Gardening: New Raised Beds!

Area Before Clearing

I am so excited that our weekend plans actually worked out! We were given and absolutely beautiful day; the perfect amount of sunshine, breeze and a wonderful balmy temperature that just beckoned us to go spend the day outside. It would have been an absolute "sin" to not enjoy the day given to us.

Newly Cleared Garden Space

 Today we cleared out the space that I decided to dedicate to more vegetable gardens and putting in raised beds along the length of it for ease of gardening, keeping the critters out, and in order to more easily build in healthy, organic garden soil in order to hopefully have a successful year. This section is also just off of the kitchen next to the patio so it will be more accessible, easier to water and hopefully to maintain and keep alive too.

The Foreman Hard at Work

The Boss Lady

Nathan and I spent most of the morning and early afternoon clearing the area of all the daffodils that have taken over the area for probably many, many years-there were several hundred of them, I also removed a couple of succulents, two rose bushes an azalea bush. We also removed lots of buried bricks, old landscape timbers, a couple of concrete stepping stones and lots and lots of weeds, roots and grass. 


Nathan, Matt the rest of the crew spent time laying out the area, and building the boxes. Benjamin played the role of the foreman.

The ducks and chickens have been really excited to see what has been going on too. They have actively been helping to mix in the soil and remove some of the bugs that have been happily living in the dirt.  

Matt and Nathan Working Into Evening

The frames are very simple 4' x 6' boxes built with untreated cedar planks. They have been constructed so that they can be easily taken apart and moved. Also, we left extra space on the stakes to add and extra plank if wanted/or needed. We are also leaving a two foot walking path between each box to easier access each edge. Although it is not complete and will probably be an ongoing project for a while, we now I have the beginnings of four new planting beds. We are so excited about the prospect of planting these out and filling them with loads of yummy vegetables, herbs, flowers and maybe some fruit of some sort. Now the hard part is-what do we plant. 

Jacob Hard At Work

Noah Lends A Hand