This week we have been working and learning in the garden. We had been trying to get to it for several weeks, but circumstances and weather seemed to hinder our progress. My husband has been away for the past few weeks so I decided to take matters into my own hand. I had never tilled the soil with the tiller before and was a little intimidated by it, but decided to give it a try. It turns out that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. The kids and I took turns and were able to make short work of the task.

We tilled the soil Monday and spread the fertilizer.

We let the garden sit for a day, watering it so the fertilizer would get into the soil.
Yesterday we planted. We first created the paths by laying down newspaper and cedar mulch from the tree we had cut down a few weeks ago. 

Willow insisted on helping.

Then we tried to make our own irrigation system by drilling small holes into an old hose. Unfortunately that did not work as I thought. The water would only go about 20 feet then it stopped. Drat, but lesson learned. 

I was going to cut the hose into sections, buy the connections and make my own system, but after pricing the fittings out it ended up being cheaper to buy the drip hoses. So we laid them out in the garden and hitched up the water. Then we planted the tomatoes my Dad had started (he is an awesome gardener). We also planted broccoli, green bean, peas, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds in the rows. My son had started some watermelon plants so he put those in his own little section.

I am looking forward to seeing how our garden grows this year. A neighbor has offered to teach me how to can this year. I have made jellies in the past, but never canned vegetables. We usually eat just about everything that we harvest, but I am hoping to have an abundance to can.
The kids really enjoyed working in the yard the past few days. They even enjoyed the garden math and science I made them do (how many square feet, how much fertilizer needed, how much space between plants/rows, when will the plants germinate, etc…). I love the benefits of being able to teach my kids the life skills of having a garden.