Nice Tomatoes!

We're conducting an experiment: just how much water can two measly tomato plants drink? We're not measuring precisely, but these puppies are drinking 4 gallons a day. Each day. They're draining our rain barrels! There was a cool, overcast day recently where they took in only 3 gallons.

We used a cool tomato success kit from Gardener's Supply and I bought two Bonnie Original tomato plants. That was barely two months ago, and they're now about 5 ft high. No lie!

There are four tiny tomatoes, and tons of blossoms. These two little plants will be very productive!

Always wanted a Lilac...

Gramma had a lilac bush next to the garage. It's been my dream to have that peaceful smell in my own home. Today we planted my first lilac, and I just about cried!

Getting the circle of bricks laid out was not simple-we had to re-level the whole circle after it was done. The grade made it a test of patience. What was really scary was was the dry red chunks they call "dirt" around here. This development was created by earth-movers that piled the dirt and sculpted the hill after razing the trees. Dan tried to dig the hole deep so we could work in good dirt. I hope this lilac has some very determined roots!

Finished the vegetable garden!

The vegetable garden has a wall, dirt, and plants. I call that a garden. Leveling the bottom row of bricks was a big pain in the butt, but I'm the patient type. Dan was great with packing the dirt, and paver sand.

It's so cool to have my first real vegetable garden ever. Mom had a great one growing up. She was into stir-fry in the 80's, and would tell us to "go pick dinner." We had some odd dinners, and she would occasionally veto our choices.

I love growing my own food, teaching my step-kids that food comes from dirt, and someday teaching my own kids to tend a small spot of land.

Martinez Hayes Garden Progress

We've begun the mayhem. The Martinez Hayes household is going to be digging for a while. Our development covenants committee has approved our garden bed plan, and we've gone to Lowe's and ordered our first pallet of bricks and 20+ bags of dirt. We have two days of Memorial Day Weekend to relax with neighbors before the brick and dirt are delivered.

Our garden plan has been on the back burner for over two years. I wanted to just go, but my husband, Dan, insisted on going through covenants. Of course they won't mind if we put raised beds around the base of our house! The houses are bland, it improves curb appeal, the houses in our section of the development get 5 lousy boxwood shrubs and one nasty Bradford Pear.

So, we've begun. I submitted a plan for only the raised beds, eliminating our other plans. It got rubber stamped and we're ready to start. We'll start in the back where we can practice how to best set it up before tearing through the sides of the yard. To be honest, we haven't even finalized whether it'll be 2 bricks high, or 3. Depends on how fast we tire of lugging around 17 pound bricks!

Oh my God, we're about to receive 192 bricks at 17 pounds each. What were we thinking?? My back aches at the thought of them.