As winters in New-Brunswick goes, this one was simply looooong and with way too much snow ;- ) . I think we had over 6 feet of snowfall! When we moved here in July of 2007 everyone was telling us winters in NB were mild with hardly any snow, nothing compared to Ontario! Boy were they wrong, or maybe it was just a freak coincidence, who knows. Needless to say we were GLAD to see Spring arrive 3 weeks ago, the warm weather melted all the snow within 2 weeks and we can now play outside and work on our brand new garden!
We didn't want a huge garden, just enough space to grow enough veggies for our family of four and that would gives us a bit to can once Fall comes along. We also had to take out all the grass and the rocks underneath, add soil, manure and peat moss. Here are my husband, my 5 yr old and my 2 yr old (way in the background) working on the garden;
After a few visits from the neighboring deer we decided to build a fence around the 12x13 plot. They aren't very distructive, so far they only ate our birdseeds in our birdfeeder and haven't touched our perenials yet. We also bought an iron trellis/gate and will be planting vines on each side so they can grow up and on the wooden gate. Imagine this in the summer, with flowering vines on the trellis, and a full garden, I think it will look great :) . Oh yes and we need to paint the wooden gate too.
Being the herb lover that I am I had to create a little rock garden so I could plant my lavender, chamomile and calendula, while the other herbs (parsley, rosemary, oregano, thyme, lemon blam, lemon basil and chives) are planted in deck planters, that will go on my sunny deck close to the kitchen. Right now they are growing in the greenhouse.
What is just wonderful is that we built the gate with recycled wood that we had left over from many different projets, and we had enough to build a compost bin too! That is located near the shed and field.
How wonderful it is to go outside on a sunny day, sit down with the children and work with our hands in the dark rich earth. Desiree is an avid learner and enjoys getting dirty and growing things, while Caleb just loves exploring the yard while making sure we are near :) .
After May 20th we will be planting the vegetables, we have carrots, green and wax beans, corn, spinach, green lettuce, sugar peas (we will be building a little teepee for this), tomatoes...I am forgetting a few I'm sure. Can't wait to really get gardening!
