Garden Time

Yay, it's the Kaizen Family's favorite time of the year.....Garden Time!  We've worked really hard this year to get our garden up and running.  We've added 2 new rows to our terraced hillside garden, and added lots of new plants.  My Christmas, birthday and mothers day present this year included 10 new fruit trees, 50 strawberry plants, grapes, raspberries, blackberries and boysenberries.  I was one excited lady.  I also wanted to get an early start on my garden this year so my wonderful hubby let me also order a small green house.  The kids have had a blast picking strawberries from the vine, pulling radishes and carrots from the ground and are anxiously awaiting their turn to dig for potatoes.   Here's a glimpse of the Kaizen family Garden. 

Our garden area- we terraced the hillside by hand (not an easy task) and built 4 rows.

Our experiment this year.  The bean tee pee, big enough for the kids to play in.

Row #1 - radishes carrots and tomatoes starting to take off.

Row #2- more tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower.

Broccoli- yum!

Aleverda cauliflower (it's a light green color)

Bell Peppers and sunflower.

Peas!

More pepper plants

Corn and squash

radishes

The potatoes are starting to sprout.

Tomatoes, beets and Pak Choi

Cabbage, turnips and kolrabi

Daikon radishes and chard

Celery

Strawberries

My herb garden- sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, mint, lemon balm, parsley, chives

Blueberries

My "hardening off zone". 

The bean tee pee.

Aprium tree

Gala Apple tree

More tomatoes

Plum tree

Cherry tree

lime tree

lemon tree

 

My little green house

My first sprouts of the year

Naughty Chickens

More of my hardening off and anti-chicken zone.

Graffiti cauliflower (it's purple), and giant mustard.

Fuji apple tree

Raspberries

Grapes

Avocado tree

Tangelo tree

Looking down towards our lower yard.  The chicken coop and run are on the left and the terraced garden area is on the right.

 

We decided rather than paying for landscaping rocks we'd use what mother nature provided to us.  We've been rock hunting and climbing down hillsides after these beauties.

Happy St Patty's Day

Happy St Patty's Day!  This year I decided the kids needed to have a little fun.  I explained to them that the naughty Leprechauns were coming to play tricks on them and it was our job to try and catch them before they did.  The kids thought this was great.  They helped color signs to lure the leprechaun into our trap.  The trap consisted of a plastic bin propped up with a stick.  In the bin was a bucket with fake gold and dollar bills.  The kids were sure they were going to catch those naughty little green men.  Of course Mommy had other plans.  While they were sleeping the leprechauns came and sprinkled glitter and shamrocks all over the house.  They also left little green foot prints everywhere.  Even on the toilet seat (they also turned the toilet water green, yuck)!  The funniest part was when the woke up in the morning to the chaos.  They were running a round giggling.  The tricks weren't over though.  The leprechauns even turned their pancakes, eggs, and milk green in the morning.  Also in the trap they set there was of course no leprechaun.  Instead the leprechauns put Henry in the trap.  The kids are determined they'll catch those tricksters next year.

Our Leprechaun trap.

 Some of the signs.

 The bait.

 There were footprints everywhere.

Green pee pee and footprints on the toilet.

 Glitter and Shamrocks all over the counters.

 Caden couldn't stop giggling at his green pancakes.

 Happy St. Patty's Day!