Love Garden

 

April 4, 2011

One year ago, Jonathan and I were married under a waterfall in Kauai, Hawaii. It has really been quite a first year!

In September of 2011, after only a few months of marriage, I was in a serious car accident that left me in a wheelchair for 3 months. I endured months of rehab and was out of work for almost 6 months.

Truly I am reminded of Charles Dickens', A tale of Two Cities: "It was the Best of Times, it was the Worst of Times".

So after a very trying anniversary year, we decided to do something different to celebrate our first year of marriage and our life together. We made a Love Garden!

Actually, it is two 8' x 4' raised beds and a big plot of dirt waiting for this year's crops. Jonathan and I are both novice gardeners, but wanted to give raise beds a try.

We started by tilling up the ground (actually my Dad did it!). We live on an acre so we are fortunate to have the space in our backyard with plenty of room left for our grassed areas.

Laying the Frame Work

My sweet little brother, Austin made these for me. He used 6  2" x 12"s and cut two in half. He then nailed them together.

We added a mixture of our soil and composted, organic, fertilized soil from our local feed store to enrich our GA Red Clay.

Our Supplies

Next we measured out each foot of the board and placed nails at each foot along all sides of the bed. This creates a grid system of 1' x 1' squares. Our 8 x 4 bed has 32 squares per bed. Each "square" has its own seed or plant. The grid is created using the nails and simple yarn or twine.

My hard working husby!

So far, we have planted okra, zucchini, squash, onions, tomatoes, jalapenos, peppers, strawberries, cantaloupe and sunflowers.

We'll let you know in a few weeks if anything turns out! Let me know what you are growing!