The Garden Idea!

The Beginning

As I start researching what was the best way of saving money, thus living a satisfyingly simple life, one theme kept coming up and up again. Gardening. Growing your own food.
 I remember weeding my moms flowers as a child and I hated it. She would plant a few plants of onions, tomato's, and zucchini for each year and that would be the garden.

 I hated this idea of gardening. It looked and sounded like a bunch of work and time I just didn't have. As time went on I finally spoke with Krik on this situation. He asked me if I was up for a challenge. I answered in the most sarcastic tone I could "Challenge! Really! I can do anything I put my mind to!"
Smiling he said "Then challenged you are." I was challenged because I have no idea what the heck I am doing. But my mind was made up,  I was having a garden this year.
I started in March. Early for most things. Spring gardens are okay that time of year but summer gardens must wait until after Mothers Day in May. So I picked my spot and started to plant.



 

A GARDEN

Ok so the picture above doesn't exactly look like a garden, Yet! This was step one. Picking a  really great spot to set up our family garden. I rent my home so I had to get permission from my landlords before beginning. They graciously let me have this space for my garden. As you can see it started out as grass.  Hey, I had to start somewhere right.

This is my first ever try at gardening and is still a great big work in progress. With the help from a friend of mine in the neighbor hood (thanks Cindy) and my dad's tiller I was ready to start. I started by figuring out just where the garden was going to be placed and how big it was. Then I started to till up the land I plotted for it.

While Tilling up the Garden Spot

So now I have tilled the garden up it is time to plant. I have choose to ask a really great friend how to plant my garden. Other resources I have found are all over the web. There are blogs dedicated to teaching someone how to garden. I used fertilizer and tilled it in as well. Now to plant.

After it was tilled and the spring garden was planted



So I planted 4 kinds of lettuce in the first 4 rows. The next two rows has corn. Then peas, then green beans, then carrots. In the back four rows is Indian corn we can use for corn meal and decorations. Now I won't lie this is one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life.  In the back we planted potato's, Swiss chard, tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, banana peppers, zucchini, banana squash, cucumbers and pumpkins. 

No it is not weeded to perfections. Although, that is something the boys and I are really working on. 

No the corn, and green beans did not even pop up out of the ground this year. Too much water and not enough sun this spring for that. Mine was not the only garden in the area to not have stuff pop up and get going. I was lucky to get what I did get. Peas, a few carrots, Indian corn, some lettuce, and potatoes. Summer Garden is in but I used mostly plants for that and they have yet to die.

Yes I and the boys all work in the garden together. 

To tell you the truth, this is something that KISS a lot of my problems away in one fail swoop!

This project not only helps on the pocket book it helps in a ton of other ways. 

1. Cost of grocery's through the summer and fall months
2. Entertainment with the family. ( when we are all doing our part we talk, and laugh together and forget we are working)
3. Excises for me. I am a little on the heavy side so I need all this I can get with my  limited amount of time.
4. Great fresh outdoors. I get fresh sun light and air while working in my garden.
5. My children learn about gardening while we do this. They are almost smarter than me because Cole was the one who came up with putting the water furrows in by all the plants so it will fill up with water and then saturate in slowly.

This is really my Satisfyingly Simple Life.
To be continued.....