This year I attempted to start a little garden in my yard. It is nothing fancy, and definitely took me longer than it should have to actually get plants into the ground…but it has finally happened!

This particular spot in the yard was chosen because it gets quite a bit of sun during the day.  We even did just a little limb hacking on some trees to open up the suns space a little more.  One would think this is prime real estate if you were a “6+ hour sun light” plant.

Behind the garden is a bench. This bench was creatively covered in ‘semi transparent’ deck stain…a few too many times and is now very white.  I will say it definitely keeps the water out.

Just behind that is our fire pit. It is pretty large and in charge, but we can not use it until October =/

As you can see here, I have two 4 ft x 8 ft raised beds. They were a bit overgrown from not being tended to for about a month, so we had to do some weeding before we could even get some plants in there. Super High Quality photo images brought to you by blackberry storm.

I had thought about just tilling up a big section of the yard right there, but I figured using the beds would look a little cleaner, and also offer a little assistance in keeping critters out if/when I install some chicken wire fence around them…yes, chicken wire.

After just returning my parents weed eater back to them, I was left having to use a pair of gloves and hands to pull the weeds.  With some help from my friends we knocked it out quickly.

In this photo you can see everything that we started with in order to create the garden.

• Top Soil
• Conditioner
• Blue Berry Bush
• Green/Red Bell Peppers
• Jalapeno Pepper
• Roma Tomato
• Solar Fire Tomato(supposedly does well in heat)
• Watermelon
• Cucumber

Next step, spread out dirt and conditioner, then till it all up and mix with the existing dirt.  This was intense but we definitely created a nice home for the new plants.

Done! Garden beds mixed and tilled, ready for plants.  On the left are the Tomato’s, and Peppers.  The two Tomato’s in the back were given to me by my parents and are not doing so great.

On the right you can see the Watermelon, Blue Berry, and Cucumber.  Thinking about moving the Blue Berry to a location outside of the garden.

Below you will find my potted plants which are all doing great. Surprising considering every one of my attempts with them last year failed.

• Basil x2, both purchased from farmers markets
• Oregano, this died last year and grew back in the same pot
• Cherry Tomato’s, sprouted by a friend of mine’s neighbor

Once the cherry tomato’s are a little larger, I think I am going to replace the two other failing tomato plants with them.

So there it is, my garden 2010.  Hope you like it…hope it feeds me soon!

Are you growing anything? If so leave me a comment and tell me what it is. The same goes for any tips or tricks you might have that can help me out!