First Pea

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Last year, we put in our raised garden beds, which cost a couple hundred bucks plus a lot of back-breaking labor.

This year, I bought some PVC pipes to go over each bed to make a little cage that I can use for adding plastic (to keep the plants warm in cooler weather), shade cloth (to keep the plants cool in hot weather), and netting (to keep out the evil squirrel). Plus, I got some hanging baskets to put an herb garden on my front porch, and I splurged on a timer for the hose so our garden will be watered while we're on vacation. Including potting soil, plants, and seeds, I've spent at least $100 dollars so far.

Last year, we drowned in tomatoes. This year so far, we've gotten a good harvest of spinach, kale, swiss chard, and beets, and hopefully later this summer, we'll get some tomatoes, peppers, melons, and beans. But by no stretch of the imagination have we saved money from our garden investment.

But oh my goodness, I do love gardening. Besides my kids, there's not much in this world that makes me happier. So, worth the investment? Definitely.

(Next year, I plan to put in a strawberry bed and turn part of our backyard into a faux patio - similar to this. If I had my druthers, I would also plant a butterfly bush, a wildflower garden, some blueberry bushes, two cherry trees, rosemary, sage, thyme (and lots of other perennial herbs), and tons and tons of tulips. If my landlord up and decides to kick us out of this house one of these days, I will cry and cry.)