This week, I wanted to share what I do each year to start our family garden!  First, I usually start by making a wish list of all the wonderful things I want to grow.  Or you can just go to a local garden center and pick up a few seed packets.)  Next is sketching the areas I have available for our garden and planning according to the space needed.  This is what the left side of my garden looked like in January.

Here is my tentative sketch to plan out how I was going to organize my garden.

And here is what it looks like this morning.  As you can see, I decided to change my plans and plant a row of onions, two rows of broccoli and purple cabbage in the larger area.  (I was SO excited to plant things in February, I got a little excited and bought two 6packs of Broccoli and a small bunch of spring onions!)  Because we live in the desert, I am going to try using soaker hoses or drip irrigation to keep my garden watered – I’ll keep you posted on how that goes!

Another important thing to keep in mind, is the timing of planting things in the spring.  One of the best free resources for this, is to contact your local County Cooperative Extension Office. Here is the El Paso, Texas Cooperative Extension website – you can see there is a TON of information from Horticulture (growing plants to beautify your home and feed your family) to Pest Management, to Consumer Science, to Nutrition programs, to youth 4-H programs. These folks are a wonderful resource of information!  Here is a form that I found on their website that shows me what month to plant the vegetables in our garden – another way is too look at the color coded map found on the back of most seed packets!  This is the back of the “Alaska” Sugar Peas I am planting this year.

Do you see the date is stamped sideways along the side of the packet on the right? Always be sure to buy this year’s seeds – especially if you are a beginner! This year’s seeds will have a higher germination rate – meaning more of them will sprout.  Old seeds if stored properly, will still grow but their percent of germination will decrease – so don’t throw them away! Just keep your expectations in check!

So how are things going in your garden this week?

As with all link parties, be sure to include a link in your post to bring readers back here to Household6diva.com and share the comment love and encouragement with others! I will leave the linky open all week, so you can link up your post as it is convenient for you! I’m looking forward to a learning more about where everyone lives and what your gardens look like!

Next week’s topic:  How to interpret the back of a seed packet and how to plant sugar peas and potatoes!  Feel free to comment on this post each week to share your garden knowledge, to ask your garden questions, or make suggestions for future “Mondays in My Garden” topics!

One of the best tips I’ve learned for capturing children is instead of photographing their special moments
from a vantage point of five feet from the ground like this…

but rather to get down on their level and start snapping away from a different angle.

It is amazing (and heartbreaking!) how much older they appear!

What are your simple tips for capturing your children?

When was the last time you had a tea party with the children in your life?

the smell of fresh earth as we finish planting some purple pansies…

and finding the humor in preschool cousins that are already in cahoots.

Note to self: Never allow three cousins to go inside “just to go potty” without an adult.

What are your savoring today?

How do you find humor in everyday parenting challenges?

Whether it is a narrow flower bed along the side of our four-plex,

or convincing a wonderful group of friends to start a Community Garden in Baumholder,

I’ve always felt the need to grow things – and teach my children how to grow things!

So. I’ve decided that each week, I will be posting a linky for all of my blogging friends to SHARE what THEY have been up to in their gardens each week!  Your garden can be a flower pot on a window sill or a large corner of your yard – if you have a passion for growing things, this is the place for you!  Feel free to comment on this post each week to share your garden knowledge, to ask your garden questions, or make suggestions for future “Mondays in My Garden” topics!

As with all link parties, be sure to include a link in your post to bring readers back here to Household6diva.com and share the comment love and encouragement with others! I will leave the linky open all week, so you can link up your post as it is convenient for you! I’m looking forward to a learning more about where everyone lives and what your gardens look like!

Next week’s topic: Where do I start? I’ll be sharing tips and ideas for how to plan your garden, where to buy seeds, and knowing WHAT to plant WHEN!

And this is the view this morning. (8 months later)

I am planning to reorganize my days next week to start blogging regularly in the evening. I want to set up more of a schedule with “Mondays in My Garden” and Friday’s “Jane’s cup of Joe” as regular features!  But for today? The piles of flagstone are calling my name – and all of those weeds to the left need to be pulled!

So I thought I would ask for feedback – What are some topics you would like to learn more about in YOUR Garden?

What about weekly themes such as Tackle it Tuesday, Wordless or Wordful Wednesday, Thrifty thursdays, etc?

I would love to see the community that has grown around this blog be a venue for sharing our collective experiences!

“There are very few stresses in life that can survive a treatment of milk and cookies.”

And I whole heartedly agree with her!

…

How do you find peace at the end of a long day filled with never ending “to-do” lists?

What is your favorite cookie for dunking in milk?

the menu plan and grocery list…

the delivery of purged clothes to the thrift store…

and maybe test drive a new flavor of nail polish…

What are you tackling today?

How do you reward yourself for completing a long “to do” list?

And I’m finally starting to see some hints of future fruit for all of my labor.

I’ve had a few friends message me via facebook recently with questions of HOW do I GROW this? or that? and I got to thinking – maybe these things would interest all of you too – So tell me! What are your garden questions? What are your garden dreams? And what are your creative obstacles?

One of my biggest challenges when we were living in Germany, was growing everything in containers.
But that didn’t stop me from growing two, six-foot cherry tomato plants!

Let’s see if we can brainstorm some creative ideas to help each other!

And perhaps we can come up with a catchy name like Mondays in My Garden?

How does that sound for a blog series or link party?

On election day this year, I shared this quote by Abraham Lincoln on my facebook page:

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”

It was my hope that polarized political opinion holders would take a deep breath,
and move forward with these words in mind to better our country.

But here’s the thing – in my little corner of the world as a Military Spouse, there has been a lot of stress lately.

The Congressional leaders of the United States of America have not found a way to compromise or come to an agreement about our national spending – which therefore has led us to all of the recent headlines about sequestration.

As a parent, there are times that I look at the choices my children make and think to myself – Wow. That is disappointing you’ve made those choices.  But I’m sure eventually you will learn from the consequences of your behavior and make better choices in the future.

This is the exact same level of disappointment that I feel for our elected leaders in the last few weeks.
The difference is, the consequences of your behavior will be felt personally by my immediate community.

After more than a decade of war, my family has volunteered hundreds of hours to supplement the existing support programs and resources available for military families.  And now, we will be asked to do more with less.

Many of our service men and women have volunteered to serve our country during a time of war.
They, who have born the battle and come home with wounds both seen and unseen.

And you are now telling they, and their families, to do more with less.
It causes me to wonder what value you place upon that blanket of freedom and peace you sleep under each night.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned as a Military Spouse, is the value of Resiliency.

The ability to realize that while difficult things can happen in life -

it is all going to be ok.

And while I am very disappointed that the challenges we’re facing were caused by this irresponsible behavior,

I know that we will be ok.

We will do more with less.

We will continue to meal plan and plant a garden for vegetables.

We will continue to ask ourselves “is this a want or a need?”

We will continue to carefully save towards our dreams.

Not because it is fashionable to be frugal – but because our income demands it.

I will continue to volunteer to make my community better.

I will continue to teach my children to live by the golden rule.

I will continue to support my husband’s choice to serve this great nation.

However, when the next election comes around,

I will NOT forget the tremendous level of disappointment I feel right now.