Finally!

We finally finished the garden, guys! It’s been planted for awhile now but we have been waiting to get the mulch down around the raised beds. Finally we’re done mulching, too!

I also added a few of these pots, with some leftover marigolds (and the ones I transplanted from underneath the fast-overtaking-the-entire-bed zucchini. (It looks like grass is the photo below, but it’s not, I promise.)

Marigolds are good for gardens because they are stinky. Really. Their odor is so strong that it helps discourage certain bugs from hanging around to snack on you plants.

For those of you paying close attention, you’ll notice the watermelons are all gone. They all got nibbled off by something…which was pretty frustrating, but maybe for the best considering they would probably have been huge if they’d lived.

I also moved the dill from its tiny little pot into this bigger one where it will have a lot more room to grow and expand…considering it might get several feet high. If it goes well…

The parsley also got an upgrade to a bigger pot. I’m hoping it will do better outside than it did inside.

Here’s another fun addition, Herb, our herb (and vegetable) garden gnome:

I haven’t totally decided if he’ll stay as he is or get a new look, but for now, he’s standing sitting guard over the garden.

Anyway, here’s a look back at where we started, before we added the raised beds, which we made from the leftover doors from our remodel project, added dirt, took out the sod, and planted everything.

And here’s how it looks now!

We do still need to add the mulch around the berries. We held off on doing it right now because of the bird netting we have out right now. We can mulch it this fall when the berries are gone and we can remove the netting.

We’ve been super excited to see how our garden is growing. And harvesting is a favorite part of every day. I’d say our first year as a gardening family is going really well so far!

 

Here’s the list of the garden so far:

• Build raised garden beds
• Set beds in the ground, add dirt, compost
• Plant seeds/starts
• Build/make/buy containers for asparagus and plant starts
• Add bird deterents
• Add DIY plant labels
• Add preen, weed barrier, and mulch to control weeds
• Strip sod from around the beds 
• Plant berries, watermelon, other plants in the ground
• Add bird netting to protect berries from birds
• Add edging around the outside of the beds
• Touch-ups, other additions as needed

How is your garden growing? How do you like our finished result? Ideas for making it more fun and colorful? I’d love to add some more personality…somehow?