how does your garden grow?

Here we are again - another year of gardening! Last year was the first year that we actually tackled a garden, and Little Miss Blueberry LOVED it!! She loved planting the seeds, watering, and then picking the veggies. So we got excited this year to get going with the garden.......a little TOO excited, in fact. We decided to plant the seeds at the end of March. GULP. We learned something from this. In these here parts, that's TOO. EARLY.

Here's Steve reading over the directions with Little Miss. She's making sure he does everything correctly!

Next is the careful and precise placement of the seeds.

She was quite fascinated with the different kinds of seeds. We used a little ready-set-go type greenhouse that has the little dirt pods that you water, then put the seeds into. BAM. You've got a garden. Put the lid on and watch the magic happen!

A week later, this is what we had! A very curious set of eyes couldn't stay away from the garden.

Fortunately, I failed to take pictures of the in-between stage from what you see above and what you see below. Here's the deal....since we planted SO early, the plants quickly got out of control. We had to REplant everything into bigger pots and leave them inside for awhile (because around here, an Easter or May snow is NOT unheard of...). When it got warm enough, we put them out on the deck and they basically baked themselves into oblivion since the deck gets full sun. They all started growing together...some started dying because they didn't have enough space...it was getting a little ridiculous, really. By the time this last weekend rolled around, we still had some beans and peas that were makin' it, and then of course, the giant ball of zucchini and cucumber plants that had grown together. Our tomatoes and peppers could not be saved, so Steve picked up a few at Agway. Oh, and let's not forget the blueberry bush he decided to snag. ;)

So here's the garden now! We just had the one box last year (on the left) and realized we just didn't have enough space. So he threw together another one!

Here's my sweet hubs working on the second garden box...and his tan. ;) And Belle, of course, was barking incessantly at the staple gun. After all, she IS the boss around here.

Here's a shot of the zucchini/cuke box. I think those are beans in the back. Are you loving the stakes and yellow yarn trellace?? I think it works.

Then here are the tomatoes and peppers. Our neighbor told us that he grew some fantabulous cantelopes a few years back but that he won't plant them again since they took over his whole garden. We're contemplating doing another box, just for cantelopes!! If that's the case, we better get on that.

So, here's hoping to a summer full of fresh veggies!!