Well folks, we’re officially gardeners! We got everything planted over the weekend while my in-laws graciously helped wrangle our dirt-magnet 15 month old. Overall, the actual planting process went smoothly and didn’t take a lot of time because we broke up the project over the course of a few days. This is partly due to the weather not cooperating and partly due to us being in a summertime lazy haze – aren’t you loving these warmer temperatures!?
Late last week we had our pre-mixed soil delivered, and my husband hauled it down into the backyard via wheelbarrow while I used a rake to spread it out evenly. Dane loved “helping” by grabbing fistfuls of dirt and shaking them all over including into his mouth. He especially loved the hose, which resulted in getting soaking wet and laughing his head off.
We ended up with a variety of veggies including 3 types of tomatoes, zucchinis and cucumbers, pole beans, I think 5 kinds of peppers, a spaghetti squash and we even threw in a watermelon to see what happens! Our garden was 8 feet by 4 feet so we knew we had plenty of space, but ended up purchasing a lot of “crawling” plants so it might get a little crowded! I am so pleased with how it turned out, and am grateful I did my research ahead of time so we didn’t go in blindly.
I do have a few day-of recommendations if you’re planting your garden for the first time that I’d like to share.
Utilize the toys!
Our garden is wayyy in the back of our yard, so we used Dane’s wagon to haul the plants, spade, rake, watering can, etc. all the way down to our garden, which saved us a lot of time and trips back and forth. Dane tried to protest because he thought he should be going for a ride, but in the end it worked out perfectly. We were able to use it for our temporary trashcan too – it held the empty plastic pots and any other waste we had during planting.
Invest in the right tools
I don’t mind digging in and getting dirty, but having a good pair of gardening gloves not only saved my manicure, but it made it a lot easier to dig down and create a better space to put the plants. I got these no-slip gloves, but there are many, many varieties to choose from! I also used a foam pad for kneeling because it’s nearly impossible to crouch down and reach to the center of the garden without hurting myself. Getting old is so fun, isn’t it?! 😉 It was a nice little cushion, and they’re SO inexpensive.
Map everything out before digging in
Because we used plants that were already started growing versus seeds, the day we bought our plants we were kind of at the mercy of what the garden store had available. My original planned garden plot kind of went out the window, and we had to be flexible. It was easy to place each plant in the garden still in their pot to make sure we had the correct spacing.
Enjoy the process
As I mentioned before, our little guy loves to “help” us with the garden, and it’s so fun to show him how to dig the holes and fill them back in with dirt. He’s starting to mimic a lot of what we say right now so the garden gives us a whole new set of words to learn.
Now we sit and wait and water, water, water. I am so anxious to see what the project will yield and can’t wait to start planning delicious meals from our harvests!
What are you growing this summer?
-Martha
Instagram: @marthaherdy
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Garden Series:
Gardening Newbie: Where to start
