Attack of the Killer Tomoatoes!

We are headed out for a much needed camping trip/vacation tomorrow... I am soooo excited!  But, before we take off, I had to show you all pictures of my garden.  I'm so excited that things are actually growing and that I will have fresh veggies to eat very soon (though, have already been cutting lettuce for salads...mmmm!).

I have managed to squish a lot of stuff into my little raised garden bed... I think I'm going to have to double what I have next year!  Right now I have sunflowers, corn, beans, onions, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce and...

Tomatoes!

My single tomato plant is taking over my garden!  I've had to pick up pieces of it off the ground several times so far...it just keeps growing! lol  Thankfully I really love tomatoes! =)

It's amazing how much it's grown in just a month!

What is THAT Thing?

What is that round yellow thing?  Is that... could it possibly be?  SUNSHINE?

After a long, wet spring-ter (the season after Christmas that is never really one or the other) we may FINALLY be seeing a little summer foreshadowing in the Pacific Northwest!  I am SOOO happy!  Today I came home from work and thinned my garden, planted flowers, weeded and watered... all in an hour!  I never have that sort of energy!  I'm actually sitting here thinking about what else I can do this weekend in the yard. =)

I used to hate yard work.  I was not an "outdoor" kid.  I would have rather stayed inside reading a book than hang out in the garden helping my dad plant tomatoes, but I have recently discovered that something changes when it's YOUR yard.  Suddenly, I'm concerned about how tall the grass is, and how many weeds are in the garden.  I am thinking about all the things I'd like to do with the landscaping and what kind of vegetables I want to plant in my garden.  I am no longer satisfied spending time inside reading a book.  I want to be outside with my gardening gloves on DOING something.

When did I become a grown up?

One of our gifts from our housewarming/Memorial Day BBQ last weekend

Our front door

Another floral housewarming gift

I LOVE Color!!

Look at my garden grow!

My lettuce is starting to look like lettuce!  Soo excited!

Moving on Out...

It's been awhile since I've blogged anything... I have no excuse, so I'm not going to try to make one... I'll just move on and try to do better in the future. =)

Now that the interior of our house is pretty much "done" (or, at least, there are no overly important/desired "to do"s on my list), and the weather is starting to warm up a bit, we have been moving on to the outside of the house and dealing with the yard. 

I've never been a bit "yard work" type of person, but, for some reason the mere fact that it is now MY yard has changed that tune a little bit.  I am having ideas and planning things out, and even, actually, DOING things! lol

About a month ago I started thinking about the vegetable garden that I wanted to plant.  I knew that I wanted a raised bed design.  I looked a bit at Home Depot's DIY kits, and realized (or, rather, reaffirmed) that I am NOT a DIY type of person.  So, I went to my absolute favorite source for this type of thing... Craigslist!  And I was successful!  I found a guy who custom made garden boxes AND delivered for only a few dollars more than one of the kits at Home Depot would have cost me.  In my mind, it was a bargain!  Then, with some help from my brother and in-laws, I dug out the grass and we filled it up with a combo of dirt and horse manure.  I still need to get out there and mix it up a bit, but here's the "finished" product:

I planted some starts a couple of weeks back, and have been anxiously waiting for them to sprout do I can go out and do the actual planting, but, for some reason, they just aren't sprouting!  I really have no idea why, and am starting to get a bit perturbed as I was hoping to get out there this weekend.  I did have a nice little surprise waiting for me when I came home today though:

One little sprout poking it's way through!  And, best thing yet, it's one of the sunflowers! =)

If the weather doesn't suck too bad this weekend, I'm still going to try to get out there and do some planting.  I have a tomato plant to go in and some carrots and onions that I didn't "start", so, we'll see how it goes.

Another outdoor project that Jacob and I started work on this last weekend was taking down the hideous shrub/bush/vine/thing that lines the back of our yard.  You may remember it from earlier photos:

See that monstrosity that lines the back fence?  I wanted it GONE. lol  I hate it, plus, it would give us about 3-4 more feet of yard if it were gone.  So, last weekend Jacob and I went to town trimming the shit out of it! =)

We made a dent (and found that people have, apparently, been throwing trash into it!), but we still have a long way to go... what we really need is someone with a chainsaw and a desire to demolish. =)  If you know anyone in the Portland area, let me know!  And, while you're at it, I have a front yard FULL of frickin' dandelions that we can't seem to get rid of either... so you can add that to your referral list.  *sigh*  This is our next big project I'm afraid.  I'm tired of having the trashiest front lawn on the block. =(