My garden is growing!

Well hello! I am SO excited to share a project I finally completed that I’ve wanted to do forEVER. I was going to plant my (first ever) garden last summer, but it just didn’t happen. I didn’t do much outside last year, because it was about 115 degrees with 90 percent humidity every day.

Well, practically. Felt like it anyway.

Anyhoo, I finally got it done! And I’m already absolutely HOOKED. I’ve been researching how to build a raised garden and a few weeks ago I headed to Home Depot to get my supplies.

But instead of building it from scratch like I had planned, I found a simple kit and went with that instead.

It’s a cedar Greenes Raised Garden kit I got it just because it will be so easy to add to it later. And it was crazy easy to put together. The kit was about $35 and came with everything, including the coated outdoor screws:

It took me about 15 minutes to put it together – you just put the wood into the corner slats and screw them in.

It’s four by four feet, so I got eight bags of Miracle Gro to fill it:

And they filled it perfectly!

A reader mentioned on Twitter to get good, quality soil for the garden – and I figured Miracle Gro was a good option. It wasn’t cheap though – it ended up costing more than the garden kit!

But the combo of good soil, a little bit of fertilizer, a few days of sun, and a TON of rain are proving to be the perfect recipe for growing a garden!

I started my herbs indoors, and they are absolutely flourishing outside. My basil is already out. of. control:

It smells heavenly. Hmmmm…

My watermelon started teeny tiny, and now it looks fantastic:

There are SO MANY strawberries starting:

It is seriously so stinkin’ exciting people!

I planted tomatoes, lettuce, basil, cilantro, oregano, cucumber, strawberries, and watermelon in the bed:

I also planted two blueberry bushes on each side. I got two different varieties because I guess they need to cross-pollinate? That’s what I hear anyway. :)

Because our property backs up to trees and open land, we have lots of critters. I knew I’d need to figure out a way to keep them out (the bunnies especially!), so when I found this scrap fencing in the dumpster at hubby’s school, I was SO THERE:

;)

Yes, I said the dumpster. I probably should mention that they were the ONLY things in the dumpster, they were perfectly clean, and I didn’t have to go anywhere near the inside…I just grabbed them out. Swear. Cross my heart. Pinky swear.

I knew as soon as I saw them that they’d be perfect!:

But I have a feeling the cutie little fencing won’t be enough. I know it won’t work for the occasional deer, and the bunnies will find a way in I’m sure. I think I’ll have to add chicken wire around everything.

I should probably get on that, because my garden babies are growing like WEEDS!

The pics on the left below were only taken three days ago, the pics on the right are today:

I swear I could stand there and SEE the cucumbers growing, for real:

And the tomatoes have doubled in size since I planted them a week ago (it’s only been a WEEK!).

They’ve grown inches in only three days:

It’s insane!! And it makes me ridiculously giddy. It’s already so rewarding – I can’t imagine how fun it’s going to be to eat the food I’ve grown.   

If you’ve been considering planting a raised garden, I say go for it!! Not sure I’ll be so excited about it after a bunny eats my first lettuce or I’ve been out in the 90 degree temps every day watering because it hasn’t rained for two weeks…but for now, it’s FUN. ;)

This wasn’t exactly a thrifty project, at least on the front end. I spent about $150 on the bed, soil and plants. If you grow your veggies and fruits from seeds, you’re going to cut down the cost dramatically. For my first time, I wanted to start with plants to help the process along. :)

So now you’ve met my garden babies. I love them dearly already. They’re growing up so fast. Sniff.

Can’t wait to gobble them up. ;)

Any garden growing tips? I hear I should pull the buds off of my blueberries and strawberries this first season, but I don’t think I could bear it. ;) Are there specific critters or bugs I should watch out for? Tips to keep them away? I’d appreciate your advice!

I’ll be linking this up at Kate’s Outdoor Ideas Linky tomorrow morning!:

Be sure to check it out! :)