, ate and then I got her dressed and took her out to our backyard.  It really only took us about 5 minutes to get these pictures!  She is such a happy baby!  The last "D" is my favorite!  After we took the pictures, I even changed her outfit so he wouldn't know when we took them (sneaky :D)
A quick trip to Wal-Mart to print the pictures and buy the frame and now the Amazing Hubby has an adorable reminder to how much his little girl loves him to put in his new office!

What did you do for Dad for Father's Day?

Adventures in Raised Gardening Part 3: Build, Rebuild, Plant, and SNOW?!

So I'm really behind on my garden posts, so this is going to be a long one.

About two weeks ago, after we had all of our supplies in the backyard we actually built the two beds.  It was a much longer process than I thought it would be, but with the hubby's help, we managed to get it finished in one night.  I used a stamper to level the ground and laid the first level of cinder blocks.  Then we started adding the second layer, but had to leave some room to put all the dirt and other soil stuff in the beds.  We learned after the first bed to add the peat moss, compost, and vermiculite before adding all the top soil - basically like this: add half top soil, then all the good stuff, then the rest of the top soil.  Here are the process pictures.

  After we had the beds built and ready to go, we had some rain.  A LOT OF RAIN!  Great news for our the dry land left behind from last year's drought, but not so great for our garden.  We had discussed reinforcing the walls with re-barb but decided to wait and see how things settled.  We should have reinforced first.  Our backyard slopes ever so slightly to the West and so all the rain washed down our little slop and made the farthest wall buckle and start coming apart.  We went to the store and discovered that re-barb is expensive so we opted for wooden stakes instead.  We'll probably have to replace them in a couple of years, but hey, they only cost $7.  My wonderful hubby fixed the walls in the midst of some more drizzle.  We didn't want any more damage before we got around to fixing everything.  Have I mentioned how amazing he is???

 We had been having some cold nights still so I waited until April 29 to plant everything.  I put mostly roots in the bed closet to the house and my tomatoes in the other bed.  Here is how the beds are roughly laid out.

	Better Boy Tomatoes		Pepper
Grape Tomatoes		Celebrity Tomatoes
	Better Boy Tomatoes		Carrots	Eggplant
Grape Tomatoes		Celebrity Tomatoes	Carrots
	Better Boy Tomatoes		Carrots	Eggplant
Better Boy Tomatoes		Celebrity Tomatoes	Carrots

Potatoes	Potatoes	Potatoes	Onions	Summer Squash
Potatoes	Potatoes	Potatoes	Onions
Potatoes	Potatoes	Potatoes	Onions	Summer Squash
Potatoes	Potatoes	Potatoes	Onions
Potatoes	Potatoes	Potatoes	Onions	Summer Squash
Potatoes	Potatoes	Potatoes	Onions

Here are the beds after everything was planted. The bed are the bottom right is where all my roots are.  One thing I did different this year is put mulch on top of everything.  I've read it helps with water retention.  We'll see!

After planting everything on Monday, we had freak weather on Friday and by freak I mean SNOW!!!!  Yes, we had snow on May 3rd!!!!  It was latest snowfall ever recorded in the state of Arkansas. I covered the tomatoes with a sheet and the snow just fell on the sheet. We covered them the next night too because temps were below freezing.  So far, it looks like my tomatoes survived the weather.This is what my beds looked like after the snow.

Here is my precious little girl out in the snow!  She thought it was AWESOME!!!

    Unfortunately, my summer squash has not made it.  I think that has more to do with too much sun than the snow, though.  The snow melted before the day was over and now we are back to nice spring weather.  I'm watering every other day when it doesn't rain and using Miracle Grow once a week to help everything grow big and strong.  I'm so excited to see how everything grows this year with all the changes I've made to my gardening ways.  I'll post updated pictures as everything really starts growing!

Adventures in Raised Gardening: Part 2 - Supplies and Preparation

Ok, so let me just say this project was A LOT bigger than I thought it was going to be.  I think that it is one of the bad things about Pinterest is that you think, "Oh, this will be so easy!  I can do that!"  While yes we were going to do it, the process was much longer drawn out than I thought it would be!

So first, the planning.  The first thing I did was plant some seeds in a seed pod thing that we actually bought last year and didn't ever end up using.  I planted tomatoes, summer squash, lettuce, spinach, and banana peppers.

Then I mapped out where and how big I wanted my gardens to be.  I wanted them away from the house but with plenty of room around them to walk and sit when actually gardening.  I decided on two 4 by 8 foot beds made two cinder blocks high.  Our house faces West and the bed are on the side of the yard that gets the most sunlight for all my full sun plants!  Then we went to our local nursery, and asked lots of questions.  They were so helpful and we left with a list of what we would be back to buy once the yard was more prepared to handle all of the soil we would be needing.

Here was our list of supplies:
72 4x4x8 cinder blocks (I went with the skinnier ones so they would take up less space)
2 cubic yards of top soil
2 bags of peat moss
5 bags of mushroom compost
2 bags vermiculite

We also had to get a wheelbarrow, a flat-head shovel, and a stamper. All told the supplies came to around $300 dollars.  It's a big investment up front, but I figure next year we will just have to add a little compost and we will be good to go.  Here's the hubby pushing the cinder blocks through Lowes.

