I do some of my best thinking while pulling weeds

   So I have to take a moment to brag...  This spring, we tried our hands in gardening, and since then our garden has taken off!

  When we bought the house last summer, this is what the backyard looked like

(courtesy of Trulia.com)

  As soon as we moved in, we started brainstorming ideas of what to do with the empty gravel pit in our yard.  We had tried doing little patio gardens previously at our apartments, but they were never as successful as we had hoped.  So when we saw this little niche in the corner of our yard we knew it'd be a great opportunity to let our thumbs grow green!

  This Spring, we got to work and dug up half of the gravel pit, all the while letting our little seedlings grow indoors.  After tilling the soil, fencing the area and sweating a few pounds off in the process, we came up with this

  On the left we have three rows of carrots, a mound of cucumbers and a mound of cantaloupe.  On the right we have two rows of Roma tomatoes, three rows of cherry tomatoes and two rows of monster tomatoes.  And last but not least, in the very back we have two rows of corn.  And the two outside pots on the left have jalapeno peppers.

  We made our fence out of chicken wire, and we lined it with metal stakes for support.  Our makeshift gate is framed with bamboo poles, and all of it is held together with zip ties.  We lined the outside of the fencing with logs from our year's tree trimmings to keep anything from digging through the gravel.  It's not the fanciest barrier, but it certainly does a good job of keeping the dog and most critters out.

  So now a few months later, this is the product of all our hard work

  And here are some of our daily gatherings

 One of our first picks

Our cantaloupe is coming! (Sorry for the poor image quality)

 We had a monster cucumber!

 Now they're starting to pick up speed

So many fruits and veggies!

 I just picked all of these this morning

  I feel so lucky to be able to grow our own produce.  It has saved us money and helped us eat at home more than going out to eat.  Plus, we've had so much food that we've even gotten to share with family and friends.  With an abundance of tomatoes and cucumbers, I've been inspired to find all sorts of new recipes to try to use them.  So gardening has also been my jump start to home cooking!  Previously Nick was the only cook in the house, but even he has been very satisfied with my kitchen experiments.

  I know that our garden can only get better from here.  It's been a summer filled with trial and error, so I can't wait for next year when we get to do it all over again!  And I'm also hoping some of our melons and corn will be ready soon so we can start enjoying that too.