Grass!!

Our yard has begun! It took about 15 days for grass to sprout but it finally happened. I think my hesitation to waste water has been a detriment to its growth, but to be honset, I would rather pay less for water and have no yard. Anyway, the parts of the yard that get more water have begun to sprout small patches of grass and so we have a start to a new yard after almost a month of no yard.

From Stuff I Fixed

We also have quite a few seedlings coming up in the garden. I didn't get all of the vegetables planted this year so I will have to be better about it next year. In my defense, I had to build the garden boxes and get the soil going before I could get started planting. I did put some tomato and pepper seedlings in that I had pre-planted indoors in April, but nothing grew well inside this spring. I think it may be due to the weird weather changes we had. I got the final boxes built and filled. I planted lettuce in these two hanging boxes to keep room in the limited space I have for bigger plants.

From Stuff I Made

I hope I get a decent yield this season despite my laziness in getting everything done!

More projects complete

I finished the second raised bed for the garden on Sunday. I also dropped the posts for the hanging boxes. After I finished, dad came down and we seeded the back yard. We got a good rainfall that evening and now we have 4 or 5 days of sun, so hopefully we get some grass by the end of the week. I think I may need to water it, but luckily dad also brought me his old water softener tank to use as a rain barrel. I need to get it filled and up on a stand and then I need to get my gutter installed for the kitchen addition.

I decided to only go with 2 raised beds this year and add on to the garden later. This decision has mostly to do with money. It costs me about $30-$35 per bed for the lumber, not to mention the time that it takes to build and level the box. I like spending much of my free time with my family so I chose to be done with what I have. It should be more than enough to grow what we need for this year. After all is said and done, I have approx. 48 square feet of garden bed and I am planting the leafy vegetables in the hanging boxes. This year, from seed, I'm growing:

Roma Tomatoes
Heinz Canning Tomatoes
Cauliflower
Yellow Bell Peppers
Green Bell Peppers
Yellow Banana Peppers
Jalapeno Peppers
Serano Chili Peppers
White Onions
Green Onions
Lettuce
Spinach
Swiss Chard
Brussel Sprouts
Yellow Wax Beans
Snow Peas
Cucumbers (Pickling)
and a few other things I can't remember right now.

We will also have the herb garden out front and Gena is planting a pumpkin patch in the front yard somewhere as well. We also bought a blueberry bush to try to grow in the backyard somewhere.

All in all, we are going to have a huge garden eventually and hopefully we can get to a point where we no longer go to the market for produce. That is the goal, knowing where your food comes from and being self-sufficient.