Square foot gardens meet large appetites.

My papa loved to garden. Or so I hear. I don't really remember that about him because he passed away when I was seven years old, but because of this knowledge of him loving to garden, I have secretly always wanted to learn how to garden. So, this year Jaron built us some beautiful square foot gardens.

We each got a box.
Liv planted, potatoes, strawberries, mint, cilantro, and carrots.

I planted, alysums, carrots, strawberries, potatoes, and basil (which never graced us with its presence)


Jaron planted some peas (which were the happiest little plants), tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, and strawberries. Though the one tomato that ended up growing I think got stolen by a squirrel. Darn squirrel.

Jaron's peas won the award for the fastest growing and most fruitful plant.
Liv's box in general wins the award for best growth and best carrots.
My box gets the award for the most obnoxious mint plant. Why the heck did I plant two of those? Those things spread and grow like crazy. And how often does one seriously use mint? Not that often it turns out. Need some mint anyone? Come on over and pick some.

Warner actually didn't get his own box this year. We didn't feel that a two year old was capable of taking care of his own box quite yet. Maybe next year. But he did help with the harvesting. He definitely wins the award for eating the most green strawberries. Poor strawberries, they never had a chance to turn red with Warner's hawk eyes, and big mouth. Chomp chomp.

Here's what we learned through the whole process:
If planting basil, use a starter.
Maybe try planting peas next year that you don't have to de-shell.
Plant more strawberries to keep up with Warner's appetite.
Less mint.
Sprinkle Red Cayenne Pepper all over soil to keep pesky neighbor cats from turning your gorgeous garden into a liter box.
 Potatoes are the funnest plant ever for kids and for the belly. Harvesting potatoes is like digging for gold, except way easier and less economically enhancing. My kids had so much fun sticking their hands in the airy dirt to search and find one big delicious looking potato after the other.

So, gardening friends. What gardening tips do you have to share?