The Vegetable Garden

One of the things that my husband and I both enjoy is gardening, although, I do have to say he does a majority of it now that we have children.  We planted a garden last year, but it was right after we moved in, and there wasn't as much planning and preparation as there should have been.  Once the fall came, Bradley took quite seriously the task of researching gardening in our area, looking at seeds, ordering seeds, and even starting to prepare the ground for another crop.

A few weeks ago he took some time off from work and spent almost all of his spare time making some beds for our garden.  We are blessed to have an easement behind our fence, which borders a large piece of property that doesn't get used.  It's our requirement to maintain the easement, so rather than just leaving it bare, we decided to make the most of it and plant our garden there.  

Bradley did a little bit of research before making these beds, but most of his design was purely from his own head!  He amazes me!

You may notice some red paint on the wood in this picture.  When you shop at Lowe's or Home Depot, be sure to look for carts of discounted wood.  A lot of the wood he used for our garden was marked down to $.50 or $1 or so.  These pieces may have some imperfections, but they are perfect for use in a garden.

A majority of our beds are framed with wood, but there are some areas that are simply marked with rocks.  A friend let us pick up a truck load of manure from his horse farm so Bradley incorporated that, and some hay, into the soil.

This is the second level of the garden.  I love walking in the garden at sunset!

Some yellow squash are already starting to do great.  Bradley started everything from seeds this year, and so my dining room table has been a greenhouse for the past month.  I think it's well worth it, though, to get this many plants from a packet of seeds that costs less than $2.  You can't beat that!

Cherry tomato plants going strong!

This trellis is for some cucumbers that Bradley is trying out.  Apparently they are climbing cukes, so it will be fun to see how they take off.

 Not only does Bradley work on the vegetable aspect of the garden, he also tries to make it fun for the girls {and convenient for me} by building bridges for us to walk across the drainage ditch.  Our neighborhood is still being developed, so we often find scrap lumber and wood pallets in various lots; we try to put them to good use.

As I said this garden is behind our fence, so it's quite a ways away from the house, and the hose.  The other day, Bradley dug a trench through the yard and up into the garden so that we could bury a hose and have a water source right in the garden.  This will make watering so much easier.

I originally wanted to make some pallet art out of these pallets, but Bradley snagged them first and made two bridges.  I rather like his invention!

 Here are some more plants that are almost ready for the transplant to the garden.

We're praying for a bountiful crop this year!  It really is satisfying to 'work the land' and see the fruit of your labors.  I'm so thankful for Bradley and all the hard work he puts into our yard.  Thanks, honey!


Linking to Centsational Girl's Garden Link Party