Backyard Overhaul

Ok...so I am going to try my hand at this blogging thing again. I know my life is super busy with both of my boys but I am hoping this can be a place where I can come and share exciting things that happen each day or vent...depends on what kind of day we have I guess..haha!

Yesterday was a GREAT day! Wesley and I have been planning a backyard overhaul all winter and this past weekend was the perfect beautiful weekend to get started! Some of you may know that we tried our hand at above ground gardening last year and LOVED it...and I have to say we were pretty successful, so this year we expanded a little and decided to add a few fun features for the boys and for ourselves since living on a budget is going to require more summer nights at home then out and about. 

First we made a list of all the veggies we wanted to grow, drew out our plans and off to Lowes Hardware we went. Penn was very excited and "helpful" when it came to picking out all our seeds. We tried to tell him a vegetable that we knew he would recognize and let him find the packet. Giving him jobs and keeping him busy really helped the trip go smoothly. Since he has hit the terrible two's ventures out have been extremely limited...but he really did well at Lowes. Anyways we got all our supplies (after 2 trips) and started working.

Here are a few pictures of the progress. Three boxes have been built and we are debating on adding one or two more. Plus we added a lattice wall for cucumbers and prepared underneath the wall for lots of lettuce!

Penn helping Daddy measure out one of the boxes.

 

All the seeds Penn helped pick out.

Lattice wall with shaded area underneath for lettuce.

 Can't wait to see this crazy mess turn into a beautiful backyard!

Part of sprucing up the backyard was making some fun features for the boys. First we made a fun sugar snap pea tee pee. I have a feeling this will be one of Penn's favorite places this summer when the whole tee pee is covered in snap peas. Not only will it be fun to play in but he can sit and snack on a healthy veggies right off the vine! Since snap peas are a little hardier than our other seeds we were able to go ahead and plant them and Penn helped water the seeds.

After building the tee pee we decided to take some of the wood we had used on our old headboard and reusing it to make a fun place for both boys to play. We were able to make a dirt box, balance beam, and basketball goal. We knew Penn would really want to "help" in our garden boxes so instead of making a sandbox we went ahead and filled his box with dirt like Mommy and Daddy's boxes so he can do gardening or whatever he wants in his own box. Yesterday he decided it was the perfect place for a construction site.

Dirt box and balance beam

Mini basketball goal Daddy made for Penn.

Of course it is too early and cold to plant most of the other plants so I will have to update you when we are able to continue the gardening and show you a few other plans we have for making our backyard a fun place to be this summer.

Courtney