My New Garden

For Mother's Day I asked for a garden.

We had a little tiny garden when we lived in California because we had a little tiny backyard. Now that we live in Iowa, we have a big backyard that backs up against an empty field and I really wanted to take advantage of our space. And I love tomatoes and I hate paying so much for them at the store. And I want to be like Michelle Obama. I kind of love her. Except for the fact that she has beehives because I find that ridiculously reckless and scary. *shiver*

We got the materials and the plants and James started clearing some space in our yard. Then it started to rain. It rained every day he was off work for two weeks. Here's my garden on Day One:

And here's my garden Two Weeks Later:

Isn't it so cute? I thought it was until James mentioned that it looked like a little backyard cemetery. Now that's what I see when I look in my backyard. I was planning on making a little wooden plaque for it. You know, something cheesy like "Our Garden," but now I may just call it "Our Garden: Feel Free to Bury Your Beloved Pets Here As Long As You Don't Disrupt My Tomatoes." Sooner or later I'm going to paint the fence white, and I'm hoping that will change my view of it.

The kids were in charge of hauling away small clumps of grass from the garden area. Here's my little 3-year-old girl pushing her own kid-sized wheelbarrow to the work site.

We have about a zillion bunnies around here, so this was not an easy process. If we just threw some plants in the ground, they would feed the bunnies for one night and that would be the end of it. I would have been happy just putting up some bunny wire, but James wanted me to have something special - you know, like our own family burial plot. I think he said something like, "It's Mother's Day. You pushed two huge babies out of your vagina, you deserve a pretty garden." And you know, he's right!

And guess how much soil we had to buy for our little garden? None! More proof that I live in farm land - the soil in my backyard is this beautiful, dark, rich wonderfulness. It's pretty amazing.

We planted all sorts of peppers and tomatoes and herbs. And see that little strip of grass? James made a little walking / hanging out area for the kids. Really it's for Ella, as she's not a big fan of walking in dirt.

And I got some cute little wood sticks to label everything:

Peyton and Ella love watering our vegetables and herbs with their little watering cans. I love watching them running around with bare feet getting all dirty.

I've now had my tomatoes in the ground for 4 days. Look! Look! Look! 4 days! This is what happens when you live in Iowa! Do you see the tomato? Do you?!? I'm so excited!

Thank you, sweet husband, for my wonderful Mother's Day gift. It was totally worth pushing out those kids of yours.