After years of me announcing we should do a vegetable garden, and then not doing anything, we’ve finally made it happen.

Amy managed to find this company called The Cook’s Garden and we ordered up one of their herb samplers and three tomato plants. The thing I like about these folks is you can order up seeds, but you can also order up starter plants if you’re running a little behind schedule. They ship your order out based on optimal planting times as well, so while we ordered the plants weeks and weeks ago, they just arrived on Friday.

I picked up several untreated 2x6s and removed the sod in the area that we intended to drop the bed. It’s roughly 8×4 feet. Then I stacked them and went to the local garden store to pick up two loads of topsoil/compost mix to toss into the bed. Amy was expressing concern that they might not do well, to which I replied – We’ve given them the gourmet treatment. The filet mignon of growing conditions! If they can’t make it in a 50/50 mix of organic top soil and compost with organic peat moss mixed in for good drainage, fuck it. If we have to watch for anything it’s probably excessive moisture. We went from winter straight into what feels like rain for the last four solid weeks.

What we ended up with is basil, thyme, oregano, sage, sweet marjoram, rosemary and four chives on the herb tip. And three tomato plants indicated by the trusses. It’s early yet, but I figured I’d drop them in. Amy wanted cherry, but I wanted something a little larger like your typical vine size. No beefsteak bigness.

We’ve already got plans for at least some asparagus, garlic, and zucchini for next year. I’ll build another bed along side or in front next spring, and maybe we’ll even get a head start with seedlings inside.

We cannot wait to pick the food that we eat out of our own back yard!