It’s that time of year again! My kids love potato harvest day.

We plant our seed potatoes in March, as soon as we have the garden cleaned up and ready. The kids think it’s amazing that all you have to do is dig a hole and drop a potato in. After a few months, when the potato plant dies, we start digging.

I usually plant several different varieties, which means they will be ready at different times during the summer. This plant was called Fingerling Yukon.

Here they are just after they came out of the ground. After a good washing they’ll be ready for dinner.

I love growing my own food. It’s so rewarding to grab a few things from the garden and have a terrific side dish for dinner. We roasted the potatoes with garlic salt, a drizzle of olive oil, and fresh parsley. My daughter usually won’t eat potatoes, unless they are in the form of a french fry. Last night she was gobbling them up while claiming, “I dug up this one!” I’d call that a success!

When my son was about 2 years old, I decided I needed a hobby. Pre-baby, my life had been teaching, working on my Masters Degree, and reading A LOT of books about reading and literacy in early childhood. Post-baby, my life was all about my new bundle of joy, teaching, and learning to balance the two.

My son loved to play outside (still does), so I decided gardening might be a good hobby for me. I wasn’t new to gardening. We grew up with a very large vegetable garden, all-you-can-eat raspberry bushes, and many hours of cleaning beans to freeze for the winter. Seven years ago my husband, 2 year old, and I started our own garden. We moved a few years ago and have a garden space at the new house too. It brings so much joy every year.

Here’s the family picking berries in the yard, last summer. (That’s my Riley Dog right there. He died of cancer not long after this picture was taken.)

A few weeks ago, the rain took a short break. I grabbed my camera to snap a few pictures of my freshly planted garden. This is the view from my bedroom window.

The area that the vegetable garden is in was completely empty, other than one REALLY big rhody bush when we moved in. We saw the idea to make rock pathways in one of my Country Garden’s magazines. The kids moved rocks from other areas of the yard to build the paths.

I usually grow veggies from seed, but this year we bought starts. Our new puppy, Cooper, doesn’t really know the “rules of the garden” like Riley did. I thought starts might be a better option this year.

I can’t wait to show you how it looks in a few more weeks!

Since my mom has really been the one to inspire my love of gardening, I thought I’d share a picture of her vegetable garden. This was taken last year. She always says that no one sees her garden, so let’s show it off.

We built the raised garden boxes when she moved into this house. Last Summer we put in the fence posts and bird houses. Her vegetables always grow about twice the size of mine. Her yard looks fabulous and very park-like.

I have lots more to plant this year. More pictures coming soon!!! Happy gardening!

Here a few parties I like to link up to.