This summer we decided to try something new – gardening. And it just so happens that this project of ours fits perfectly with the theme of this month’s Life by Lens* theme: CREATION.

Mallory and Chelsea really wanted a garden last summer, but we never got around to it. The girls even tried to make their own garden by planting any seeds they found (apple, watermelon, orange) in our backyard. This summer we decided not to dig up our backyard to create a planting space. Instead, we went with a raised garden bed and added 16 bags of soil to fill it up. The garden is in the middle of our small backyard so that it can get the most sun.

I intended to document the process of building the raised bed and preparing the garden soil but that didn’t happen. Dirt, water, sweat and rain looming had me keep my big camera tucked safely indoors.

After the raised bed was finished, the girls (plus a friend of Mallory’s) picked colors and painted some paint-stirring sticks that we’ll put in the garden to identify what we have growing (we still need to label our sticks).

We started with a mix of seeds and seedlings that the girls helped sow and plant. Just a few days after burying the seeds, several started to sprout.

I am hoping that the girls might even try some of what we harvest (if we manage to do that!). They will have a chance to try homegrown watermelon, pumpkin, tomatoes, strawberries, eggplant, peas, zucchini, squash, lettuce, spinach, bell peppers, jalapeño peppers, sweet banana peppers, cucumber, carrots, green onion, basil, oregano, and cilantro – all growing in our 4′ x 8′ space. That might be too many plants in that space, but what do we know?!

The big girls have been doing a great job watering the plants. And we quickly learned that the plants do not like to go without it for more than a day.

We still need to install a low fence around the bed to keep critters out. And I really want to get a compost bin too, if I can talk Jonathan into that idea.

And… I need to figure out how to deal with bugs, how to *feed* the plants by enriching the soil and I’m sure some other things that I don’t know about yet. Gardening is all new to us and we aren’t really sure what we are doing. In the end, even if some of our seeds don’t sprout or the bunnies eat our lettuce, we will still have fun trying to make stuff grow. I hope to be back with an update on our garden at the end of the summer. So, stay tuned!

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*Life by Lens is a project I am participating in with a great group of photographers who I met on a photography web forum. Our goal each month is to document what is important to us — big or small. Our Life by Lens submissions will be published on the 20th of each month.

Take a moment and check out the next photographer in our Life by Lens circle
> > >  Michigan Newborn Photographer Jen Priester  < < <

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