Well, it took a while, but I finally got all four squares completed- yea! I mulched the first 2.5 squares before I ran out . It looks like I'll be making a trip to Lowe's! The onion bulbs I planted in the first square and the garlic bulbs planted in the second square back in January have come up and are growing nicely.  The have survived the 3 snow storms we've had since then- whew! I've also planted other seedlings that I started indoors in January, and even got the compost bin back up. Grass has been planted in the new walkways and it looks like everything is on it's way! Even the dog is excited! 4/6/10

My kids decided to get into the act this year, so we took  the extra landscape edging and made a new flower garden area around our tree in the backyard. They picked out the seeds and planted them, with a little help from Mommy. They chose two kinds of sunflowers, planted in a circle closest to the tree, lavender, in a larger circle, and marigolds at the outer edge. It will be gorgeous once everything starts growing!! They are so proud of their little garden, and I'm glad they're excited about it! 4/14/10

Here's a close-up the little sunflower seedlings starting to emerge: 4/14/10

Here are a few cute photos of the kids watering and having fun in the garden 4/6/10:

Transforming the garden for 2010!!

So, this year, I decided to change the garden from one long bed into four 4'x4' square gardens with small pathways inbetween each one, and really embrace the square foot gardening technique.  In this photo, I have the first square done, with a temporary grid in place. I have planted seeds and marked them.  1/21/10

My kids are helping me clear out the "old" : the dead tomato plants form last year and all the weeds. And then we'll be ready for the "new"! 1/18/10

Whew! The big gardening bed is finally cleared...
1/18/10

And the tomato cages are neatly stacked....

And here's my giant mess that needs cleaning up! Oooh, fun!

The vine garden- as it looked in January 2010. It's needing some TLC before the planting season!











Whew- the bed is all cleaned up and turned.










Next, I divided out the space. The shape and space for this area is awkward, but I think I divided it pretty well by basic "square foot gardening" principles. I "placed" each crop into a square on a plan drawn on paper. Seeing the whole garden laid out beforehand made it easier and faster to plant the seeds in the garden once it was ready.


The vine & lettuce garden planted with all the winter veggies: lettuces, broccoli, and peas- January 18, 2010. The kids had fun poking the little seeds into the ground. The planting goes MUCH faster when you have a plan in place!

Garden in the snow

Well, our 2010 garden plans have been coming along well.... until today. We had record snowfall here in McKinney, TX. and now the garden is buried under about 10" of snow!! The good thing is that most of the seedlings are indoors waiting for the last frost. Currently planted outdoors right now are onion bulbs, some strawberries, peppers, and some winter lettuces. I think everything outside will be OK, but we'll see! I hope so.


In the photo, you can see the first square of the garden, and my plant markers just barely peeking out of the snow. This was at noon. Now, at 2am, you can't even tell there's a garden out there. It just looks like a big white blanket! More pics and news for the 2010 garden will be along soon.

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Location:Quicksilver Dr,McKinney,United States