My future life will not involve Wood work

I have beautiful plans for my garden. I imagine a beautiful pine box with measurements of 3 feet wide by 10 feet long and 6 inches high. In my head my plans work perfectly. I explained myself to the helpful associate at Home Depot and he even agreed that my construction plan was great.

 I can be handy, I fix things around the house.  I changed a bad toilet, maybe  it took 2 days but I did it. Changed faucets around the house. So I have some basic skills and knowledge. You explain it to me a few times I can figured it out.

 OK I have my wood pieces that need to be assembled.   So I have this great plan in my head, it looks beautiful.  My frame is 3 feet wide and 10 feet long and 6 inches high. SO I line up my boards and start hammering away. I get half way done and realize my plans do not work. I can not nail in a board halfway through and connect the two halves ..

 SO I sit and think of how to fix this. If I don't I am stuck. Then I remember My great neighbor's husband does all kinds of wood work. One quick call and all is saved. He told me to cut a wood and attacthed to the board and it would work. YES it did.

 So I have learned many things from this first building adventure. My beautiful plans sometime need to be checked again to make sure that they really work.  Also even the smallest adjustment can change everything..

 Off to fill this bed with great soil and get the garden started.

The birth of my Square Foot Garden

I have always wanted a garden. Loved the idea of being able to grow food and to eat fresh healthy food. I would know what chemicals, pesticides and herbicides had been used. There would be no worries if  I could grow a part of my veggies and fruit. BUT how to do this?

 Another challenge is the unpredictable weather here in Houston. Times of massive downpours, then the intense heat. Heat and humidity that is so bad that all you want to do is stay inside away from the windows and crank up the AC.

Last year we tried the in ground traditional garden. We manged to get a few tomatoes and lots of okra. Everything else went nowhere

 One of our few Tomatoes.

 Our Okra that tasted great in Gumbo.

 Our Sunflowers that we let grow wild. The Birds loved it, but this year I am paying for it. We have hundres of sunflower seedling starting EVERWHERE.

 A baby Praying Mantis that hatched in our garden

She was so proud of her Okra.

So after much research I found Square Foot Gardening. It is a great a simple way to garden. That is just what I needed, simple. To read more about it check out this great website
http://www.squarefootgardening.com/.

So it consist of raised beds that you fill with a great blend of peat moss, vermiculite and composts. Easy right. You really only need a good six inches of this and you should be set to go. SO let's start this great adventure.

A new start has begun

 I have always wanted to have a garden. Not just a garden with a few flowers just thrown in it. But a garden that I can have flowers that blossom and grow beautifully. A garden that I can grow fruits and vegetables in. A garden that my family and I can get our hands dirty in and enjoy the hard work and love that goes in to it.
 
My hopes for our little backyard garden.

A space that will bring everyone together for great times, hard work and if our little seeds will grow, thrive and will turn into food that tastes the way it should.  To understand that not all food looks the same and picture perfect.

 To show my children and myself a slower way to live life. It is not just running up to the store to get fruit and vegetables that's out of season and shipped around the world. That life works in seasons.  What it really takes and means to have that food on our table.

To be able to share with others. To have them enjoy something that we grew.

 Overall I hope that this will turn into lifelong passion for my family and myself.  I am looking forward to starting our little adventure.