Getting Closer to Green

A few of the blogs/sites that I follow have talked about Square Foot Gardening. I had toyed around with the idea of starting a garden this summer, and thought this method might be the perfect way for me to begin. I love the idea of working together as a family to grow our own food! I think it will be a great learning experience for Quin (and I)!

A square foot garden is basically a raised box that is visually broken up into square foot sections. Each square is planted with a different kind of plant, without empty rows between. There is easy access to all of the squares from the sides, making the space that the garden takes up very minimal. Our garden is 8x4 - so there are 32 square foot areas. I am far from being a gardener, so I am hoping that this will be an easier way for me to get my thumb a little closer to green.

I first mentioned my idea to Jason about a month ago and asked him to make the box for us. Within a week he built, stained and installed the box for me. It has taken me a couple of weeks to figure out the soil and what to plant - he makes me feel like such a slacker sometimes! I chose to plant things that I know we will eat - different types of peppers, cantaloupe, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, peas, butternut squash and different herbs like oregano and basil. We planted sunflowers along the back.

Last week Quin and I bought all of the plants, and this past weekend we planted everything.
She started out really interested, helping me dig holes and plant the front row. Unfortunately the swing set soon started to call her name :) Actually, that was alright. I think the back three rows took less time to plant than the first row.

I know it is hard to see the finished product - Jason put up the 'doggy fence' before I snapped the photo (there he goes being efficient again!). I am so excited to see if anything actually grows!