Our Little Garden Is Growing!!!

Last year we decided to start a garden around the end of June or July, I think. We had no idea what we were doing and we just kind of planted whatever, where-ever. We got about a handful of tomatoes and cucumbers and a couple really small strawberries. I was excited because I had grown my own food, but I eventually found out that we did not have a very productive garden at all.

That will not be the case this summer! This year, I decided to do a lot more research and we started around the beginning of April, so we had a lot more time for things to grow. I was reading Better Homes and Gardens and they mentioned a cool website called www.growveg.com. They have a free 30 day trial, so I tried it. They have a program that lets you map out your garden and it shows you how much space each plant needs to grow. Then they will send you emails about what you can plant indoors, outdoors or when to harvest. I even found some good articles about getting the most out of your garden.

We have the following plants outside in our garden right now: Broccoli, Strawberries, Cucumbers, Green and Yellow Wax Beans, Carrots, Lettuce, Spinach, and Peas. I'm still trying to get my tomatoes and peppers to sprout from seeds. It seems like it's just not quite warm enough for them though. I also planted some herbs right outside our back door, so we have Basil, Cilantro, and Parsley too!

Hopefully we will have a much more successful garden this year than last year. Having read about it a lot more, I think we will definitely get a lot more out of it.

Here is a before and after picture (I think they are 2 weeks apart). I'm amazed at how fast things can grow! If anyone has any tips to pass along, I'd love to hear it!
We also have a new friend. He was out and about one time when we first moved in, around a year ago, and Eric kind of got freaked out. He refused to go outside for a while. We saw our little friend again from inside when we were getting ready to leave the house and Eric kind of freaked out again. He tried banging on the side of the house even though the raccoon was clear on the other side of the yard. It was actually really funny. We ended up taking the long way to get to the car so we could avoid contact with our furry little friend!