I’m late to the gardening game this year – with good reason. (He’s all I blog about, it seems.)

The husband wanted “real” garden boxes this year, so that delayed us a bit. When my brother was in town a few weeks ago, we bought two boxes from Lowes – I already had a box (still in its box) from last year. And I grabbed some dirt, since I knew the boxes were bigger than the current garden boxes. (My mom gave me two of her old boxes, which are still in great shape. The third box – made by me – is in pieces because I’m not a great box-maker.)

Check out the pieces left from my box.

About two(ish) weeks ago, I got two of the boxes put together and leveled. The baby was at daycare for the morning, and I finished up after he went to bed that night. This weekend, I finished the third box and we were in business. The new boxes are 4’x4′, compared to the old boxes which were 3’x4′.

Note the bent fence in the back – and the boxes on the right. We may still use those for something.

I’ve had seeds for weeks. I didn’t start anything inside the house, like I’ve done in years past, so I’m curious to see how things turn out. My mom and grandma are giving me a few tomato plants, and my mom has some basil plants for me (I’ll still probably buy more because I love pesto and we use SO MUCH basil during the summer!)

So far, I’ve planted two rows of lettuce, spinach, summer squash and winter squash. I’m going with the less is more approach this year – seeds-wise, that is. Last year, I literally dumped seeds in the garden beds and let them go crazy. It was a mess (and then a tree fell on the garden, taking most of the vegetables with it.)

I still need to plant tomatoes, basil, cucumbers and beans.

We don’t often have a lot of luck with squash and cucumbers, so I guess I’m just being hopeful this year. This is also the first time I’ve attempted spinach. It’s a lot like lettuce, so I’m assuming it should grow like lettuce? That’s what I’m hoping for, at least.

Do you have a garden? What do you grow?