Next we had a lot of digging to do.  We had to scalp the yard of the grass.  First we measured out the space.  Then I dug out the outline by myself.  then the hubby came in and did the grunt work. I promise, I helped.  He's just not into taking pictures while working!

Now our space is ready for the bricks and soil!!!

Who could forget our little garden baby!  Isn't she the cutest ????

Adventures in Raised Bed Gardening - Part 1

When we moved into our house in August 2009, I was so excited that there was some space right next to the house for a little garden.
My mom had grown tomatoes growing up and it was always fun to go out and pick the sweet red cherry tomatoes and eat them before we could get inside.  I knew that come spring, I wanted to a garden of my own.  With the help from my wonderful hubby we set to work that first spring to create a garden.

The space is about 15 ft by 3 ft. Over the past 3 summers, I've grown strawberries, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, chives, sage, peppers, green beans, cucumbers, cabbage, spinach, and probably something else I'm forgetting.  I never grow very much of any one thing, but it's always part of my spring/summer that I look forward to.

This year, I've been Pinspired to create a raised bed.  My gardening board on Pinterest is a source of great information and fun ideas.  I knew I wanted to do something totally different this year.  I wanted first to move my garden away from the house because I can't get to the backside of it and the weeds always grow back there.  I also really wanted to take a stab at a raised bed. I've seen lots of different versions of raised beds - pre-made kits, fence posts, plain wood, and cinder block. For my garden, this year I've decided to use cinder blocks for my raised beds.  These are some of my pins that pinspired me!

I'm so excited to get started!  I've got my list of supplies, my layout planned, and my seeds planted (indoors)!  I can't wait to show off the process and progress of my new gardens! Our last freeze date is April 15 so this next week, I will be in full garden mode!  

Hello, Again!

So...It’s been awhile since I blogged.  Nothing makes you busier than being a new mom.  I’m on my last week of maternity leave and what better way to end my time at home than to pick back up blogging?  Like I don’t need anything else to keep me busy.

Being a mom is the best job in the world.  My sweet little Ainsleigh is the light of my life.  She is growing so fast!!!  She has been a wonderful baby and is so very happy!  She is a petite but healthy little girl.  There have definitely been some trying times, like realizing your daughter doesn't like processed meats after a great hot dog or the fact that she always has major blowouts in my favorite zebra pants - literally, 3 times!  But when she smiles, and rolls over, and practices her wuh, wuh, Webber everything is right in the world.  Here are a few of her newborn and 3 month pics from my amazing photographer friend Katie Brockmeyer.

There are so many more pictures I could post, but I want to get back to the reason I started this blog.

Back to the blog...

My original purpose of this blog was to share the projects I've attempted from pinterest.  I am a self-proclaimed pinterestaholic and am constantly going back to my boards to find new inspiration pinspiration.  That is my plan again.  I want to share what I am doing in my little world with a little help from Pinterest.  I have several projects that I will be ready to share in the coming days and I am so excited!!!  Stay tuned!

36 Weeks!

How far along: 36 weeks

Total weight gain: + 23 lbs- up 4 pounds from last dr. visit

Maternity clothes: All maternity now.   Having to do lots of laundry to make sure I have clothes.  Trying not to buy anything new with only a month left to go.  

Stretch marks: None on my belly, but definitely on my breasts

Sleep:Got lots of extra sleep this past week being out of school - it was my thanksgiving gift to myself.  Had a couple of nights of not waking up until 6 or 7 and that was AWESOME!!!!
Labor Signs: Been having some contractions in the last couple of days.  Not sure if they are Braxton Hicks or the real thing.  They don't last too long but they do hurt. 

Symptoms:  Leaking, hip pain, lower back pain, numb spot on my right leg, numb spot on my left shoulder, acne like a teenager, tired all the time, sore ribs from all the kicking and punching.

Best moment this week: Being out of school!  This meant extra sleep, getting to see our family in Tulsa, and spending some quality time with the hubby!  I really was able to relax a whole lot which doesn't happen very often.  

Miss anything: Being able to wear all my own clothes, Sushi, not being tired all the time, being able to put my shoes on without pain. 

Movement: She is still moving around like crazy.  My whole stomach moves when she does.  She also has the hiccups on a pretty regular basis. 
Food Cravings: Donut holes - haven't given into this one, apples and caramel, LOTS of apple juice, fruit - oranges, apples, grapefruit.  

Anything make you sick or queasy:ground beef still out, dead animals on the side of the road

Gender: GIRL!  Ainsleigh Ryen.

Belly Button in or out: in getting way smaller and flatter

Wedding rings on or off: on and with the cold weather they are also pretty loose most days.

Mood: Feeling good lately.  Really ready for the next few weeks to go by.  

Looking forward to:   Getting the house ready for Christmas, Waiting to wait for Ainsleigh in this season of Advent.