River Festival Fireworks!

Around the Yard...

We had to get a new riding mower because the 20-yr-old Craftsman finally quit on us.

We also got a new fence! We have been wanting to put in a fence like this since we moved in and it finally happened! Here it is... (The Gates aren't on in this picture. I will post that at another time)

New Side Door On The Garage

This Is the Old Door

New Door!

Much Better!

Garden Update In Pictures

Growing...

And Growing...

And Growing...

And Growing!

And Growing!

And Salad!

                                              The vegetable garden is really growing well. Most of the vegetables are not ready for harvesting. But the lettuce was beautiful and tasty. I have also been using fresh herbs from the garden. I can't really keep up with the growth!

Happy 6th Birthday Amelia!

Birth Day 2005

1st Birthday 2006

2nd Birthday 2007

3rd Birthday 2008

4th Birthday 2009

5th Birthday 2010

6th Birthday 2011

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Square Foot Garden Update!

We have made progress on our Square Foot Garden!

Phase 2 and 3 are complete!

Now for phase 4....the planting!

Easter in Pictures!

Coloring Easter Eggs

Dad LOVES to color eggs!

In the Garden on Easter Morning

Holding Audriana in her Easter dress.

The Cousins Getting Ready for The Egg Hunt

HAPPY EASTER!

The Beginnings of our Square Foot Garden

Last year, Stan and I decided we wanted to start a vegetable garden. After some research, we decided on Square Foot Gardening. It uses raised beds with a special soil mix of 1/3 Peat Moss, 1/3 Vermiculite, and 1/3 compost (from at least 5 different sources). You never use your own ground soil for a Square Foot Garden. Another feature of this gardening method is that you plant in squares instead of rows. This conserves space and time. Each 4x4 raised bed has a grid that shows you where to plant. We did not have time to accomplish the garden last year, so we are hitting the ground running this time around.

Phase One

Constructing the Boxes

Laying out Pathways

The box construction was very simple and not very time consuming. I am glad Stan is just as motivated as I am for this project. But, I am confident I could have easily built these boxes as well (and so could you!)

We used outdoor carpet (the same that we used under the playset) for the pathways. This provides for excellent drainage and weed control. I DO NOT like weeds creeping up where they dont belong so the paths are worth the time and money. We will cover the paths with mulch when we are finished. The back two boxes already have the grids built. We ran out of screws for the other two grids so we will do that tonight. We will also atttach weed cloth to the bottom of each box so you will not see any grass when we finish that.

PHASE 2

Soil

Building Vine Trellis for the back two Boxes

PHASE 3

Build Fence Around Garden to Keep Critters Out

Lay out Mulch on pathways

PHASE 4

Plant!