Most of the food I grow in my summer garden is vegetables. My mother probably finds this entertaining because there are really very few vegetables I enjoy eating. I do, though, enjoy growing vegetables.

I usually buy starter plants from my friend Jody and various garden stores. After buying a few things from Jody, I was inspired by our friend Matt to try starting my own vegetables inside before transplanting them outside. Apparently the red bedroom has a great window for growing plants indoors because the plants shot up in two weeks.

My starters included pole green beans, summer squash, jalapeño peppers, green peppers, and carrots.

After yesterday’s gardening post, you might think I have a bit of a green thumb. I am slowly learning to become a better gardener, but I still make mistakes.

This past fall, Jesse and I tilled up half of our front yard and planted new grass (yes, the neighbors thought we were crazy). When it came up this spring, it looked amazing. Each year as soon as I see the first dandelions of the season, I am always out in the yard with my spray bottle trying to control the weeds. This year, I made a bit of a blunder.

Apparently, I switched my Weed-B-Gon spray bottle with my Roundup spray bottle. Whoops! Now I’m just waiting for my EZ Seed coupon to come in the mail.

Every year around this time I begin to dream about the things I want to plant and changes I want to make outside our home. Usually, I try to wait until school is out because of the morning watering that plants require…and we all know I am not a morning person. This spring we have been spending more weekends at home, so I decided to jump start this year’s projects.

One tradition has been to participate in Pahl’s Moss Basket Days with the original second grade team. One Saturday in March we meet for an afternoon of planting and chatting. In May we pick-up full, beautiful baskets. I have done this for two years. I like this year’s basket better, but I still haven’t found the perfect combination of plants.

One side of our home had a variety of plants that always died by mid-summer. They were on the full sun side of our house, and they were planted in rocks. I had the bright idea to take out the rocks, pull up the plants, and plant black raspberry bushes. My grandma always grew black raspberries next to her home, and I have a great cobbler recipe. Taking out the rocks and pulling up the plants turned into a three hour project, but in the end, I was pleased with the result (I think Jesse was just tired).

Next up on the agenda: moving two of our raised vegetable gardens from the shady side of the house to the sunny side, planting the front containers, and planting this year’s crop of vegetables. I’ll keep you posted!