As most of you know, I am a mother of three children ages 9 to 16. Like most of you I am constantly trying to getting them to eat healthier. Several people in my life suggested that I get my children involved in actually growing the food we eat. I thought this was a great idea, except for the fact that we live on a postage stamp sized lot.
I love our home, but our garden doesn't leave much room for a vegetable garden!
Then one night during our family dinner conversation I suggested a crazy idea. What if we replaced our front lawn with a kitchen garden? I'm very blessed to be married to an open minded man! Steve ran with the idea and drew this...
Next thing I knew we were digging up this...
to do this.... I found these great 4'x8' cedar raised boxes here. They were easy to assemble and were the perfect size for this space.
This morning, Leila, Chloe, Steve and I set off to the Santa Monica Farmer's Market to visit Jimmy and Logan at HayGround Organic Gardening to start planting our garden.
Jimmy was so patient with me (and my enormous sweater!). He helped us select the perfect bell peppers (yellow, red, and violet!) and a couple hot peppers for my spicy husband ....
Jimmy also introduced us to some amazing edible plants that we'd never heard of.
Leila (with her wet hair, just out of the shower!) and Chloe had so much fun picking out organic strawberries to plant in the garden.
I learned so much from Logan. He explained that I would need to get some organic peet moss for the blueberry plants I bought. They love acidic soil. Good to know!
We were so excited to get home and start planting! Corn on the right. Squash and eggplant in the middle. We still need to plant our pumpkins so they will be ready for Halloween. The lavender hedge will provide greenery and a wonderful scent. Heirloom tomatoes will grow on two pyramids. We still need to plant our snap peas on the other pyramids.
Eventually this area will be filled with pots of herbs.
We accomplished a lot today, thanks to our two helpers, Leila and Chloe.
The thing I love best about our garden is that it is a secret garden. From the street, no one knows what is inside....
If you get really close, you can get a glimpse through the roses...
but you only discover what we are creating when you walk through the gate.
xo
Brooke
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