Growing our first Garden!

Early on in the Spring I knew I wanted to start a small garden with Hensley.

We had never planted one before and we both be learning together. 

I knew he would love to help and watch it grow.

We started off by deciding what we would plant!

We wanted to pick out things we would like to eat and that were a little easier to maintain since we were newbies!

We decided to plant:

Cantelope

Zucchini 

Carrots

Corn

Cucumber

Since we started a little early, when it was still chilly outside over night and a threat of some frost here and there, we decided to germinate our seeds inside to get them started. 

I looked into several different ways to germinate and thought the wet paper towel method might be the easiest. 

We separated our seeds and laid each of the types on a wet paper towel.  

Carrots

Wetting the paper towels

Zucchini 

Hensley was really fascinated to see how all the seeds looked so different!

We labeled each bag and hung them in the window that get the most afternoon light. Hoping they would sprout and not dry out or mildew.

After a few weeks of checking on them, it was time to transfer them to small soil pods.

We were both really excited to see they actually sprouted!!!

 These were out carrots seeds. I didn't think they looked too good. I probably should have researched if they do well with paper towel germination. However, we decided to plant them anyway and see how it went!

It was only a few days before the sprouts shot up!

About a week after podding the seeds!

 Soon we felt the chance of an over frost as passed and it was time to plant them outside. 

We went back and forth on whether to till up the ground to make a mound garden or to do a traditional box garden in our yard. 

We figured since we were first time gardeners and we knew there would several times we would be gone on vacation over the summer, a box garden might work better as far as having less weeding to do.

Andy and Hensley worked hard on making it perfect!!

We placed the box on the side of house that gets lots of morning sun but lots of evening shade. We worried the afternoon sun may burn up the plants so this seemed like the best choice!

After a few weeks in the ground it really started looking like a real garden!

My dad also brought us our first tomato plant!!!

The garden was off and running in no time!

Our poor corn sort of stalled out and never regained it strength. We believe since it was a box garden and the dirt was only so deep, it couldn't properly root and grow to it's fullest. 

Flowers EVERYWHERE means lots of vegetables to come!

Before we knew it.....

It was time for our first HARVEST!!!

Seeing this garden grow from little seeds in a packet to actual vegetables was really great! Hensley loved the whole experience and we learned some valuable lessons along the way. 

Next year we plan to do a box garden as well as till a spot for vegetables who need more room for root growth. Everything did in fact grow though, except for the carrots. I don't believe they are right for paper towel germination. We will try again next year!