Yay! Garden time again!

Well, after taking about 30 minutes to reset my password (which turned out to be the same that blogger didn't "recognize") I finally got in to do some updating. Obviously, it's been a while since I blogged and I always try to say I'll do better. Reality check! I have little desire to do this every day and I often don't even think about it for a while. Anyway, here's what's been going on up in la casa Potter.

As many of you know we recently bought a house with about an acre of land. I really wanted to have a pretty large garden and was incredibly excited about the possibilities. Here's the downfalls: 1) Soil needs serious preparation; 2) Trees/garage are in the way of full sun; 3) There's no plot already here; 4) Prior owners used the backyard as a trash depository (you cannot imagine the fun things we've found in the backyard and this is BEFORE digging! Imagine our surprise when we get a deer bone next to a syringe); 5) Soil is clay (difficult to work with, great to hold in water and nutrients) so this is a pro/con thing. I think that basically covers the fun. So, we've spend the long, long January/February planning out our new garden plot/s. We decided that the cut off tree stump in the PERFECT spot will stay there. We are going to do two smaller raised beds (about 4x8) avoiding the stupid tree stump (who's roots I can only guess are still there, hehe). Then the main, larger garden will be further down in the area. One bed is for strawberries, which we've never dallied with so that will be fun. The other will be for the "cold" veggies, radishes, lettuce, broccoli, cabbage and brussels sprouts. The main garden will have entirely too many things to list out right now. New things we are trying include eggplant and sweet corn. We finally have enough room to try for the corn, but we'll see how that goes. We will be fighting with all the normal things, including deer and raccoons.

On Sunday, Paul and I started cleaning up some of the tree limbs that fell over the winter during ice storms in preparation to get the raised beds going. I ordered strawberry plants from Gurney's and have no clue when they will ship so want to be ready for them. Tasha and her daughters, Macy and Brooklyn, came over and the girls ended up providing us with some seriously cheap child labor as they had a good time running branches up to me and mommy. Here's some photos of them having a great time.

Helping mommy burn the limbs (shhhh...we weren't burning anything according to Missouri Law, hehe)

Macy handing Auntie a BIG limb (according to her, she's STRONG!!)

Brooklyn showing her Tiritilli roots. She's breaking that twig over her leg like a true Ranger Girl!

Macy has no limits. She hopped right into that pile of brush. Brooklyn is busy telling Mommy on Macy.

This is a true action shot. Macy in full run and Dinkleman (the blur of black) charging after her.

Mommy and Macy in a picture so DAMN cute, I can barely handle it.

After all that hard work, the kids needed an airplane. Here, Brookie is getting tossed.

And Macy's turn!

So that was our fun-filled Sunday. This Sunday SHOULD be a day of building the framework for the raised beds. The exciting thing is, last Saturday, Tash and I planted some seeds (broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts) and even though she said her notoriously non-green thumb will surely kill the seeds, they are growing! Yay! It's always like a little miracle when the seeds do their thing. Check out the photo!

Sprouts!

I'll try to keep track of all the wonderful garden changes and keep those who care (those two people in the world that is) informed of the fun!

Belinda