I’m very excited that we have started our very first garden! A few weeks back, we picked up some fruit and vegetable plants during the B1G1 sale at Home Depot. I was keeping the plants in their temporary pots until this past weekend when my hubby built our permanent box planter- doesn’t it look great? Each square is 1 ft x 1 ft. (Note: Hubby didn’t want me to post until he finished the brick walkway around the garden, but I was so excited to share that I had to take a picture! I will update a new picture when the nice brick is in.)
Honestly, I was a bit skeptical if we could actually pull off a garden since I have never had success growing anything. But our plants have been doing extremely well and I have a new hobby! The first strawberry plant we got has already doubled in size and is now on it’s second crop of strawberries! I went back and got another strawberry plant since it is doing so well and my 3 year old son is loving to go out and look for new strawberries each day! We also have 2 green bell peppers, 1 yellow pepper, 1 jalapeno pepper (homemade salsa, yum!), 2 tomatoes, 1 cucumber, and we just planted new serrano peppers (seeds). Our first bell pepper is growing, too (in picture)
My son planted his first flower pot with marigold seeds and is very excited to go out every day to see how much they have grown. I also have another pot that I plan to plant basil and cilantro in- I can’t wait for fresh herbs!
Even though the garden is brand new, it is already so rewarding. We have spent a lot of family time out carrying for our plants (even my 1 yr old likes to watch us water) and it has been a great learning experience for my 3 yr old. He helps me water every day and constantly reminds me that plants need sun, water, and good soil!
Sometimes I sneak out when the kids are napping/resting to just enjoy the quiet. I surprised myself, I never knew that I could enjoy gardening so much. Maybe it is because I’m older now, or a mom, or just more appreciative of the little things in life, but I really enjoy watching and caring for my small garden each day. And I know that I will love it even more as we start to pick some of our fresh produce!
I’ll keep you updated on how our garden is going, and of course, what it produces! Do you garden? What plants do you have or have you had in the past? I look forward to hearing your garden stories!
And don’t miss all the fun Summer FREEBIES & Discounts available for your kids!
Melissa Hurst, the founder of SavingCentsWithSense.net, is a married mom of three young children, so she understands the importance of stretching a family's budget to maximize savings. After working full-time in higher education for seven years, she pursued a passion of teaching both in the classroom and through her articles to help others. Her money-saving tips have been featured on Arizona Midday, and she is a regular columnist for LifetimeMoms.com and Times Publications in Arizona.
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