Its not how we planned it! The house was a short sale which took longer to get our hands on. Then I finished the drywall in the mudroom and then with some help painted the whole house from top to bottom. Ceilings, trim, the whole 9 yards. So that took a while. Once the weather warmed up I put in some tomatoes, a bunch of pumpkins (thought I lost the first batch of them so I replaced them. Guess what the first batch survived so I planted double what I thought I was going to) 4 zucchini, 4 yellow squash, and 4 cucumbers. Nothing crazy. Its scaled WAAAY back from what I've done in the past. Just enough to give us fresh veggies to enjoy.
My wife wasn't able to help as much as she wanted to because she was pregnant and would get contractions if on her feet too long and was just generally worn out. We wanted to redo the hardwood floors but just ran out of time.
The garden will be expanded significantly next year though. This year its maybe 16'x20'. Was enough to just get it mowed down, and plants in. Next year it will probably be closer to 40'x60'. Till in a bunch of manure and some peat since its a lot of clay, the ground needs the organics. Get T posts and cattle fencing for trellises for beans and cukes. Get my rhubarb in for sure and hopefully have asparagus and strawberry beds built. Get a compost piles cooking too. Lot of things I want to do.
Plus we've got landscaping to take on too. It was vacant for a while so the landscaping is pretty harsh. Lot of weeds, some good intentions but its way overgrown and needs to be totally blown up, revamped, salvage what we can to be relocated and new beds dug and created. We've got a long term plan in mind and I'm sure in time it will all come together.
Hardest part is taking stock of what we have and what we need to get things going where we want them to go and deciding whats a priority and what can/needs to wait so we can do it right.
Luckily my wife really likes to get her hands in the dirt along side me and our older daughter Brenna definitely has the gardening bug too. The other day she asked my wife to come out and go inspect the garden with her while I was cutting the grass. She had to show off that everything was in bloom identifying which plants were tomatoes, which were cucumbers, which were squash, and which ones were pumpkins. I know what they are by where they are so there are not any tags. She identified all of them correctly. She even went so far as to count all the blossoms, and then turned to my wife and said "Since we have so many plants blooming that means we should have a good harvest." I was very proud of her and told her so. She loves to grab the bottom of her shirt and fill it with what she's picked out of the garden and haul it inside for everybody to see too.
Poor Quinn doesn't even know what's hit her yet. She'll be at the local U picks with us. Just how we do it. Bring along a baby bouncer with the shade/bug screen that zips up and she'll be safe and sound. Grubby clothes, wide brim hats, sunscreen, water, and bug spray. We're pretty serious about our picking.
I will continue to play the part of gopher/picker as well. If its in the car and its requested Daddy's off to go get it. We start with strawberries in June and end with apples in the fall. Cider and donuts and a basket full of apples is a great way to end the season. We'll hit everything in between. Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, & peaches too. We're really blessed to have some stellar U picks around us.
I know Rome wasn't built in a day I'm just excited to have a place where I can really start do things I've been dying to do for years now.
