square foot gardening

so, one of mr. overstreet's co-workers was over last week and told me about square foot gardening. have you heard of it?

i have been procrastinating a garden ever since we've had a place we could plant one. i am determined to have one this year, and it's on my mind a lot. i am so afraid of putting it off too long.

this is a method i really want to try. supposedly, you use less water and there is less weeding and more harvest. sounds good to me! the only catch is you have to build boxes and a grid and put a special mix of dirt in. but, i think mr. o can handle another project around here. (he is going crazy because he sold his dirt bike and hasn't replaced it yet. i'm just helping to distract him, right?)

(i borrowed these lovely pictures of a square foot garden in havant, england.)

miles is really excited for a garden. i am, too- and i have a big barrel full of compost that has been waiting for an opportunity to be useful. it will be nice to empty the barrel and be able to start composting again.

it seems like most everyone i can think of has or has had a garden, so here is my plea for any advice you'd like to give. for starters, which do you think is the tastiest variety of tomato?

Family Gems
Home and Family Provide Refuge
Posted: 20 Mar 2009 01:00 AM PDT
“When the seas of life are stormy, a wise mariner seeks a port of peace. The family, as we have traditionally known it, is such a refuge of safety. ‘The home is the basis of a righteous life and no other instrumentality can take its place or fulfil its essential functions’ (quoted in Conference Report, Oct. 1962, 72). Actually, a home is much more than a house. A house is built of lumber, brick, and stone. A home is made of love, sacrifice, and respect. A house can be a home, and a home can be a heaven when it shelters a family. When true values and basic virtues undergird the families of society, hope will conquer despair, and faith will triumph over doubt. “Such values, when learned and lived in our families, will be as welcome rain to parched soil. Love will be engendered; loyalty to one’s best self will be enhanced; and those virtues of character, integrity, and goodness will be fostered. The family must hold its preeminent place in our way of life because it’s the only possible base upon which a society of responsible human beings has ever found it practicable to build for the future and maintain the values they cherish in the present.”
Thomas S. Monson, “Dedication Day,” Ensign, Nov. 2000, 64–65
Topics: Parenthood