
So it turns out you can actually drop seeds in the ground and they turn into plants.
For reals!
We planted our first garden this year, and all summer it was a constant source of amazement for both of us.
In previous years, we've grown herbs in window boxes at the front of our house. We love having these herbs on hand through the spring, summer and fall. We've typically grown thyme, rosemary, mint and basil, but this year our sage also came back (the plant is huge!), along with our tarragon. And we received some chive seedlings from our CSA that we planted as well. It's a happy little herb family, at least when they're not being terrorized by neighborhood squirrels.
But this year we decided to step it up a bit and plant an actual garden.
We have a small backyard that we share with our neighbors. There's a patio with a table and chairs and room for a grill. And our compost bin is hidden back there under a tree. Much of the ground is covered with evergreen groundcover that comes back year after year, but in the back of the yard there's a patch that we had for several years considered turning into a garden. It gets decent sun and is out of the way since it's against a fence.
So here's a chronicle of our first stab at gardening. It begins one Saturday in early May, when we borrowed some yard tools and got to digging.