A green thumb . . .

The year Harrison was born we planted tomatoes along a dog kennel we had. They took over the area and we had loads and loads of tomatoes. They were awesome and I have wanted to grow tomatoes like that for some time. I grew up with a garden at my grandfather's house and I can remember eating all sorts of food right from the garden. I loved munching on kohlrabi and I ate tomatoes like apples. I can remember running my hands over cucumbers to take off the prickly things in order to munch on them raw while I was swinging on the my swingset. I also recall sitting for hours and snapping beans with my grandma. One year, they grew popcorn that grew 12 foot tall. We had popcorn coming out our ears for months! I remember putting it in brown paper bags and popping it in the microwave even before there was microwave popcorn.

The last few years we have not been able to have a garden since our last few renters have had dogs. We share the back yard, and each renter had dogs that would tear u[ a garden. The last renters, as kind as they were, had dogs that ravaged my grass. Last summer we did lay sod and it is coming back about 50 percent this spring. I will definitely have to re-seed in a couple weeks.

Over the last few days, I have spent many hours working in the back yard and cleaning up all the winter crud. I also demolished a wooden A frame spring set that the last renter kindly left us. One of the brackets has bent over the last year, and it was no longer safe. So, I spent the weekend, cutting it apart, moving landscaping timbers, and moving pea gravel. The kids were super helpful in moving rocks, which saved my back! Yesterday we raked and swept, and reset pavers that darling Dustin pulled up looking for bugs last fall and decimated.

I cut the swingset area in half and moved a play house in that area with the pea gravel. The remaining half I cut in with the 4x4's from the swingset and made a small garden. Robert and McCartney worked hard at turning over the soil and breaking everything up. Today we spent a couple hours in the car visiting Starbuck's and getting coffee grounds for the garden. It is raining sporadically and it made me quite happy mulching in bag after bag of coffee grounds to make my soil ready for planting soon. We have decided on tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, squash and zucchini. Robert and McCartney are making it their project. we shall see how it goes.