Garden Update

My garden is growing, hooray!  I'm so excited! I know this is perfectly normal to most people, but since this is my first experience with gardening, I'm so thrilled to see the plants get bigger each week. Here's a little report on everything:

Box 1

Box 1, Front row--Strawberries and Petunias:
The strawberries aren't looking good. I have some kind of ugly brown beetle eating the leaves. After reading about all the problems I could have with strawberries, I'm thinking about pulling them out and doing something different. I've tasted a couple of them and they don't taste as good as the ones at the store. I like the petunias, even if I can't eat them. :)

Box 1, Back Row--Cantaloupe:
The Square Foot Garden book told me to plant one cantaloupe seed in each square and then take out the less dominant plant later so I would only have one plant every 2 squares. I'm not sure when that "later" was supposed to take place, but I finally took out 2 of the plants. It was very painful for me to pluck out anything that had grown, especially since they looked beautiful, but I decided I had better follow instructions. I had to take a picture before saying goodbye.

 Goodbye Cantaloupe plants

We built our trellis the way it said to do it in SFG book. (Liza, I would still like to hear how you do it). I was probably supposed to build the trellis sooner and train the cantaloupe up the vine before now but I didn't. I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to training this stuff. I'm just weaving it through the spaces and hoping it works!

Box 2

Box 2, Back row--Summer Squash and Cucumbers:
These plants are growing like crazy and taking over the garden a bit. I knew so little about gardening that I had no idea the leaves would be so huge!  SFG book said to plant a summer squash in two square feet if it was the vine kind. My seed packet didn't specify so I just hoped it was the vine kind. It doesn't look like it was. Now I'm trying to force it to stay within it's space with a tomato cage but it's probably supposed to spread out. We'll see what happens. My cucumber plant is growing nicely. I'm trying to train it up this tomato cage, I think I'll do a trellis for cucumbers next year instead of a cage.

Box 2, Front row--Onions, Pepper, Beets, and Tomato:
I think they're okay although the plants in back may be dwarfing them a bit. The leaves on the green pepper plant and beets aren't looking as good as they once did. I don't know how to tell when it's time to harvest the beets or onions but I suppose I'll figure it out. I need to go look at those seed packets again.

 My other tomato plant:

This thing looked almost completely dead a few weeks ago. We bought it in a container with a cage on top and thought we were supposed to leave it in there. However, it dried out and wouldn't absorb water no matter how much we tried. I wanted to chuck it but Jason thought it might come back to life if we moved it into a better pot with better dirt.   This is a quasi "before picture" but it actually looked worse than this:

 I guess Jason was right.  It is looking much better than this.

Herb Garden

Herb Garden--I've always wanted one of these and now I finally have one. I love fresh cilantro!  I also have basil, parsley and chives. I don't use the basil enough so if you need any, please come get some!  By the way, I'm glad I took a picture of this because Tanner accidentally knocked it off the next day. We tried to put Humpty together again and I think it's going to make it, but the plants don't look quite as strong as they did before the fall.

The backyard garden is the good news. My efforts in the front yard are not going so well. Did I mention that I don't like gardening in the actual ground?  Take a look at this:

Not what I was hoping for...

My poor hostas are burning up. I do water them daily but it turns out they are shade plants and I have them in full sun. They also like soil that drains well and my ground is full of clay. I think they may be gonners but I'm going to keep watering them. My roses are also suffering. They were blooming nicely for a bit, but now the leaves are turning red (what does that mean?) and the little brown beetle from the strawberry plant has moved to the rose plant.

Anyone know what this beetle is or how I get rid of it?

I still haven't removed the rocks or added mulch to this area and the weeds are taking over. This little plot of ground makes me sad. I'm tired of working on it and I will probably just live with it until I get ambitious next spring.

Final thoughts--My gardening attempts in the front yard have been very discouraging.  Thankfully, the attempts in the backyard with the square foot gardening method have been encouraging.  I think the square foot garden method rocks!  We haven't had any weeds in our boxes yet. If you try it, buy the Miracle-Gro garden soil from Wal-mart instead of making Mel's mix. It works great. Don't forget to put the weed-barrier down when you set up your boxes. Here is a week by week picture of the garden growing.   I'll add updated photos each week to this post.

GARDEN week by week

2 weeks after planting:

Box 1

Box 2

3 weeks after planting:

Box 1

Box 2

4 weeks after planting:

Box 1

Box 2

5 weeks after planting:

Box 1

Box 2

Cucumbers starting to appear

Yellow squash

Tanner

Tanner has been begging to make sugar cookies for awhile.  I've been wanting to cook with my kids more but they always want to do it when I have other things planned and even if I'm already cooking, let's face it--it's faster and less messy to do it myself!  I finally decided I needed a designated "cook with your child" day.  I rotate through the kids and give them each a turn to pick something they want to make.  I can plan ahead this way, get the ingredients we need, and mentally prepare myself for the mess! :)  When it was Tanner's turn, he finally got to make sugar cookies.  We did make a big mess but we both had fun!

