Vegetable Garden...Take two

The spring after Mark and I were married, I decided to try my newly domesticated hand at gardening. I was 3 months pregnant with Chloe and for the first time in my adult life I didn't have to go to work.

Me plus no job somehow equaled a vegetable garden.

I was a little overzealous in that first endeavour. Making my poor husband plow a 20x20 plot on a patch of ground that was pretty much boulder with a bit of dirt sprinkled on top. I planted corn, pole beans, squash, cucumbers, watermelon, pumpkins, potatoes, tomatoes and herbs.

Unfortunately the plot not only lacked proper soil...it also lacked proper light. If I'm not mistaken, my total crop yielded a few scraggly cucumbers and maybe a stray squash or two.

Me plus no job plus garden = FAIL.

It was definitely a learning experience though. I learned enough to know better than to try a second attempt in our second home that had the same crappy soil and the same lighting issues.

For the last 10 years I have yearned for the earthy taste of home-grown tomatoes, grilled squash and cucumber salad fresh from my backyard. And finally, I am about 2 weeks from a dream come true.

The lighting in the backyard of our third (and final) home is absolutely perfect! In order to overcome any soil issues and to avoid tilling up the lawn, Mark built raised beds for my Mother's Day gift.

Behold garden bliss:

Here are the squash and cucumbers just after planting...



And here they are last week...



16 happy tomato plants one week after planting...

And last week...

I am so freaking excited!!!

I also have an assortment of herbs and peppers in a third bed, but they are less exciting at the moment.

*side note: I'm reemerging from a creative and domestic funk that threatened to swallow me whole and I'm feeling more creative and more domestic (and I use the word domestic very loosely) than ever.