Gardening Galore!

I have always wanted to try a vegetable garden planted in raised beds. So, I drew out plans for my dream garden last year. Life got a little too busy and it was left on the back burner.

I really didn't think much about the plans this year until Mr. Incredible asked me for them. He was headed to Lowes to buy the supplies.

For my dream garden? I was ecstatic.! Boy, does he know my love language! That, my friends, in the words of Paris Hilton was hot! Thank you Mr. Incredible! Okay, focus! Back to the garden.

Here are my Before pictures:

Lovely shot of the dirt, don't you think?

Here is my man making the raised beds:

(I must have channelled the Pioneer Woman or something. That shot of Mr. Incredible makes me giggle! Sorry, dear!)

Here are the 7 raised beds put together. We placed weed block in the bottom of each bed. I used a staple gun to secure them to the frames. We did not stake our beds into the ground nor did we bury any part of it we just set them on top of the ground, so easy! We filled each bed with a mixture of organic compost that had Miracle Grow fertilizer in it. Looking good:

It became a family project. Everyone pitched in!

Here is Rachel:

and Hannah who kept us cool:

Mr. Incredible had river rock delivered to line the beds for walkways. You should have seen us trying to put down the plastic and spread the rocks. It could have been an "I Love Lucy" episode."

And here are the After pictures!

This is the garden after several weeks. We planted tomatoes, jalapenos, chile pequines, squash, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkins, okra, rosemary, mint, thyme, and flowers. Everything was starting to grow nicely:

It kept growing and growing!


Finally! Harvest time arrived. Oh, joy!






We are still harvesting watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, jalapenos, squash, and pumpkins. It has been such a delight. I always wanted to harvest my own pumpkins. This was my first one. Isn't it cute?

Hannah asked me if we were going to carve it! Are you kidding???? It's proudly displayed in my kitchen. Here are pictures of some of the flowers that we seeded in the herb garden and watermelon patch:

This picnic table belonged to my husband's grandparents. It fits nicely in the garden and is always a welcome place to sit.

Here are 2 more garden helpers:

It has been a fun family project! I've gardened before but this has been our best garden ever! If you want more instructions, please let me know. Thanks for stopping by!

Joyfully,

Kristi

P.S. Please visit Boo Mama for more Before and After projects!