And it begins :)

So I have finally begun to get my veggies and flowers in the ground. This is a huge feat since A) I have done it during the week with the kids awake :) and B) I scaled back my original plan because let's be honest I had grand plans but no experience. I decided it was not the wisest thing to do a HUGE garden. So this is now what I have.

I am most excited about my tomatoes :) I LOVE tomatoes and there is NOTHING like garden fresh heirloom tomatoes in my opinion. So I opted to try four different varieties to see what I like best and what will grow best for me. I also had to change my growing plan. Our back yard is so weird. There is hardly any full sun anywhere. We have lots of huge trees and then cast some major shade with this spring/summer sun. So the most sunny place or the babies was on our deck. I have read A LOT about planting. Any many many gardeners have had lots of luck just using 5 gallon buckets rather than expensive planters. So that is what I did. I bought four $2 buckets and drilled about a dozen small holes in the bottom. I put small pebbles in the bottom to make sure it drained well as well as setting them up on bricks. Filled it with a mixture of good potting soil and composted manure. Got them planted and watered really well. So now all I have to do is get some fertilizer and I will be set :) Hopefully they will do well... we will see!

This is my Better Boy... bought it at Lowes hence it looking a bit better than the rest.

This is my Rutgers. It's a good canning tomato and I have high hopes of getting a few can's of them done this season.

This is my Old Fashioned Goliath. Should produce big yummy sandwich slicer tomatoes.

I am missing a photo of my Cherry Tomatoes... but they are there too :) I purchased the latter three and the agricultural department of the high school out here. Every spring their classes start lots of flowers and veggies from seed and then sell them.

And this is my Sweet Basil.

I can not wait to get these babies in the ground. The bigger plants are my three Everbearing Strawberry bushes. The other smaller plants are my Bush Cucumbers and my Crookneck squash. Hopefully this evening Kyle can complete my floating raised bed and I can get them in the ground.

I just had to share these. This was one of my mothers day gifts along with my rosebush that I still need to photograph. I forget what they are called but they are beautiful!!! The photos really don't do them justice but I love them!

More to come!......