Spring!

I love to see, smell and feel the warmth of spring. It is such a renewing time of year that fills you with hope and joy. The poem 'April' by Sara Teasdale is perfect for this time of year.

The roofs are shining from the rain,

The sparrows twitter as they fly,

And with a windy April grace

The little clouds go by.

Yet the back yards are bare and brown

With only one unchanging tree--

I could not be so sure of Spring

Save that it sings in me.

"Save that it sings in me," is exactly how I feel about spring. I love gardens and everything about them. There is nothing better than getting dirt under those fingernails and your finger-tips scratchy from the soil. I have planted gardens from the East Coast to the West Coast and down into the warm south. I do not profess to be an expert by any means. I have had beautiful gardens and not so beautiful. Yet, every year I love to get my garden tools out and plant hopeful vegetable gardens. I am very excited about this new way of gardening or not so new to others. I have learned about raised vegetable/flower gardens or square foot gardening.

I discovered some great sites for tips on raised gardens. I first saw The Pioneer Woman with her handy step by step pictures & instructions for building a raised veggie garden -- http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ then I stumbled upon Square Foot Gardening, http://www.squarefootgardening.com/. Please take a look at these since they are full of great ideas. After viewing these I thought, "I can do that!" and so I did.

First I took my big strong son with me to Home Depot to buy the materials. I also had him unload the material into the back yard.

Now my dimensions were different because my space is more rectangular.

With the help of my children we set to work building our first raised veggie garden right on top of our lawn. I also love to build things (as long as they turn out right).

As you can see we finished building the box and felt pretty good about our work. It was a pretty easy project.

The next thing was to add the dirt (a mixture of garden soil & mulch) then we planted the wonderful seeds & starter plants. The children loved this part of the project the best. Especially using the watering can to water the plants.

We think it turned out great and as you can see the beans & peas have already sprouted within 1 week. My daughter loves to go out and check the growth of the plants every morning when she gets up.

I had some pots lying around the yard so I decided to use those for herbs. It's pretty exciting to use fresh herbs from your garden in your cooking. They can be pretty expensive at the grocery store yet they are so easy to grow.

If you are at all interested in a garden but just think you don’t have the space I would encourage you to try a raised vegetable garden placed in an area that receives sunlight throughout most of the day, or by placing some plants or seeds in pots around your yard. You will really love the benefits come harvest time. Especially with the high prices of Organic products in our stores these days. Learning to garden is a fun project for the whole family. Being able to provide for our own families by producing gardens I believe is essential at this time. Going back to the basics of learning simple things to better our homes and work together as families is key. This will not only help with the grocery bill but provides and teaches self-reliance within our families, neighborhoods & communities. Happy gardening everyone!