Our backyard has come a long way in the last five months! More before pictures coming in a future post but let me just say it was a sad, sad sight. In April I built a raised bed garden and lined the interior edge with marigolds. I then added a starter squash plant, a bell pepper plant, and two Early Girl tomato plants. Then I crossed my fingers and planted squash and marigold seeds. It didn't feel like much for the square footage but I didn't want things to get crowded late in the summer.
Fast forward to mid-July and the foliage from the squash plants is bursting at the seams and I've had to tie the tomato plants to the trellis to keep them from getting too heavy. The marigolds are still peeking out from the edges despite their current lack of sun and the squash blossoms add a nice touch of color.
I built the trellis as a play structure for the kids last year but it took a bad fall in a windstorm and one of the supports cracked so it was then repurposed as a fence/trellis. It wasn't quite long enough to cover the garden bed so I added some extra poles and then wrapped it in plastic mesh to keep the squirrels out. I haven't had any bug problems so I'm feeling pretty lucky this year!
We're getting a late harvest since I didn't start them from seedlings inside and Colorado has a late frost date but it's been pretty satisfying seeing things grow so much. Ruby helps me check for new tomatoes and Sunday chases away curious squirrels. Now, if I could only get Sebastian to eat a tomato...
We plucked our first tiny carrots from our container garden after it'd been knocked over by a certain black pup. I checked them two weeks ago and saw no color and felt like it really might be mid-August before we got to eat anything. Despite their bite-size appearance, it's pretty fun to see what can come out of the ground from a tiny little seed, don't you think?
-Rachel
I'm Rachel Denbow, an author, e-course writer, maker, craft stylist, and general DIY enthusiast. 
