This year, we decided to do a little garden remodeling.

A New Home

First of all, we decided to move our planters to a different location. Last year they were located behind the garage, next to our very active trampoline. The space felt a little cramped, and the gardens did not get as much sunlight as they should. So, early in May, Tyler (Daddy) took out the shovel, loosened the planters from the ground, and we moved them to the east side of the garage where there’s plenty of sunlight and room. The planters were joined together to make a sort of C-formation, with my long garden in the middle and the boys’/Ty’s planters around the edges. It feels nice and open and the planters are easily accessible for little arms to reach in and weed or harvest.

Bring in the Dirt!

The second change was the dirt. Ty’s cousin, Farmer Zach, is an agronomist, a Farmer in Lake Mills, Iowa, and an all-around Ace in everything farming. In the very early spring, he took a look at our garden dirt and told us to start over, that the Ph was poor.

So, we took his advice and had three yards (?) of garden soil brought in (a compost/dirt combination) from Altoona Mulch…all of which I shoveled into our planters in an afternoon. That was three hours of shoveling! It was supposed to rain in the early evening and I could not let that Super-Soil go to waste.

In the meantime, the boys visited me and wanted to help. Morris shoveled dirt into the wheelbarrow and raked out the clumps in the planters. Morris loves tools and he loves to help.

Then Jude appeared, curious about what I was up to. He worked with me for about forty-five minutes, raking and spreading the soil. He always feels good about chipping in. Rex, however, steered clear of any labor; I saw him poke his head outside to see what we were doing, and then he disappeared quickly and never re-emerged. He knew I’d put him to work, too. 🙂

And then the planters were done! Full of new, healthy soil and ready for planting.