Garden Boxes

We have garden boxes! I've been planning these since last year. It's been quite an involved process, figuring out what we needed and collecting materials and getting everything put together.



Our first box (upside down). I got the corner posts drilled by two people in our ward who have drill presses (Brother Hill let me operate it myself, which was kind of fun.)



Dean Simmons came over one Saturday morning and spent a few hours helping us assemble boxes. HUGE help. (I was short on washers, so we didn't quite get everything together, but I was able to finish most of it on my own after this.)



Once the boxes were put together, I had to dig out the spots for them. I found an old Douglas Fir stump just below ground level. It was very rotten and soft, so I just hacked it with the shovel and got a lot of it out. (Hacking stumps is fun--it's therapeutic!)



Digging the spot for the last box.   Our best sun is along the south edge of the yard, right by the neighbor's driveway.  (We left the Red Hot Poker plant in the middle, because we like it.)



Two cubic yards of garden soil in our driveway. (On a cool and misty Garbage Day morning.) We didn't actually need the full two yards but they wouldn't deliver less than that. I got the 50/50 garden soil mix from McClain Soil Supply.  I did find a lot of foreign bits of shredded plasticky stuff in the dirt, and even a couple of pieces of broken glass, so I can't really vouch for the overall quality, but the plants do seem happy with it.



First plant in the ground!



Our four boxes all in a row, with tomato plants. Yay!  Big job.   I learned some things, and got to use power tools.  Lots of hard work, lots of two-shower days.    The white pipes on the sides are to hold trellis frames.  I haven't gotten those made yet.  (I need to find someone who can bend EMT conduit to specified dimensions.)

I was hoping to have this all done by the beginning of May, but hey, it's done, and we'll have it for next year.  And it's awesome. 



Baby pictures!  The Chocolate Cherry had me worried for a bit (it kept going droopy), but it has rallied nicely.  All plants are happy and growing well. 

I won't be able to grow twelve tomato plants every year, because of soil rotation needs, but we're just going crazy with them this year.  We may have tomatoes before August.  Can't wait! 

Hostas and Heucheras

The front of our house only gets sunshine in the morning, so I'm putting in a little shade garden.  (I should have gotten a "before" picture--it was so overgrown!)  I do like getting out and digging in the dirt.  Even when it's a bit rainy.  It's therapeutic. 

Everything seems to be doing well so far.  I really like the heucheras.  They come in lots of cool colors!

Wall Blocks

This is the front edge of our yard after I ripped out the ivy.  Pretty sad.



This is our next-door neighbor's yard. The contrast is striking.



Our neighbor has these wall blocks that come up to the edge of our yard.  I decided that the obvious thing to do was to get the same kind of blocks and continue the wall across the front of our yard.  I tracked down the blocks at Lowe's--regularly $1.98 apiece, so I kept checking back on the website to see if they would go on sale.



On April 10th I was heading over to that end of town to run an errand.  I remembered to check the Lowe's site before heading out, and saw that the blocks were finally on sale. (Yay!) So I went over and bought 76 blocks. My car is not big enough to transport 76 blocks, but the Lowe's guy and I loaded 25 into my trunk and I brought those home.



My first block in place! (This was so exciting.)



Miriam Webb helped me pick up the rest of the blocks the next day in her husband's truck. Lots of lifting! (According to the website they're 24 pounds each.) I did remember gloves, which help a lot with those rough edges.



I've been working on the wall a little at a time.  I wasn't able to get any done while the kids were home on Spring Break, but it's coming along!  I got this picture on April 25th. I'm almost up to the mailbox, at which point I'll probably have to stop till we get that taken care of.

I like having a project to work on outside.  I can go out and lay a few blocks while I'm waiting for Andy's bus to bring him home.   I've been finding a great many fat, happy worms. That must be some really great dirt. (I've acquired some groupies--the robins have started following me around.)

I realized that it probably would have worked better to dig out the whole edge at once, and then lay down the bottom line of blocks and get them straight, but no, I had to dig out and place each one individually. The wall does have some slight undulation, but it's really only noticeable if you stand directly over it. And once I get some things planted along there it won't show at all. Plus, I think the street is a bit crooked anyway. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

My First Daffodils

It's April!  And I have daffodils!



I've always loved daffodils, and always wanted a place to grow some of my own. They are all over town right now, but I'm enjoying being able to look out the window and see my very own little host of golden daffodils, tossing their heads in the breeze.


I'm looking foward to seeing them multiply every year.  After we get the front edge of the yard fixed up I want to put in some different kinds--maybe some of those pink double daffodils. Fancy!


Kate likes them too!

Coming Up Spring

One of the reasons why I was in a hurry to get all that ivy out was so I could put in some daffodil bulbs before it got too cold. I ordered a 40-bulb pack from Breck's and got them in the ground right before Thanksgiving.  They are starting to come up!  It's so fun to come out of the house every day and see the leaves poking up a little higher.  Can't wait for them to bloom!