Tuesday, May 31, 2011

of course we have a garden

we have a huge garden box in our backyard. we also have 2 medium garden boxes & 2 small ones.
so that's 5. 5 garden boxes.

"oh, so do you guys have a garden?" is the first question out of the mouth of anyone who sees our backyard.

for the past 2 years i've sheepishly frankly replied, "no. gardening sucks ass."

and i've meant it. i hate weeding. i hate watering. i hate waiting. i hate spiders & ants & grubs. i also hate most vegetables. so why in the hell would i have a garden when my local grocery store provides a bounty of fresh fruits & veggies?

but this year as i contemplated our garden box full of weeds- something inside of me snapped. i charged inside & told the husband, "we're planting a garden this year."

he looked at me like i had lost my mind (considering how much i lament my childhood summers spent gardening, this is a pretty accurate reaction) but he didn't question me. in fact, he seemed pretty excited.
see, the husband likes a challenge. and when he finds something that he wants to do, he pretty much jumps in with both feet (chickens, children, dogs...NOT doing housework)

so, on a weekend that produced nothing short of heat stroke inducing weather...

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we put our green thumbs to work.

mowing, cursing the unforgiving earth, tilling, raking, swearing, watering, making rows, shaking our fists at the heavens, digging holes, purchasing plants, screaming, "I GIVE UP!", measuring, getting eaten alive by bugs, baking in the heat, blaming one another for this "genius" idea...you get the idea.

until finally- at 8pm last night- we finished.

as we stood there, covered in dirt & angry ants, we agreed that even though gardening still sucks ass, it might actually be worth it.

that is, if it actually yields anything. wild animals are notorius garden killers, and we have an abundance of those. we also have chickens who are also, apparently, garden killers.

they clucked around pecking at leaves, scratching up seeds & picking off all of our strawberries. bastards. the husband joked that we probably need a fence but that he's far too lazy to put one up. but after watching the chickens putter around & poop in the garden- i think he's going to have to suck it up and put up that fence.

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and i also managed to turn the small garden box into an herb box

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so green. so pretty. so yummy. so very much a pain in the ass.

now i don't want you to think we spent 72 hours planting a garden & straight up ignoring our children. no indeed. we decided to include them in this project.
and by include them we mean, introduce alex & brynn to the sprinkler.

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see? spectacular.

(click on pics to make them larger)

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and i suppose alex helped a little. if "running through the garden & getting muddy" = helping.

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as you can see, the sprinkler had our child laughing maniacally for the better part of the afternoon.

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brynn was initially ok with all of the excitement- but her mood quickly soured thanks to freezing cold water & the hot sun.

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"save me?"

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"i hate gardening." (i'm pretty sure that's what she was thinking)

and i think the only creature that hated gardening more than we did, was the mother robin who frantically flew back & forth to her nest, chattering away, in a vain attempt to get us to leave.

sorry lady. you built your nest on our house. deal.

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and as you can see, not just on our house, but in the broom that we clean the sides of our house with. so yeah- no sweeping the house this year. i'm SO glad we noticed before yanking the broom down. i would have felt terrible.

this is just one of the 5 nests on our house. the corners of our log home provide the perfect spots for nesting robins. thankfully the cheeping of the babies is freaking adorable- but i'm a little concerned for their safety when they start hopping around. gary roams the outdoors now & he's a killer. good luck birdies.

and there you have it. now i sit here at work. nursing sore palms & numerous bug bites.
the garden better pony up & produce. no whammies.
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8 comments:

MarMat said...

Is it so hard as you say? My husband has been trying to have a garden since.. mmm ever. I'm really not a plant person, but he is excited about it and wants to do it in the roof..
any help, 101 or guide you could provide? please. :)
and how fun looks A with the sprinkler!

Anonymous said...

Maybe I'm making this up, but I am pretty sure that chicken poop is good for gardens! So, maybe you don't need a fence after all. And good for you on planting one- that's one our list once we move to the country.

Your girls in their bathing suits are so, so sweet!

Watch out for those Robins... Knox and I got attacked by one while I was buckling him in his car seat one morning. Apparently I am very menacing-looking. They're crazy when they have babies around!

Ryan V. said...

wow...you all have such a nice space for starting a garden! I just attempted to put in a tiny garden in our back yard. It's like a tenth of the size of yours ha! It's so dang dry and sunny here in az that I think the plants are all just going to shrivel up and die. Even after watering them 3+ times per day! ugh! Good luck growing your veggies! I love using home grown herbs too! The girls look so sweet in there adorbs swim suits!!

Jill @ Momma Totally in Love said...

Good luck on your garden!! My daughter has the same swim suit as Alex, so cute!!
http://mommatotallyinlove.blogspot.com/

Mrs.F said...

I would LOVE to make my own garden too, but I'm too lazy. At least you actually went through with it :)

And that robin must be related to the robin who built her baby makin nest on the side of our house atop our ladder. Hilarious!

Sarah-Anne said...

it's totally worth it!! trust me. just keep with it & you'll be rewarded (so much so you need to give veggies and such away. :)
and is it wrong that i want alex's swimsuit. because i mean: RUFFLES!!

Unknown said...

Um... those are the cutest baby bathing suits {and babies, duh} that I've EVER SEEN! :D
Your garden looks like my dad's. And his is HUGE. It has lots of yummy veggies but... is a lot of work. Good luck with all the weeding ;) hehe.

Desi said...

I would kill for a garden...was that cilantro I spotted? Love cilantro. Also, Liv has the same suit as Alex...I love target too :).