Our New Hobby

This past weekend was really our first taste of Fall in Phoenix, and not a moment too soon for me. I was growing weary of the intense heat that seemed to plague our city. But the past 5 nights we've slept with our windows open and I usually get to enjoy the cool breezes until about noon the next day – such a joy!

Paul and I both had the day off on Friday so we decided to celebrate this new season by tackling some of our outdoor to do list. First up was our square foot vegetable garden. I first learned about Square Foot Gardening while spending the week up at my parents earlier this summer. We checked out a few books from the library and I was totally captivated by the square foot method. On their website they boast "Grow all you want and need in only 20% of the space of a conventional row garden. Save time, water, work and money!" Sounds right up my alley! The basic ideas are that you build a square raised garden bed; fill it with a super rich soil made up of compost, peat moss and coarse vermiculite; and section it off into square foot sections. Then instead of planting in traditional rows, you plant in the squares. When one harvest is complete, you replenish the square with compost and sow a new crop in it's place. A continual garden of sorts.

As we were discussing our plans and gathering supplies, we found that we had different ideas about how to start and care for the plants. So that sparked an idea which has turned into our "His" and "Her's" planter boxes. I'm so excited! We'll have our boxes side by side and see which methods work better. Of course this is a friendly competition and we've agreed to share the bounty. I can't wait to hopefully enjoy garden fresh peas, tomatoes, squash, onions, peppers, basil, sage and chives! I told Paul that with all our squares the chances are we'll see something grow, right?! I am notoriously not a green thumb, but I have hope for our gardens this year.