Planting the Garden

Next in the gardening saga is putting the plants in the dirt. I set them out to get an idea of spacing and where I wanted them. I worked pretty quickly since it was cold and windy.



Here are some tomato's.



Here are some corn and squash.



I am still looking for a better way to water them but they are looking good so far!

The Garden Bed

Our plants are getting bigger and bigger which means we needed to get to work on our raised garden bed. The bed will be located on the side of our house and will measure 19 ft by 37 inches and 12 inches high. The plan had been to build it last week but it turns out its hard to get long pieces of wood when you don't have a truck. Mike's friend Brian has access to a truck and agreed to help us this last weekend. First though we needed some dirt. I priced buying soil for our bed but that was way out of our budget so I turned to Craigslist. A guy named Joe who called himself Joe Dirt had what we wanted and Mike and Brian headed out to get a load of dirt. When they got back they unloaded it.

Here you can see the area where we will be putting the bed and the pile of dirt.

Today despite the cold, windy weather we were determined to get it built. Katie has to be bundled up of course but she was ready to work.

We got started by putting together L shaped pieces in the garage since it was a little less windy there.

Once they were done we moved them outside. I had picked 20 ft long board but apparently you cant drive with those hanging out the back of the truck so they were cut to 19 ft and the extra foot will be used to join the lengths together.

Mike had to get creative here because the screws were not long enough, eventually they went in at an angle.

Once it was together I laid down newspaper which is supposed to be a weed barrier. Mike had to follow along and put dirt on it right away to keep it from blowing away. 

Katie watched, giving her support. 

After the newspaper it was time to move dirt, a lot of dirt.

At about the half way point we added a bag of garden soil.

Then I put down some egg shells, ash from the fireplace and fertilizer then of course more dirt.

Once it was fill of all the dirt (somehow we ended up with just enough) we added two more bags of garden soil.

The finished product.

A little close up.

Herbs

Last weekend I bought some herbs to supplement the basil that I had growing. I got some parsley and cilantro. Using some pots that were left at the house by the previous owners and some potting soil I got things going. 

I used potting soil which made things really easy.

My Mom, brother and Caramel the dog were visiting so I had their help along with Katie relabeling our other seedlings.

Using permanent marker to make labels is working out so much better.

I cant wait to start cooking with the herbs, I did use a tiny bit of the cilantro other night in dinner.

Garden - Planting the Seeds

The next step in my garden attempt was to plant some seeds. Last Wednesday Mike took Katie for a little while and so I planted some seeds.

My supplies are some craft sticks, a marker, peat pots, soil and of course seeds. I took a lid from a damaged tote box to hold everything.

I put soil in the pots, planted the seeds and then wrote the name of what was planted on the stick.

Soon I had a lot planted.

I decided to use the smaller pots for the herbs.

Now the one thing I would change would be to use a permanent marker or some other way to label the pots, my felt pen comes off when the sticks get wet. However the good news is that this morning when I went out to water the plants this morning I saw some green!

Its hard to see in the picture but the spinach, lettuce, parsnips and beets have all sprouted so far, very exciting!

Baby Legs

Baby legs are sort of like leg warmers for babies. They keep their legs warm but still allow easy diaper access, the only problem is the cost, they can be pricey. We have had a pair my mom bought that Katie wore about once a week. However at our last Mommy & Me class one baby was wearing a neat strip pair. The mother showed them off and explained she made them from a pair of knee high High School Musical socks. Of course, that's so simple!

So to start, some girls knee high socks found on clearance, $.25 a pair.

Cut them before the heel.

Then again after the heel.

Next cut off the toe.

Now you can get rid of the heel and toe, fold the foot piece in half, right side out, it will become the bottom cuff.

Turn the leg piece inside out and sew the cuff to the raw edge with a zigzag stitch.

Its a little hard to see on the black socks but it works! Here is Katie modeling them:

She seems to like them, she can wiggle her toes and see them! My Mom sewed these black and white ones, she also found several spring pairs of socks that will make some awsome baby legs.