Nobody said it has to be pretty.

The planning of our vegetable garden took forever. And ever. But I am here to tell you, folks, it is planted. You might be saying, "Well, it took you long enough ... hope those veggies actually grow." I am also here to tell you that we had frost two days ago. So, I'm really not off schedule.

The planning began with my purchase of Square Foot Gardening, reading it, rereading it, and then just skimming a lot (never quite finishing the whole thing).

As of yesterday we had a compost pile started, beds made and filled, and vegetables planted. Yesterday was a lovely day - Rosemary and I went to the library for story time and were surprised by a petting zoo, too. We also went to the park, played with some friends, and enjoyed a lovely lunch at home. I decided nap time would be a good time to figure out where I wanted to put all those friendly vegetables.

Rosemary went to sleep, I got all the seeds and plants organized, walked out to the garden beds and noticed ... they were in the shade. IN THE SHADE. I sat down in the nearby bench and simply stared at the garden for about 20 minutes. Then I came to the realization those garden beds weren't going to move themselves and I started shoveling out all the dirt (or actually "Mel's Mix" as the book calls it).

I thought it was going to be a rainy day today, but as it turns out the weather fooled me. It turned into a lovely day for planting, so Rosemary and I put on our planting clothes and headed outside.

We got all the square feet in the square foot gardens filled, and then realized we have more plants and more seeds. Those we will plant this weekend in the ground. I figure it will be fun to compare which we like better. The regular soil or Mel's Mix.



As you can see, we still have a lot of weeding to do and need to lay some woodchips or something. Weeds are one of the big reasons this square foot garden was appealing to me. Our landlord had a big space already cleared where she did a vegetable garden last year, but I don't want to spend my summer weeding, I want to spend it growing!

I couldn't believe what a good help Rosemary was. Last year the whole thing was super interesting to her for 30 seconds and then she wanted me to help her go down the slide, and help her run through the sprinkler, and help her do this and that. This year she wanted to help me, and when she started to get antsy, I suggested she play with some of her outdoor toys. She walked over to her lawn mower for about 30 seconds only to come back and say, "I just want to help you."

The two of us got all the vegetables planted in less than an our. What fun!



And now, since Rosemary helped me with all the planting. I get to spend her nap time out in the sun with a book (I've been reading The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. Very good). What a good day!