We had to start this garden from scratch.  We had to dig through the sod and the hard clay soil.  We had to add soil amendments.  Finally, we planted tomatoes, jalepeno pepper, sunflowers, onions, green beans, carrots and parsley.  The tomatoes, pepper, and sunflowers were planted last week and the sunflowers are now up!  We spent Memorial Day weekend planting the rest.  The boys are working on a gardening lapbook and learning about pollination, photosynthesis, and how seeds travel.  They will also keep a 15 day log on the progress of their seeds.  So far, the wait continues.....

We are organic gardeners and will try to keep an eye out for bugs.  So far, we have noticed the presence of slugs.  I had read in an Organic Gardening Magazine article to sprinkle coffee grounds around the plant being munched on.  I tried one plant and will see what happens.  The best way to rid a garden of slugs is to put a pie pan in the garden and fill it with beer.  Obviously, this is something Mom does.  The slugs are gluttons and can't resist this drink.  They drown!  I should try yeast water and see if it works just as well as I can't keep buying beer for the bugs in my garden.

We are also working on getting a good mulch layer as our climate is very dry and hot.  Another goal is to get our composter cooking and add compost to our soil.  The boys love to take scraps from the kitchen out to the composter.  Another favorite activity is to find worms, name them, and then give them a home in the composter.  Hopefully they like their new home.