This Lil’ guy was black head to toe with dirt. He loved digging in the sandbox on wheels.Saturday, we spent our entire day getting our dirt on – literally.
A person can’t possibly garden without dirt – good dirt. I guess some would say “soil.”I like the word “dirt.”
I can say it with an accent. A queenish accent. Or a Texan Drawl accent. Or my German accent. It is just a fun word to me – I know, strange, why are reading my blog?
Anyhoo…
We went to our Recycle Center and bought compost. 2 cubic yards! That is a lot of compost!
Then we searched high and low for topsoil. Our local gardening centers didn’t carry enough for our raised beds.
My hubby finally found a man way out in Timbuktu. We took our trusty trailer and the man filled it to the rim and our tires were about to explode.
The owner of the topsoil saw how many kids we had and I think he felt sorry for us. He only charged us $20 for about 3 cubic yards. That was so much cheaper than anywhere else – we felt like God had blessed us.
He even let my kids play with his cattle. However, they were not in the playing kind of MOOd. Get it? MOOd? Okay, I need to get to sleep.
Before
(See our other Gardening Posts for other bed pictures.)
And after
And afterWe also lined the boxes with landscaping felt.
We even had Brighton helping. She has grown so much! 
This is our trusty trailer. It was such a blessing. So was the guy in the red shirt. He worked so hard – just because he loves his family!
This is our lil’ Green Thumb Princess. She loves loves loves digging her hands into dirt and planting things.We did our dirt ratio: 1/3 compost-2/3 topsoil. Plus, tons of love and sweat!
We’ll be planting soon…stay tuned! From artichokes to zucchinis!
Blessings to you! You are loved!
When these start to bloom the temperature no longer gets chilly where we live. Today my car temp was around 90 degrees. It is officially still winter – ha! 
The purple just thrills me! It used to be my fave color as a child. Now I favor blue but I still like this royal purple color…reminds me of royalty.
The sad thing is they only bloom for a little while and then they go back to a green tree. So sad. I’ll enjoy them while I can.
Here is one of our Mountain Laurels in our side yard. It leans like it needs a V-8. Maybe it does.
Here is my sad orange tree. The bottom of the tree is bare….that is high as my kids can reach. 
All the beds were made from leftover boards from a neighbor’s fence. We also built our 
This is where our corn is going. A “Corn-Box”. A few years ago, we planted corn. It didn’t do so well. Later, a precious friend of ours, told us we needed to have rows at least three so they can pollinate one another. Who knew? Well, other than a corn farmer and probably every other gardener. We hope this works out better. 
This is the longer bed. 
Here is the other side of our poor Orange Tree. 
Our Pomegranate Tree
This one is our Mandarin Orange tree. I just love pulling the leaves off this one and tearing them in half – they smell so good! 
I asked my son to hold it for me. 
The inside of the planter.
Notice some of the blooms and tomatoes.
Which is a good thing…because look where it landed…
Apparently, the butterfly liked the Princess shirt. 
It is even color coordinated. Love that!
Isn’t she pretty? I’m not sure if it is a moth or butterfly but it has to be a Princess because of all the pink.
These are my thoughts this morning…disregard if you have something better to do...like polishing your mailbox flag or have a seat and explore my mind. (Be careful…it is a dangerous place!)
It looks so sad now…not sure if it will come back. All the plants in my backyard…are gone. (sniff sniff)
Ice ice baby!
My oyster plants are gone.
No snow…but tons of ice. 
My sheets blew off. Plus, my hubs fixed the sprinklers and they were not turned off…adding more ice. I’m praying my birds of paradise will come back. 
My birds did make it through the freeze. I’ve been amazed at all the hummingbirds…they are so fat.
These steps were slippery…I found out first hand.
This is my Texas Winter Shoe Wear. 
