Gardening

I have found that I'm much better at gardening when it's indoors. Perhaps it's the table and chair and the ability to put the plant up where I can reach it without bending down. The kids and I have been enjoying inside gardening. They love to pick up new seeds every time we go to the store and we have a large variety of vegetables growing now - broccoli, tomatoes, basil, zucchini, pumpkins, cauliflower, cantaloupe, sunflowers, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, cabbage, lettuce and of course, beans!

Beans are my favorite to grow... so easy. We've been experimenting with different ways of growing them (in glass with a paper towel, in plastic containers in soil, using peat moss pots, etc.). So it's been fun to watch. The two pictures below are one day - the first was taken in the morning and the second was taken in the early evening. Crazy!

I made some wire stands to help them stand up until we transplant them. They seem to be working great... if they work up until I transplant them, then I'll share how I made them. For now though, they are still in the testing phase.

In addition to all the seed planting, I've been redesigning our backyard. We've tried the grass for five years now and have finally admitted that it's not for us (we are great at growing weeds though). I let the kids have one last hurrah in the weeds before their dad cut them down. As an adult, all I can think of is all the bugs that are in there... but as kids, they had a great time. Of course, I kept my feelings to myself.

The new backyard will have raised planter beds and stones for walking. That's about it (we have a small backyard). It'll be a functional backyard. I'm hoping this one will work for us. I've planned it out in four phases, with the majority of it being completed by the fall. I'll try to share our progress here.