Things are going well with the vegetable garden remodel even though the pictures may not fully illustrate it (see the layout to get an idea as to what it will look like). Right now it looks kind of like a war zone complete with with bunkers, foxholes, and fencing but soon it will come together. You have to start somewhere! These photos were taken toward the evening from inside the house and are not the finest quality. Right now I have a random selection of raised beds reorganized and you can easily see the difference between the new wood and the old wood.
On the right side of the garden I have the 4’x8′ garden bed complete and filled with soil, a 4’x3′ bed filled, and a 4’x6′ bed filled and planted with strawberries. For now I’m going to leave a grass pathway down the center as it should be easy to mow once I get a different push mower, maybe you remember how I blew up the last one (if any mower company wants me to review one right now I’d be happy to oblige! Especially one of those cordless electric ones. I’d love to get hold of something I can’t blow up!). Once I get that part complete I can put the wire fencing back up and resume gardening as usual. I still have some digging and grading to do in the back right corner of the garden. I also need to get a hold of a few more boards to complete the raised beds and I need to till the area for the back beds which won’t be raised beds this year but may become so one day. For now they will grow the corn and beans.
When the weather warms up I’ll complete the remodel and begin the planting. The warm weather we had last week gave way to regular old Tennessee-in-February weather. Now I need to do some serious planning on what is going into the garden this year!
I can see you have it handled so far, and using pine boards and not treated lumber. Treated lumber might not be the best thing for our eating the goodies from the garden.
My garden was a total disaster last fall, we added on to the house and re graded most of the back year when they dug out our small basement and laid the foundation. You can see the new garden progress on my blog.
Looks good, planning and dreaming makes it all come together so well. Can’t wait to see pics of this when things are in full swing.
You are a true inspiration.
Janet
That looks neat, Dave. How about a rose bush in the center or in the corners? The edible rose? Just thought it’d be a great addition in the veggie garden. Besides you could use those dried rose petals to make Gulkhand – dry the petals in the sun and soak it in honey for a week with sugar – kids would love it!
Looks good Dave. It will look even better on completion. Can’t wait to see it.
I lol ever time I think about your blowing up the mower. That was so funny the way you told it.
Looking good Dave. Don’t worry about mowing the paths. I once had a veggie garden with grass paths and just used the weed whacker. Just as easy. I’ll be planting cold weather transplants w/in the next week so get ready-spring is upon us:)
Looking good Dave. Hubby is planning on building my boxes soon. We have decided to use Cedar boards to build 3 2×4 square foot garden beds. I’m starting small this year. I also have lots of containers I can put some lettuce and other stuff in too.
You are putting a lot of thought into your planning and it is looking good!
It looks great Dave. I was just looking at the newest Fine Gardening mag and they have a nice article on vegetable gardens. The gardens are beautiful; your beginning looks very much like their design…classic, beautiful and productive.
Gail
Looks great! I’m also making some raised beds this year and found this design
http://www.noble.org/Ag/Horticulture/RaisedBedForBack/index.html
It seems like an easy inexpensive plan but I’m wondering if any of you see drawbacks I may be missing.
Thanks!
Randy,
I know that new pressure treated lumber is supposedly without the harmful chemicals but I’m not sure I completely trust it yet. Cedar would work great.
Heather,
Rest assured the pics will come! Just as soon as I have something more to show. It’s rainy today so no garden work.
Janet,
Thanks!
Chandra,
Rose bushes would be a neat idea. They would also serve as a good trap crop for Japanese beetles! Sounds like an interesting way to use the roses. I’ve never heard of Gulkhand, thanks!
Racquel,
I used to do a lot of container gardening and you can get a pretty good garden with containers without much space. The cedar beds will work great!
Skeeter,
I probably think too much!
Lola,
I’m still looking for a good lawnmower on the cheap side. It’s funny to laugh at but I sure wish I had my mower!
Tina,
I’d better get the chard started. Peas, spinach and chard will be the first to go in!
Gail,
I just hope the results fair similarly. After all the veggies are what matters most to me!
Oopsydaisy,
The sheet metal idea is interesting and doesn’t look too bad either. I still like the look of real wood best (nest to stone or brick) but it looks like an inexpensive alternative. Thanks for sharing it!
Dave,
Tennessee is pretty much like North Carolina we planted Arugula, kale, Sugar Snap Peas and muslin greens on January 24th they came up about Febuary 10th. We had a 26 degree night last night and the heavy straw covering them protected them just fine so far.