square-ish foot gardening

Deran bought this book several months ago, but it wasn't until Easter weekend that we actually planted our garden. It was originally going to be 4x4 but once the area was cleared it looked...small. Like, really really small for all the veggies I wanted to plant. So because we had three, eight foot boards, we decided to go with a 4x8 garden. Deran ran out of twine so there's one row of squares and then some rectangles. According to his book that means we don't really have a square foot garden. And Deran follows the book. Whatevs.

My always helpful Aunt Wanda was in town and over helping us. Going with a bigger garden meant going back to the store for more supplies. A big thank you to Mike at Lowe's! Mike, if you ever happen to stumble across this blog, please know that you are awesome sir. The end.

Oh wait, the garden! I intended to document the whole process from building to gathering the harvest. But Internet, Deran and Aunt Wanda made me WORK. I had to carry heavy bags of soil, plant seeds, and tend to a toddler. So even though it hasn't grown as much as a certain helpful aunt expected, it's shaping up pretty well. We started out with two tomato plants, two pepper plants, and seeds for cucumbers, squash, and okra. Surprisingly, everything has actually sprouted! Though when things first started coming up I felt very much like I was in this scene (around the 5:37 mark) straight out of Second Hand Lions. Seriously. It all looked the same! But with the passing weeks it's changed and I think (hope!) we're on our way to some fresh summer veggies.



I think I'm most proud of the okra, which is crazy since I didn't even plant those seeds. But they all came up and I was so excited! Then there was a tragic accident while I was weeding one afternoon. Avery, my ever-present garden assistant, was also doing some weeding. We lost an "oat-doh" and some squash. In her defense, she saw me pulling things out and she was just trying to help.



Last night while I was giving the garden a little bit of water, I left Avery on the patio eating her dinner. That's right, she ate a lunchable for dinner. See, Deran was cooking dinner last night which meant we wouldn't eat until half past NEVER because he's the slowest cook ever. So I took Avery outside with me for a picnic. She only eats the "hom." I love the way she says ham, kind of proper.



For the last two days she's only wanted to wear WHITE! shirts and nothing else. If we're not in public, it's hard to keep pants on the girl these days. Sadly, the white shirts don't stay white for long. It's okay though, she's awfully cute.