Gardening 101

So, yesterday my totally awesome husband built me THREE 4' x 12' foot raised garden beds. I am beyond excited! Now, I know not many people would be excited by something like this, but I am. We all pitched in and spent a really great day as a family working on these beds, so I'm really proud of them. And the kids are super excited too. After school today, the kids and I are going to dig in (sorry...I just had to ;) and start prepping the ground for my spring vegetable garden!!! yay! Being the idealist that I am, I have really high hopes for this garden. I have this vision in my mind of a beautifully manicured garden with perfect little rows and sprouts of lovely green. Luckily, my husband is a realist and he keeps me grounded. He knows a decent amount about growing vegetables, so he will be an excellent resource and hopefully he can keep me motivated come weeding time! I'll post some pictures of the beds and our work in progress later today.

UPDATE:

Alright! An hour and a half later and I have one of my three beds tilled! Of course, there were snack breaks, water breaks, and nursing breaks during that time (for the kids, of course;), but I got at least one of them done. Two more to go, then to add the top soil and compost, then I can plant! This is going to take way longer than I had in mind (idealist). Phil told me it would be hard work and take a fair amount of time (realist)...when will I learn to trust the man?! That's ok...I'm still really excited despite the sore shoulders and back. Besides, some lucky soul hopefully made it into Heaven today with the amount of sacrifice I just used out there =) Here is the progress I've made so far:

The wood for the beds:

He really did most of the work:

Putting the beds together:

The first one finished: All three beds laid out: We may just use them as outdoor playpens for the baby: My helpers!:

Having fun:

There it is all ready for the topsoil!:

The kids really had fun working on this project with us. Although, they tired out alot quicker than I did today =) Before I was even half-way through, they were using the beds as their own personal balance beams. Which is fine...we got some nice outdoor time and they kept me company. All in all, it was a great morning! Now time for some lunch...