The gardens are in

I said it couldn't be done. I should never have doubted. I wanted to not plant one of our gardens this year, thinking we would just be too busy with two tiny kids. I thought it would be very difficult to do so with two tiny kids to care for. I wanted to fill in the back garden with pumpkins or a cover crop, just for this year.

So far, I'm wrong...and I'm happy to admit it. Tom did the bulk of the planting work. I helped to prep and plant when I could, but my main goal was to take care of the kids while he was out there so he could pay full attention to the task at hand. When we were out there together, we had some, uh, "help" with planting, in the form of two little toddler hands, and that actually--to my surprise--worked out well. Liesl is a natural at gardening (she should be, given her genes!) I've found that Tom and I are even more productive with two kids than we were with one. Possibly because we now fully understand that the little time we have is precious...we make the most of it.

The front garden is always the main event. We "scaled down" this year to only (yes, I said "only") 74 pepper plants, down from 98 last year. There are also 8 tomato plants...but our tomato plants are always huge, thanks to absolutely gorgeous black dirt and mounds of homemade compost. In the back garden, we planted five rows of corn, 3 zucchini mounds, cucumbers, herbs, and various cutting flowers. I have been working on the perennial garden around our back patio. The backyard has really shaped up in the 9 years we have lived here.

In addition to the two large 20x25' veggie gardens, we also have a raspberry patch, a large herb garden, and many annual and perennial flower beds.

Daddy's little helper

Tom took this video of Liesl "planting" rocks in the corn rows. The kid thinks you stick it in the dirt and water it, and it'll sprout. Hey, she's thinkin'! :-)

The prettiest posy in the patch :-)

This is our raspberry patch. The fence structure behind it holds our compost pile. About 95% of our yard waste and kitchen scraps go in our compost, which is then put back into our gardens.

Tomatoes, Week 1

Main Pepper and Tomato gardens, Week 1

Front of the house--wax begonias. I plant 3 flats of begonias in this section every year.

The perennial garden in the backyard, off the patio. I still have some work to do. Liesl also helps me weed this area...and she's actually quite good at it. She can tell an Edelweiss plant from a weed. "Edelweiss" is my father's nickname for Liesl.

I purchased some new perennials this year: cranesbill geraniums and obedient plant. I'm hoping, uh, that the later rubs off on Liesl...anyway, both perennials will be planted this weekend.

These are ornamental pepper plants in a planter. The three darker plants with purple-ish leaves are called Pretty in Purple. The lighter plants are called Prairie Fire. The fruits of both are edible, but we don't usually eat them, we try to save them for seed. They are always very pretty.

View of the back garden, which has been planted with corn, zucchini, cucumbers, and herbs.

Pepper garden with potted geraniums. The pots add a dash of color, but their primary purpose was to protect the garden plants when we drag the hose and sprinkler all over the yard.
Like Alton Brown, we love a multi-tasker. :-)