I’m a farm girl. I can’t say I was technically born on a farm, I was born in a hospital. But that hospital was in a small farming town. A town that my parents still live in as does much of my extended family. My grandparents on both sides were farmers as were generations before them. None of my immediate family still farm but most of us find a way to carry on some of the traditions in our own way. We’re doers, growers, and makers.
When I first got married and we had our first house I was a grower and a maker. I put in one garden and when that one wasn’t quite right I put in another one that was bigger, better and prettier than the first. I grew and I preserved. Then we moved here and we had a “landscape” but not a garden. I toyed with the idea of a real garden for years, had it all planned out in my head. But I didn’t have the time or energy to make it happen. Then we put a pool in the spot I had dreamed of for my garden. I played with tomatoes in flower boxes and herbs in pots but none of it was quite right. I changed from being a grower to being a groomer of landscape and occasional ripper-outer and divider of hostas.
Since I have been rediscovering myself and who I really am and what I want out of life I knew I needed to get my hands back in the compost and sow some seeds. I reserved a Community Garden plot through the Park District and I started making plans for a small garden here at home. We live on a wooded lot so I don’t have a lot of open sunny spots but I have an almost perfect partially shaded spot that was begging for a kitchen garden full of greens. It is an area that we had leveled, bordered with railroad ties and filled with pea gravel, for the girls’ play set. The play set went to another home years ago after the girls grew too old to enjoy it. We briefly had a trampoline in this spot but that too has found a new home. I now had that perfect place for my raised bed potager with gravel paths.
Last weekend Steve and I got to work and got it done.
Supplies for 3 – 4’x4’x12” cedar raised beds:
3- 1” x 12” x 12’ cedar boards (have the lumber yard cut them into 4’ lengths for you.)
- 2” x 2” boards cut into 12” lengths (we found enough in the “scrap” wood bin at Menards and a 4’ piece only cost $.49)
- 2” galvanized wood screws
We had everything pre-cut at the lumber yard so all we had to do was screw it all together when we got home. Plus it fit in our car much easier at 4’ rather than 12’.
Some directions will tell you to staple hardware cloth or landscape fabric to the bottoms of your beds. I would do that if I were placing these on a lawn area. But the area ours are placed already has plastic and sand under the stones so I’m not too worried about weeds coming up through all that.
After we put them together I spaced and leveled them where I wanted them. While I worked on that Steve pounded fence posts in around the perimeter of the entire garden area. For now we are just using metal fence posts and coated wire fencing. It is easy and economical. I’m just hoping it keeps everything out that needs to be kept out. After putting up the fencing we went around and stapled the bottom of the fence to the railroad ties for added stability and protection from varmints.
I have my compost tumbler in one corner and plenty of room to add more beds in the future if I need them. For now there is some campfire wood stacked up along one side but as soon as that is used up I think a long narrow bed may go there with some blueberry or raspberry bushes.
I spent yesterday morning filling the beds with soil mixture. I bought bags of garden mix that were compressed to 2 yards and were supposed to expand to 4 yards each. I bought 8 because that is what would fit into my car.
The soil mix ended up becoming a little science experiment. The middle box is completely bagged mix (it took almost 5 bags). In the first box I put a thick layer of partially composted leaves in the bottom before adding the bagged stuff. The end box hasn’t been filled yet but I’ve emptied some post in there as well as a half a leftover bale of peat moss and some other topsoil bag I found in the shed. I’ll top it off with more of the bagged stuff from Menards. I’m also going to top off all of the beds with some composted manure before I plant because I don’t think the mix I used has a lot of nutrients.
The best part about the soil in these boxes is how light and fluffy it is. I’ve always been faced with heavy clay soil wherever I’ve gardened in the past and had to spend years amending it to get it good to grow stuff. With this soil I may be able to finally grow carrots.
My plan is to grow all my greens and cool weather plants here. I may throw a tomato plant in just to see how it does as an experiment. But all my sun loving plants and herbs will go in at the Park District garden. I’m hoping it has been warm and dry enough lately for them to finally get it tilled and ready to plant. I started one tray of seeds indoors and some of them are already coming up. For this year most everything will come from the garden center as transplants or be direct sown into the beds.
I have visions of this being a peaceful, green sanctuary in my own backyard. (Everyone wave to my neighbor Sue working in her woods yesterday morning too!) I moved the picket fence, old wheelbarrow and pot to the back corner for some decoration. I’m going to fill them with flowers and herbs. I just need a little table and chair so I have a place to enjoy a cup of tea in the morning or a glass of wine in the evening. I also need to remember just how excited I am about all of this right now when the mosquitoes hatch and it gets hot and humid.
Happy Spring!
