I love gardening. I really love gardening with my kids. They helped me plant the beds in the above picture. We have lots of happy memories here!
Spring is one of my favorite seasons. Everything is coming back to life and new life is beginning. There is so much hope and promise!
Now is the time for the kids and I to sow sweet peas, carrots, radishes, spinach, lettuce and beets. I still need to turn the beds over and prep them for this season! Oh, and I have NO seed started indoors. I am so behind but the weather is still very cool and many veggies can be directly sowed.
I started a kitchen potager back in 2010 and I have been changing it around each year. I meant to keep up my gardening posts but time got away from me and I am running to catch up! Basically, this is just a quick rundown of the last 2-3 years.

April 2014 Veggies on the inside in raised beds and butterfly garden flower border on the outside for cutting bouquets and supporting Monarchs.
We (I mean hubby) made a wattle fence out of the tree we cut down a couple of years before. I used the thicker limbs to frame our 4X4 raised beds but I really needed something better.

May 2014 progress; strawberry and spinach bed, strawberries and carrots, herbs and greens, tomatoes and peppers
We went to the big orange box store hunting for some landscaping stone that had straight enough edges and sizing to contain our square beds. We needed a material that would not rot. We settled on their limestone composite stones that allowed us to get as close to 4 feet as possible. We used straw from the local farm and garden store to cover walkways and deter weeds from growing.

North view of potager with strawberries and carrots on the left and swiss chard, lettuce, and cabbage on the right.
We used wire fencing to keep the bunnies out. HA! We were not successful, even digging it in 6 inches there are still too many areas for them to squeeze through. Every spring I have found a Mama bunny and her babies in my herb bed. So cute… so destructive. They love all the sugar snap peas and strawberries. Back to the drawing board! I am going to try and make some garden cloches to protect my seedlings. They may just be a new post!

Summer 2015 Concord Grape on arbor with Lakemont on right. The concord was growing up into the neighboring tree and has since been pruned.