gardening with the boys, part 1

A couple of years ago we decided to start a raised-bed vegetable garden in our backyard.  Jared and I found some plans here, bought some non-treated wood at a hardware store, and got to work.  We had to change the dimensions a bit to accommodate the wood we found.

Our neighbors helped us measure, dig, and haul dirt.  (Thanks, Mike and Meagan!)

Jesse wanted to help too. 

Jesse wanted to build his own vegetable box....just like his Daddy.  (He was almost 3when we started gardening together!)

We've had some great success gardening in the box.  

Jesse (3 years-old) liked to checking out his beans, peas, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes.

Some of our lovely cucumbers

I know this is a picture of Jesse (4) squirting his cousin in the face with the sprinkler, but it also shows how pretty our garden is in the background.

Planting with Jesse (5) last year.

We've learned some things along the way... 

*  It's really not worth it for us to plant green beans, lima beans, or peas since they take up a lot of room, but don't produce very much food.  (This year we are planing just one row of peas in the back of the garden because Jesse REALLY wanted them, and they are totally fun to watch climbing up the lattice.)

*  You actually have to water the garden if you don't want all of your plants to die.  :)

*  We have some finches that call our back porch their home, and they insist on taking a bite out of every ripe tomato.  (I don't mind sharing some of them, but come on, birds!  We want some too!)  Bird netting helps to save some of the tomatoes for my family.

*  I've moved our herbs out of the box.  They take up so much room, and overwhelm the other plants.

Next post will be our plans for this year's garden!  I can't wait!!!!