...As the kids say.

So, it's been a couple of weeks now since everything has been planted & this past weekend, Garrick put up a cute little white picket fence around the outside of the mesh wire.

We planted 3 different types of tomatoes, Orange, Green & Yellow Bell Peppers, Eggplant, Squash & Strawberries. We have to keep it "protected" because we have these chubby little ground hogs who go around & can devour several vegetable & fruit plants each night (if they want to). Our neighbor behind us told us that last year they were especially bad & they ate ALL her tomatoes! Hahaha... Those guys are funny, but I might be a little upset if they come & do that to me! :)

In addition to that, we have a lot of "wildlife" in our little yard. So, so many different bugs, birds & critters that I am discovering. Of course, I'm coming from living in an apartment for the past three years, so digging around in the dirt hasn't been a daily activity for me in the last few years. But, we are now running into earth worms, centipedes, beetles, etc. The kids LOVE the bugs!! Aubree picks up the worms... she loves them! She had a bad experience with one of them - she was holding it & the poor little guy broke in half, she was SO devastated! She felt terrible for hurting it. Now she's very careful to never let that happen again.

I'm glad we have this area now for the kids to learn & discover. I hope the garden gets enough sunlight so that we can get some produce - I'd love for the kids to experience home grown food!

In my "free time" (the moments during Baylee's naps where I'm not doing chores), I have been taking that ugly rock pile to the left of the garden & creating a stone ground around the garden. I figured, I'd reuse this mess of rocks & turn it into something pretty & it might also discourage the chipmunks & ground hogs from digging under my fence... We will see!

These are my strawberries (on the left) & the peppers (right). The brown stuff around the strawberries is torn up coffee filters - the mulch for the strawberries is coffee grounds & the unbleached paper filters. I read, on an organic gardening website that the acidity of coffee grounds is good for strawberries. I liked the idea too, because we brew a pot of coffee every morning & now I get to reuse the beans & paper.

We have 6 tomato plants - 2 plants of three different types of tomatoes. I forget what they all are, but I know that one of the three, is heirloom tomatoes... So far they're looking pretty good, they just don't get as much sun as they should.

We aren't using any chemicals at all in the garden, or for the weeds in the grass... Nor do we use pesticides or chemicals in, or outside of the house. Garrick & I decided that we are better off using organic, alternative methods. One method that I'll use in the garden *only if I have to* will be to spray Diatomeous Earth on the leaves if aphids, slugs or other pests infect a plant. It's food grade, fresh water Diatoms (silica). Pretty much it's sea shells from millions of years ago, cut up so fine that it will dry out the exoskeleton of insects... But cause no harm to the environment, or to mammals. So, again we're new to all this... So, we will see, it's all a big learning lesson for us! :)

Here's our backyard... Garrick's grass came in really good! He hasn't mowed it yet... So, it's pretty long right now.