The lawn gets it's first cut

The grass was about 4" tall. So I did the first cut. I set the lawnmower to a high setting so as not to do too much damage on the first cut. The grass i still very tender. The wait of the lawnmower knocked down the grass where the wheels rolled over. In a day out so it should stand back up again. Cutting the grass should make it thicken up. I will also over seed in a few days when the current hot spell passes.

Putting in the Garden Posts

The T posts are now in for the Peas Tomatoes and Beans. The Peas still need to have stings added.

Vegetable Garden is Starting to Grow

Vegetable Plot

The potatoes, peas, carrots, radish, broccoli, parsnips, beets, rutabagas, kale, spanish, peppers, eggplant, cilantro and basil have all sprouted now!

The Lawn is Sown

We finished spreading the compost on the lawn area. This was then raked level and rolled with a water filled roller we rented from Ace Hardware. We then spread the grass seed. It is a Scott's sun and shade mix seed. I bought this seed about a year ago so i hope it is still good. After the seed was put on we raked it in to the top 1/2 inch and then spread some peat moss over the top. It was then re rolled.



Lawn when it was partially raked level.


Lawn after it was completely leveled


Lawn seeded

We got a Rainbird portable impact sprinkler. It has proven to make the watering very easy as it can almost cover the entire lawn from one location.

Further Preparatipn for the Lawn

Starting to add mounds of sand and compost to lawn area

Continuing to add compost

Spread compost and ready for tilling.

The Vegetable Plot Thickens

Defining the rows 

Seeds and other miscellaneous items

More seeds sown and watered

Establishing Seeds

This year we experimented with a lettuce container for the deck. It has been a great success. We planted seed in it over a month ago and have been harvesting enough lettuce for the family for weeks. As you can see from the picture we have replanted an area to the right with more seeds. This one container could keep the family supplied with lettuce all summer. The secret to the container is that it is about 8 inch deep and has a water reservoir at the bottom. Therefore even on the driest days the plants were unaffected.

Tomato seeds sprouting - We are a little late this year but the garden isn't ready yet anyway so it will hopefully come together in the end. Ideally we would have planted these a month ago in a coldframe.

Various herbs establishing

A seed tray full of Petunias from seed that we collected last year.