FUNdue

We had a fun family dinner tonight: fondue! The boys like to call it FUNdue, however. Brent handled all the fundue set up and prep and then we all enjoyed swiss-gruyere fundue with crusty bread, broccoli, and mushrooms and then yummy chicken broth with chicken, beef, jumbo shrimp, scallops, and more broccoli and mushrooms. So fun and so yummy...I think the scallops were my favorite...like budda'!

Earlier in the day I took a huge step...I went to Lowes alone to buy everything I needed for a project. This is huge! Brent shopped so much when we remodeled our house that he knows Lowes and Home Depot inside and out. Consequently, I have always depended on him in areas that require a trip to "the depot". However, today I decided I would stop waiting for help on my pet project...he was having fun with the boys so I set out on my adventure. I got most of what I needed and then, while he made dinner, I built, filled, and planted my first vegetable garden. I decided to follow Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening method and built a 4'x4' box to get started. I hope I can keep up because my track record with plants is not the best! LOL

I had transplants from my mom that were looking very upset about being in pots for a week and a half (including a day or two where I forgot they were in the back of my car!). I got them in the bed tonight and hope that they make it (crossed fingers). I *think* I have a cantaloupe, pepper, and three different kinds of tomato plants from her, but I might also have a watermelon. It's hard to tell what already died (blush).

I also planted a beautiful basil plant and a small oregano plant. I added a little color (and hopefully an attraction for bees) with a purple salvia and some yellow-orange marigolds. I'd like to grow some chard, carrots and lettuce if it's not too late for seeds. And I'm looking for flat leaf parsley and cilantro plants to transplant in soon. The bed has 16 different squares and can grow 5 times what 16 square feet can traditionally grow (with rows). It promises to be fairly low maintenance...we'll see.

I'll be adding a trellis to the side of the box with the tomatoes and melons so I can train them to go up. I oriented the box with our house instead of the compass, however, so I hope putting the trellis on the Northeast side doesn't shade the box too much. Of course, the tomatoes and melons have to survive before that would be a problem!! LOL

If you have some suggestions for plants that grow well here in North Texas, please let me know!!

I'll post a picture tomorrow.