not going to lie: i have a summer bucket list going for this year. i always, always, always feel like we get to august, the kids have to head to school, and i’m sitting here yelling, “WAIT! we didn’t do (fill in the blank!)”

not this year. 🙂

i started working on it a couple of weeks ago (while laying with little mr. re-nest #2 as he was falling asleep…let’s be honest, it was a convenient time as it helped keep me awake while he was falling asleep). anyway, the list started and it’s on its way.

at the top of the list is something i’ve wanted to do for a couple of years: build raised garden beds + grow our own fruits and veggies. and, we made it happen!

it’s a dark pic. it was late when i finally got the plants in!

last weekend, we headed to lowes and got our supplies to make two raised garden beds. i hit up pinterest beforehand to see if there were any great diy instructions and found this tutorial. super awesome help from 33shadesofgreen.com!

(note: we started on friday night with just getting the supplies to build the boxes. i was totally taking this one step at a time. once the boxes were built, i’d go get the potting soil, mushroom compost + peat moss needed. i honestly think this approach helped me get all of them finished by the end of the weekend!)

saturday morning, we got the boxes together – and, they didn’t take that long to do! (thanks to the team at lowes for pre-cutting all of the boards + materials for us!) after the boxes were assembled, i sent mr. re-nest back to lowes to get the potting soil + peat moss, and our neighbor brought over a couple of wagon loads of mushroom compost. the kids helped (and got messy!) and the boxes got filled!

sunday afternoon, we were back to lowes to get the plants (i wanted to go with plants…it’s that instant gratification thing.) i’m pretty sure that i planted too much, but here’s what we’ve now got going in our backyard:

cherry tomatoes
kale
lettuce
spinach
sweet potatoes
strawberries
zucchini
cucumbers
sweet peppers
orange peppers
mint

again, likely too much, but i can’t wait to see what comes of it! and, i love that the boys are going to learn how to grow their own food, and have some responsibility this summer!