Our Vegetable Garden Day #12

Everything is still alive!!  I know, I'm also totally in shock.

 We even have a strawberry that's starting to turn red. 

The herbs are starting to grow a bit more but they're are just so few plants that I don't want to pluck any leaves.

 I just received my Mittleider Gardening Course book in the mail yesterday and have been enjoying flipping through it.  If the gardening is successful this year, then I'd like to try the Mittleider method next year.  Since we have such a small yard, it seems like a fantastic way to grow veggies.  I first heard about this method on the blog "Balancing Everything".  Jessica  and her family were setting up grow boxes and I was amazed at the childhood pictures she posted from her family's garden using Mittleider techniques.  Here are a few of those childhood photos from Jessica's blog.  

Okay, these next two blew me away.

Have you ever seen something so amazing?

The best laid plans of mice and "wo"men

Our Vegetable Garden Day #5
I decided that this was the year for a kitchen garden in the back yard. My neighbor has beautiful raised beds and makes it look easy. We enjoyed several of her fresh tomatoes last year. Lowe's had a raised bed "example" in their store with a little sign that said you could get the entire set-up for $61. It seemed like a good deal to me but of course it's not always what it seems. Instead of taking advantage of the "deal", I decided to buy two of the pre-made cedar beds that were $69 each. I spent Friday clearing out the mulch and rocks, and preparing the area. I put the beds up but ran out of time to get the soil. The kids and I went back to Lowe's for soil on Saturday. I was working with a lady who seemed quite knowledgable but little did I know she was steering me wrong. I came home with 18 cu. ft. of an organic soil or so I thought. It was actually a product that was to be mixed with soil. It was also more expensive than the soil recommended in the "everything for $61 advertised deal".  After laying 5 of the 8 bags, I had to run back to Lowe's once my neighbor pointed the error out to me. I came home with another 6 cu. ft. but of actual soil this time. I mixed it all together and am hoping that I haven't messed it up before we've even really gotten started. We went out on Sunday and bought our "vinj-tah-bels" (as Lauren calls them).  The girls really enjoyed planting them and are having fun checking their progress.

 In our raised beds we planted (I attempted to line these up in this post but when the post is published on the blog they go all wonky and don't line up anymore):
 4 types of tomatoes (3 of those heirlooms)                      lemon cucumbers
 zephyr squash                                                                2 types of eggplant (black beauty and ichiban)
 ambrosia melon                                                             2 types of bell peppers (red beauty and bell boy)
 strawberries                                                                   leeks

We also have a little herb garden with basil, dill, oregano, thyme, mint, cilantro, and flat leaf parsley.

I am a total garden rookie.  All of the women in my family have green thumbs.  They touch a plant and it blooms.  I, on the other hand, must have a black thumb.  I touch a plant and in the next day or two it wilts and dies.  I'm very nervous about this little project.  I really wanted to have something fun to share with the girls and I thought it would be a great learning experience for them and for me.  I just don't  have much of a clue what I'm doing. Let me say that again, "I don't know what I'm doing".  I thought I would update you once a week with our successes or failures.

So, here we are at day #5 and everything is still alive and doing well except for my black beauty eggplant which I think our dog sat on.  We've been giving it a little extra TLC and it appears to be recovering.  Must think about fencing the beds off.  They look too enticing as a napping spot.