He shared the cookies the next day with his preschool friends.  All the kids got to frost and decorate a cookie themselves. 

 Brinlee, Tanner, and Truman

By the way, we did a pre-school co-op with 3 other families this year and it was perfect.  It was only one day a week and only 4 children.  It was low-stress, low-pressure, and Tanner loved it.  Kayla loved when it was our turn to teach because she could help and be a little teacher herself.  I loved having the kids here too but I especially loved having Tanner gone one morning a week so I could do school with the older kids in peace! :)  It's amazing how much we could accomplish without him interrupting us.  I loved it so much that I've decided to actually send him to preschool next year.  I will miss him and I will miss the cute little kids that were in our group, but I think I will enjoy teaching my older kids for a few hours a week in peace.


While I'm talking about Tanner, I want to share a few things.  He turned 4 in February and I somehow missed writing about him. You never know how your kids will turn out when they get older, but I want Tanner to know that for the first 4 years of his life, he has been our little dream child.   There is a gap of 5 1/2 years between Hunter and Tanner.  We were hoping (and trying) to have children sooner but it just took a long time for it to happen.  As his birth approached, I got really scared about what it would be like to have a baby in the house again.  Things were getting pretty easy with 2 older children who could dress, feed, and entertain themselves.  We could go about anywhere and do anything.  I thought it would be a huge adjustment to go from 2 kids to 3 but it didn't feel that way at all.  It was just delightful. 

We have enjoyed every stage of Tanner's development.  Tanner has been easy in so many ways due to his mellow and easy-to-please disposition.  We didn't have to walk the halls with him at church because he would actually stay quiet during Sacrament meeting (definitely a change from our other children).  We were able to drop him off at Nursery at 18-months without any problem as opposed to Jason attending Nursery for 2 years straight with another child.  He hasn't thrown many tantrums in his life and when he does get upset, he isn't too hard to calm down.  He was even easy to potty-train!  He is an observer and loves to watch first, then jump in later.  He loves to build and tinker.  He loves to play with trains and cars and build with blocks.  He loves to give snuggles and my day isn't complete until I've had "morning loves," "afternoon loves," and "night loves".  He always delights me with the new things he is learning and doing.  Tanner is the kind of child that makes me want to have a dozen more children.  He isn't perfect but he is just right!  I love my little Tanner man!

My first garden

I have somehow managed to NOT plant a garden in the almost 12 years I've been married.  I've thought about it many times but it always sounded like too much work.  Jason has wanted to do it and attempted to do it but he really needed me on board to make it work! :)  He finally got me on board this year and we planted our first garden.  (So, I guess I've accomplished something since the new baby after all!).  We read the Square Foot Gardening book and tried to follow that method for the most part.  We kept it small with two 4x2 boxes.  I didn't want to burn out by over-doing it my first year.  Jason is in the process of building one more deeper box for carrots and potatoes (the only vegetables my kids will actually eat!).  So far, it has been exciting to watch the plants grow.  After reading all of the things that can go wrong (bugs, birds, disease, etc.), I thought I should take a few pictures now in case things don't work out later!

Squash, Cucumbers, Onions, Peppers, Beets, and Tomatoes

Cantaloupe, Strawberries, and Petunias (just for fun)

I got so excited about gardening that I decided to re-haul one of the beds in the front yard.  Some of my bushes had already died and I didn't like the plants that were left so I decided to do it over.  How hard could it be to dig up a few old plants and put in a few new ones?  Well...it is VERY hard when you have about a million rocks per square foot!!!  Thankfully, Jason did most of the digging.  He and a neighbor worked for a really long time to get this beastly rock out:

Tanner is just in the picture to show the size of the rock.

We planted rose bushes and hostas and now I'm just hoping they don't die in the rocky soil that is more clay than soil.  Look at all the rocks that are left around the plants:

Rocks, Rocks, and more rocks

Will it grow?

I need to haul those rocks away and add mulch but I'm not feeling nearly as excited about it all as I was in the beginning.  In retrospect, I should have just brought in massive loads of soil so I didn't have to dig at all, but I didn't think of that until we were done.  I guess I will do that next year if these plants die.

I've learned from this that I like growing things in pots and boxes but when it comes to gardening in the actual ground--count me out!

Jason's Birthday

Jason had a birthday 4 days after Archer was born.  Because I was freshly home from the hospital, he didn't get pampered as much as he should have been.  We try to spoil the birthday person for a whole week before their birthday but I'm afraid it didn't happen.  However, I did manage to make him homemade crepes and give him breakfast in bed on his birthday.  I had only been home 2 days and my mom hadn't yet arrived so hopefully that counts for something!

