After three years of taking care of flowers that only flower for about 1 week out of the year. We decided to rip them out and build some raised beds.
Pic of last years flowers, some pepper & tomato plants. Digging up peonies is not a fun job, their roots are a lot bigger than I expected them to be.
After two trips to Lowes and lots of shoveling the boxes turned out pretty nice. After building the four 6'x4' boxes out of 2x6's Friday morning and layering the bottom with old cardboard it was time to start filling them with dirt.
I layered the fill with leaves saved from last year, compost from our compost barrel, and some wood ashes from the wood stove.
Got some lettuce, carrots, beets & radishes planted.
Attaching the hoops for the "greenhouse".
They look great! Much better than neglected flowers for sure. Good luck with good harvests this year!
ReplyDeleteHey, those look lovely - I especially like the greenhouse cover! I hope to make some little "hot houses" of my own this summer so I can harvest greens into the winters. You, however, must live somewhere quite a bit warmer than where I am - I'm jealous that you can be making your gardens ready for use already. I'm curious - why do you want 1' x 1' squares? Could you not plant in rows?
ReplyDeleteLara, thanks
ReplyDeleteWendy, We are doing square foot gardens in these 4 boxes.
These are AWESOME! Great job.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sara, we couldn't resist today and peeked under the plastic...the lettuce is coming up already!
ReplyDeleteI love the name of your blog, seriously, it's awesome!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I want to do raised beds next year also. Didn't know about the cardboard. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Polish Mama.
ReplyDeleteWe learned the cardboard tip at our community garden, it worked so well there. Good luck next year!
Your beds look really cool! Nice job! Regarding the bed protecting your plants from the walnut tree: The juglone is present in ALL tree detritus. Be sure to clean any leaves, twigs, nuts etc out of the beds immediately. Also, the roots of a walnut are one of the biggest sources of the juglone. You may need to replace the soil in that bed from time to time. Also, some vegetables are more resistant to the walnut wilt than others. You'll have spotty luck with anything in the nightshade family (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, etc) but beans should be good, as well as cole crops. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Elizabeth! We'll definitely make sure we keep it tidy! Hopefully that, and good plant choices will keep everything safe.
ReplyDeleteHello hippies! you have a bunch of open sky there. ;) Im sure the plants love it.
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