Our Remodeled Garden

Last summer Paul & I decided that we wanted to try something new in the way of gardening. We began "Square Foot Gardening" and loved it. Although after trying it for a year we made some modifications and remodeled our square foot garden in the fall. And we love it even more than we did last year.

We decided that we would do a little experiment this year and see how things would turn out if we planted them a little earlier than normal. So far so good. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Last week we enjoyed the first harvest of the year from the garden, strawberries!

They were planted a year ago, and that first years meager harvest has been well worth the wait. This is the first picking this year, and we have had two more since, each more than double this first one. I think I need to go out today and pick some more. I was worried I wouldn't have enough strawberries to make freezer jam, boy was I wrong.

We have had one unwelcome visitor to the garden. . . a rabbit! (And I'm sure the bugs are on their way.)

We actually have had several bunnies in the yard. They are very cute to watch, the kids love seeing them hop. But they have gotten into the strawberry patch and destroyed one whole plant, root and all. And they ate the tops off of my newly sprouted yellow squash. So I have given Paul the job of creating a cage for the strawberries and I replanted the squash.

I was thinking the other day about a conversation that I had with my Mom somewhere in my early teenage years. The conversation had something to do with yard work and I expressed my great dislike of being outside and getting my hands dirty. Somewhere between then and now my opinions have changed, and my Mom's love of the outdoors and dirt has rubbed off on me. There are few places I prefer to be that outside amongst Heavenly Father's beautiful creations. And there is something therapeutic about pulling weeds, digging in the dirt, mowing the lawn and watching things grow!