I wrote all about Jason last year on his birthday but I'll just say again that he is is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I'm so thankful to be married to him.  He is the best husband and best father.  He is an interesting fellow who loves to sit around and have deep philosophical discussions on all kinds of topics ranging from cartoons to politics and religion.  At the same time, he loves toys and he loves to play.  He is interested in all kinds of sports and constantly makes up new games and activities for the kids to do in our basement and elsewhere.  He is super fun and super funny.  He loves to tease but he does it in a friendly way and keeps me laughing.  He is supportive and wonderful and even sentimental at times (remembering occasions such as the anniversary of when we got engaged).  He is a fabulous person and even though I didn't spoil him enough on his birthday, I hope he knows how much I think he deserved to be spoiled! :)

Guess what Jason wanted for his birthday?  A sandbox.  He was sweet and asked his mom for something for the kids rather than for himself.  Tanner loved helping him put it together and the kids have enjoyed many hours of play.

Jason made his own birthday cake.  His mom is from Germany and once a year on her birthday I make her a German Chocolate cake from scratch which is so much more complicated than from a cake mix, believe me.  We all love it but it's something I can only bring myself to do once a year.  I about fainted when Jason told me he wanted it for his birthday only one month later!  I managed to buy the ingredients but that was it.  Jason was on his own while I took care of the baby.  I'll admit I had my doubts about him following the complicated recipe but he did it and it turned out fantastic.  I think I'll step down and let him be the cake-maker from now on! :)


I love you sweetie!

Life after Baby

Wow!  I knew things would be different after the baby came along but I REALLY underestimated how time-consuming a new baby would be.  Now that I'm not pregnant, I actually have energy to tackle a bunch of projects that have been neglected but I absolutely CANNOT get to them.  I can barely keep my head above water taking care of laundry, dinner, and attending to all my children.  I wake up every morning feeling cheerful and thinking that surely today I will be able to accomplish something--maybe I'll be able to write thank you cards, or balance my checkbook, or plant my bushes (that are dying because they have sat in the store containers too long), or update my blog, or clean-out my craft room, laundry room, office, etc.......I have a huge list.  By dinner time, I'm starting to get discouraged and that is when things really start to go downhill.  Archer tends to be his unhappiest when I'm trying to get dinner ready.  It doesn't matter if I've just fed him, he is still fussy.  This can last for an hour or five.  I still imagine that I'll attack some of those projects after we get all the kids in bed but by that time, I'm tuckered out and usually, I'm sitting around nursing....AGAIN. 

So, that is the hard facts of life with a new baby.  However, HE IS TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!!  I'm SO glad he is here.  I wouldn't give him up for all the time and accomplished projects in the world.  I just love and adore him.  He is starting to chunk up and I can't squeeze or kiss him enough.  My older children are a HUGE help to me.  They often take turns holding him when he is fussy and Jason is just magical at getting Archer to sleep...when he is home (basketball nights and late work nights are extra difficult now).  Thankfully, my kids had finished most of their classes (that we do outside of the home) around the time he was born so we don't have those assignments to do.  They are old enough to keep up on math and a few other basics without a lot of help from me and we definitely have time to read together while I nurse the hours away.  Life does go on and the baby is a wonderful blessing, even if he does change things.

Also on the bright side, I've been able to read and read and read.  It's the one thing I can do while I nurse and the Kindle makes it so easy.  (I'll have to give my review of the Kindle at another time).  I've discovered a new author that I absolutely love--Gene Stratton-Porter.  She wrote in the late 1800's, early 1900's.  I was able to get her books downloaded for free.  I've read seven of her books so far, my favorite is "Laddie."  I definitely recommend it if you like old-fashioned, classic-type books.  I love to read and now I have an excuse to do it quite often.

Well, I have a bunch of things I'd like to write about but it's after midnight so I'll just add a few pictures and get to bed.  I couldn't sleep so I thought I better steal away to the computer while I had the chance.  Most of these pictures are when Archer was a few weeks old.  We've had some camera problems lately so I'll have to add more recent pictures later.

Archer LOVES the bath! 

With Mommy

 With Tanner

Sleeping with Hunter

With Kayla

With Oma

With Grandpa

The two pictures with grandparents are only a week old so that is how Archer is looking now.  I'll try to get more pictures soon.

The next few pictures were taken right before Kayla and Hunter went to their performance of "Beauty is the Beast."  They've been going to a homeschooling acting class the last few months and just finished with a performance last week.  Kayla played "Beauty" who was a beautiful yet horrible princess.  By the end of the play, she learns that inner-beauty is more important than outer-beauty and she changes her unkind ways.  Hunter played a blind prince who married Beauty's sister.  I was planning to take more pictures but my scatter-brained head got the time of the play wrong so Jason didn't make it with the camera until it was nearly over.  (Sigh).

 Prince Acrime

 Princess Beauty