We officially restarted our garden yesterday.

We already have the garden boxes ready to go into the ground (hopefully soon!). You can read about the steps we’ve taken to make those, here and here.

We also spent a few minutes an hour trimming the neighbors shrubs that were hanging over our side of the fence and causing some excess shading in one spot. Shade isn’t exactly ideal for growing vegetables so we’re hoping we got the shrubs back far enough to provide enough light.

Here’s how it looked when we started:

And here’s how it looked after the haircut (round one):

There are still a few stragglers we’re going back for later, but for the most part, it’s way better.

This process was a little tricky since these shrubs/trees/giant overgrown bushes actually belong to our neighbor. Still, they were hanging over our side of the fence, and poking through the fence, so we decided it was okay for us to cut them. Our neighborhood isn’t especially social, and we don’t know these neighbors well, but since the shrubs were so overgrown anyway (as in: not trimmed in a specific way, or at all, even on their side), and because we didn’t mess with the general aesthetic seen from their side of the fence, we didn’t really need to ask permission.

Here’s how the newly trimmed garden area looks in the morning sunlight:

It’s more shady, but I think that should be okay, considering it gets full sun (almost for the entire day except in a few places. And some vegetables do okay in shade (lettuce, spinach, etc.) so I’m pretty confident our garden boxes will do nicely here…I hope!

I also replanted some seeds yesterday!

Actually, I didn’t replant them, since these are spinach seeds and I didn’t plant those last time. (I was saving them until it was warm enough to start them outside.)

At this point, they are living in this tub, in these pots. I’m pretty sure this isn’t how I’ll leave them all summer, but the exact plan has yet to be established. I’m working on it.

I’m crossing my fingers and toes these don’t sprout and then die on my like the first seedlings did. (Last time, all my seedlings died—I think because I started them too early and they never got strong enough to move outside.)

We also have a start of asparagus (for free!) that Hubs dug up from the ditch at his parents’ house over the weekend.

We know it takes awhile to get these babies large enough to have a harvest (and they need a lot of root space) so we’re also not sure where this guy will end up. And yes, we’re aware it needs to be weeded. It was growing wild in a ditch, after all.

That’s right, we’re officially moving forward with Project Suburban Garden: Rookie Edition. You better believe we’ll be keeping you guys posted. Well wishes, advice, and prayers for good growing weather appreciated.

Have you started your garden yet? I saw a few Facebook friends were working on it. I’d love to see pics…link them up here!