It seems funny to me that after all the years I spent complaining about all of the digging, weeding, watering, picking, cleaning, blanching, freezing, canning, and "building burms" in my daddy's garden; I am now putting all of those hard learned skills to use in my own vegatable garden. Matthew has been a good sport about letting me "borrow" his backyard for my little science experiment. He even worked up the soil for me to get me started.
My first learning curve is that this area of North Carolina is all red clay. I didn't want to invest in amending the entire area or in a raised bed since this is a rental house. Therefore, we are taking a gamble on ammending each planting site and feeding weekly. We'll see how that goes.
First up: spinach. I really wanted to plant bib lettuce (boston lettuce) but we couldn't find it anywhere so I settled for spinach. We put in 34 plants which ended up being much more than I probably needed. We had to plant on both sides of the patio when I had only intended to plant the left side.
Next: strawberries! Matthew happened to have a strawberry pot and we put it to good use. We put a fairly mature plant in each opening and two in the top. With a few blossoms already blooming, we're hopeful for a good crop.
The best revelation from the day's work was how Carson loves to help me in the garden. He's turned out to be my little garden buddy and I'm looking forward to lot's of fun time out back with Squiggle Monster!
At the end of the day, we were all exhausted and sore but very proud of our accomplishments.
What an exciting day! Tryston and Carson picked our very first two strawberries this evening. 
its of our last few weeks' labors. They were so juicy and sweet and we just can't wait for the next batch to ripen. 
Our very first strawberry finally turned red this weekend! Check out Carson's little green snake. It's his plan to keep the birds away from our berries... so far, so good.
Also check out red strawberry #2! Not too shabby. The pot is full of ripening fruit; can't wait for our first strawberry harvest!
The broccoli is finally looking healthy and strong. I was worried for a while, especially when all of the leaves were turning green and dying on th
e bottom. But I think we are finally past the worst and hope to see some bunches soon!
Today, we added broccoli to our little vegetable family. Four plants now grace the back section of the yard with room for some hot weather plants next to them. Carson planted the two on the right and I did the two on the left :)
