Whoa. This old plan of ours to expand our vegetable garden and build our own fence has been a dream for a while, and a whole lot of work! We have been composting like maniacs and trying to create extra nutrient-rich soil to till into the area of the garden that used to be covered by grass only a week or so ago. You can see in the below photo the difference between the two (the slightly raised area in back is our old garden, which we added compost to for two years, the soil in the foreground is just clearly depleted): 
Enter this magical stuff. Our first batch of compost, rich in worm castings and teeny tiny pieces of eggshell. We were lucky enough to fill a huge wheelbarrow full, and we have one more pile which should be ready in a week or so. It made a huge difference after I tilled it into the new garden area! 
Emil “helped” by eating a cookie.
In case you were wondering, that white stick in the center of everything is where we are lucky enough to have a sprinkler head, which should cover reach the whole garden in the middle of the hot summer- always mark where water lines are so you don’t bash into them with sharp tools!
This is not all we did, though it was a whole day’s work. Andrew has been measuring and staking and drawing up plans for the fence. He plans to concrete in the posts this week (if he can find the time between meetings and grading and that pesky thing we call a job), then add the wooden fence, build the gate, then add the chicken wire last. After that, I will add a stone pathway and plan the layout of where everything will go (ex: basil close to the tomatoes; rosemary near the carrots to deter carrot fly; avoiding the marigold this year after last year’s slug problem; interspersing veggies with strong-smelling herbs to deter those nasty buggies, etc.- find more information on companion planting here, or check out this book).
The sunflowers Milo and Oliver planted are coming up!
Another fun thing we decided to do with the garden, since we have so much space now: 
A bean-pole tee-pee! We will plant beans at the base of each pole, then the bean plants should climb the structure and make a really cool (edible) hideout for the boys. They already love playing in it.
The whole thing has proven to be a really big job, but I am just in heaven dreaming about all the amazing veggies we are hoping for this season, and in all the years to come. I can’t wait for planting time to come! And what could be better than thoroughly enjoying good hard work?
P.S.- Please check out Julie’s blog! She just released the spring edition of Seasoned and it looks AMAZING!
That teepee is awesome! I’d sit in there eating the roof with the boys and hiding out all day. You make me wish my thumbs weren’t so brown…
Lauren, it looks so great! I know it’s just dirt at this point but I can see where it’s going and it’s going to be so good. I love the plants in the stump.. brilliant! I may have to borrow that idea. Also- for as long as Craig and I have been on the hunt for land and for as long as we’ve wanted to raise babies this way, I’ve always wanted to have a summer teepee made from something vining. I am so excited for this season! Speaking of which.. I’m avoiding the math for our garden’s dimensions right now by reading blogs.. I really should get back to that. 🙂
You guys are the coolest, and this garden is going to be the most awesome garden ever. I especially love the teepee idea!
This.is.amazing. 🙂
So exciting to see all this taking shape! I know it’s a ton of work but it’s going to be amazing- and so much fun for the boys too.
Ooh! It’s looking so good. I was reading through my copy of Boots, Roots, Buckets, and Shoots (I think that’s the right order) last night and was so inspired to plant the children’s garden at school this year. Your teepee is going to be so cool!