Getting the Fall Garden Ready

Our dirt is ready! We have to buy dirt for our garden, because here in the desert our dirt is like clay. We used a mixture of mulch, garden soil from Home Depot, manure, fertilizer (which makes my stomach queezy to use - so we probably will go organic next time), vermiculite, and peat moss. I really don't know if we got all of the amounts right for the mixture. But we're gonna try it anyway! I'll post pictures when we actually start seeing some sprouts.

Here's our lovely dirt in our lovely 4'x4' box that my dear husband made.



Here are our three boxes in our slightly elevated garden spot. Next to the tree my dear husband planted a few months ago... to add some shade to our backyard! (Woohoo for shade in AZ!)


We covered the boxes with burlap to protect those poor little seeds from the harsh sun, keep the soil more moist (it drys out soo fast here), and keep the birds away.

Now, if I could only have a way to keep THIS One away! She loves to help me. She loves the dirt. We go out there to water the garden and she gets SOO dirty! She scoops up the dirt with her hands and shovels it out of the garden box. It was quite difficult to get the seeds all planted on Saturday (wih my husband gone for the day). She kept getting into the dirt and stirring up the seeds. A few times she even took out the labels...err... stakes... telling me where the row of what vegetable was. I gave up after planting two different veggies. I planted two rows of peas, and two rows of yellow squash. I need to get out there and plant the rest of them when my husband is home. ...{Maybe tonight... Hopefully tonight!}

I have a bit of leftover burlap I didn't know what to do with. There wasn't enough to put over any gardens or plants. I thought I might use it in some Fall crafts or a Halloween costume, etc. And today as I was looking through my favorite blogs, the answer came to me! I found a post at The Nesting Place who posted a link to Fabulous K who made this adorable and easy fall burlap banner! So that's what I'll do!