Jumping into Gardening

Moo enjoying the "fruits" of my labor. Someday, that may be a real tree.

Moo and Toots with me on my quest into vegetable gardening today.

Last week, Moo and I ventured to Lowes and picked out our very first 2011 Garden Challenge participant. A lovely mix of FIVE apples all on one cute little semi-dwarf tree. Fuji, Anna, Golden Dorsett, Ein Shimmer (however you spell that) and Beverly Hills. I will hopefully be able to harvest throughout the season...in a year or two. Oh well. Some are good for fresh eating, some are good keepers and some are baking apples, how perfect is that? And because there are multiple varieties on the same tree, it will self-pollinate without a problem! Yipee!

Today I grabbed the girls and headed out to build me a raised bed for vegetables and got to work. I actually built the 3x6 redwood box bottomed with chicken wire two days ago on the Hubs last day off, but today I spent a while leveling off the ground where the bed was to go. You can't tell in the picture, but our yard has a bit of a slope to it and I wanted the bed to be fairly flat to prevent any pooling of water in one corner or the other. Oh, did I mention that our ground is like concrete? Anyone from the Inland Empire will tell you that the dirt here is not dirt...it is grit packed tightly in between rocks and boulders. I broke two shovels trying to dig in it the past few days. Annoying and back-breaking. But I will get my garden, you just wait and see.

Anyway, I got the bed leveled pretty good and ready to fill with the good garden soil waiting in the garage in 60 lb bags. The only problem is that I am still on restriction from my C-section and can only lift 25 lbs. Ugh. So I started busting open the bags and shoveling the dirt into a bucket, then carrying the bucket out to the bed. But that didn't last long. Toots started crying and it was time to come in for her bottle. Oh well. I hope my tomato plants survive til tomorrow when I'll go out and try again!