Tampa trip

We had a great time hitching a ride with Stan's middle school band as they went to Tampa, Florida for a performance and a visit to a water park and Busch Gardens. We loved the water park and Busch Gardens was incredible!! The animals are amazing, and the kids loved the whole experience. We got back late Saturday night and then went to church in the morning and left after church to drive to Montgomery and then on to Arlington, TX the next day. It was kind of a wild way to begin our spring break, but it was a lot of fun.

Garden Update

Last week Benjamin and I spent one day tilling, and one day spreading peat moss and organic fertilizer, and then we planted. I went a little simpler this year and planted lots of small plants instead of just all seeds like last year. I planted tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, green, yellow, red and orange bell peppers, and then the rest was done by seed--sweet corn, green beans, peas and sunflowers and zinnias. I did a small container of cherry tomatoes and a small container of herbs. I'm hopeful I'll have some success. I'm starting a good bit earlier than I did last year, so hopefully that will help, too!
Benjamin was a real trooper. The gnats were pretty bad one morning when we were working, so he disappeared inside the house and then came back out dressed in quite a get-up! He was covered head to toe as you'll see in the pics. I don't think a gnat could've bit him if they tried!
So here are a couple of pictures of what things look like in progress. I really hope to be able to show you pictures as things grow! Lord, bless these efforts!

Stop! Tiller Time!

Ahhh yes. It's that wonderful time of year again when we pull the tiller out and break the ground up in our little garden plot in the back yard and begin trying to coax it into producing food for us. I'm hoping our second year will be even more fruitful (or should I say vegetableful?). Last year we had pretty good success with green beans and corn. Our squash and zuchinni never did much, sadly. This year, though, I'm interested in doing lots of corn and beans and hopefully peppers and cucumbers, too. I think I'll do tomatoes and herbs in smaller containers. I'm looking forward to seeing if there are any improvements in my second year. I'll try to keep some photos posted of the progress. It's looking pretty rough out there right now. Yesterday I raked three wheel barrow's full of leaves out of it--its winter blanket. :) Pretty sure it's warm enough now to get ready for planting, though, so we'll be working at tilling today if the weather will hold out for us. It's a very overcast day with a cool breeze--perfect gardening weather (as long as the sand gnats don't descend!).