Garden 2016 Start

This year's garden includes a new bed started last fall in the lawn area out back, a new bed out front by the road and an expanded area by the house out front. I added compost I created with kitchen waste, veg waste from MOC, leaves, coffee grounds and leaves from the city. The lawn areas got lasagna composted last fall with layers of veg waste, coffee and leaves, with the paths getting dug out and leaves put in to let them rot. I added another lasagna bed next to the one below to get it started for the fall. I think in a couple years I will really have all this down and know when to get stuff planted and maybe even get starts started at the right time to be ready when the last frost day hits.

Looking forward to seeing what God does with my hard work. More to come.

South Lawn bed, starting to put the cedar sides around it.

Pollinator patch by the French Doors on the south side of  the house. Including Shasta Daisys from the back fence, black-eyed susans, poppies, marigolds along the front, and sunflowers throughout.

Poor mole who has been digging up my garden beds this winter with his family. Caught this one by hand when I turned over the railroad tie in front of the compost bin.

Part of taking out the front section of the overgrown Shasta Daisy patch. Potted up a bunch of them for the Master Gardener Sale but not many of them sold.

The south lawn beds with sides in place and filled with compost, dirt and fertilizer, ready to be planted.  I started the shelling peas about a month ago and planted broccoli and peppers after this was taken.

Front yard bed I put behind the day lilies at the road; for the melons and squash. I used the old shower walls from the bathroom to create make-shift cold frames. Seems to be working since the squash are starting to show sprouts.

New Surrounds for the impromptu bed I made last year for the bush beans. Planting lettuce, kale and chard.

Spider I found under a pallet in the backyard when I was cleaning up the next area. Big guy, probably about 3-4 inches across.

Weeded the whole area by the blueberry raised bed in the back which was thick with overgrown weeds and quackgrass.  Then moved the piers over by the fence, off the "spider" pallet on the left which was in front of the day lilies, to the right of the wet spot.

Original raised beds with over wintered lettuce and some volunteer potatoes and garlic in the back; need to get the beets planted in this bed sometime soon.

Center original raised bed, with left over garlic in the front there, Three rows of carrots on the left, a short row of raddish before the 2x2 and onions on the right. Built up with BioLive and about 4 inches of compost this year.

West original raised bed.  Has chard and kale of various varieties and the overwintered onions I didn't take out last fall.

This is the New lawn bed that I started last fall with the one on the left, but didn't have enough to really make a good bed.  I also didn't dig this one down into the dirt like I did the other one. I just put cardboard down over the weeds and grass that were growing there and piled two layers (this is the second layer of veg waste and the start of the second coffee layer) of veg waste, coffee and leaves on top with the fence boards there to hold everything in before I get the cedar sides done later this summer or fall.

That same bed tucked in with coffee bags and ready to make dirt and attract worms until Fall, when it will be planted with a winter crop of lettuce, kale and chard; maybe some beets.

Overall view of the lawn area, with the strawberries that are a month early and still a little weedy, the pile of decking I really want to get on the deck this Summer (earlier rather than later), the lawn garden beds, Aimee's last rose bush that is falling all over itself and my fence panel potting bench/work area by the house. Oh and my tarp covered new 3 bin compost area that I just made this late Winter/early Spring; I can't seem to find any direct pictures of it.

The original garden area after the rains today.  Yay, I don't have to water for a couple days.

And the peas are doing great after a month of growing.  I got about 90% germination rate with the end of that first row having the most trouble. Oh and a few volunteer squash that came up from the cold compost I added.

grounded blueberries and other garden progress

We started today by taking a nap. I think I slept for about an hour and a half after we had lunch. I was really asleep when Aimee woke me up, it took me a good 20 minutes to get the cobwebs out, get my clothes changed and get outside. Oh and I called my mama to see if she was feeling any better; she is recovering from pneumonia (answer: yes she is).

Aimee started out the afternoon by digging up the dirt in front of the garden, in anticipation of planting flowers once she had loosened the soil. Then I came out and we got to planting the blueberries and the plants I got from HD the other day; a pumpkin, zucchini, Japanese cucumber and a banana pepper Sam got at the HD project day with the plant carrier he nailed together; I will make a separate post on my frustration on that project.

Anywho, the blueberry bushes went it really easy and we ended up using a big chunk of the dirt from the middle of the planter to mound up dirt around the bushes and bring them up to a level that should be good for when we finish the raised bed around it.

We milled around a little after that and picked up some rocks and other stuff lying around. Then Sam and I moved the cement pavers that were piled up in front of the blueberry planter out to the front by the driveway where I decided I was going to use them to extend the driveway on the west side. There were 3.2 loads in the wheelbarrow, with Sam following me and riding back in the wheelbarrow; he liked the bumps.

Aimee started clearing out the planting area beside where the deck used to be, where a bunch of volunteer pansies have started growing under where the hanging basket we had last fall was hanging. After I moved the pavers out of her way, she cleaned up the left over weeds and moved her potted plants into the vacant area in the middle. It looks very nice and you can see where Aimee was digging this morning next to the garden (that roughed up dirt above Aimee's head).

Now there isn't much left before we are forced to deal with the deck area, or start roto-tilling the grass area and getting it graded for grass this fall. Although, I have been avoiding the sprinkler trench in the backyard, since after a winter of being exposed to rain, etc, I am sure it isn't the soft excavated soil that came out of the trencher last summer. With a back that doesn't do well bent over for long times, bending over a 18-24" trench, digging "loose" dirt out of the trench, just doesn't sound like a good time to me.  I guess I need to get it done and Terry's trenching shovel back to him before the year anniversary of my borrowing it.

The other thing that needs to be cleaned up is the lumber outside the south side of the house I didn't have room for in my "lumber shelves" I built on the East side of the house to hold all the cedar lumber from the deck. A lot of that pile got used in the blueberry planter, but it got kinda rustled trying to find good boards. I may actually have some room to move it over to the lumber shelves, maybe.

Then what to do with the left over dirt still in the back yard that needs to be moved or used to be able to till the grass area fully.

blueberry beds

We were able to finish the third raised bed, with the exception of a pipe extension for the sprinkler system to raise the pipe above the soil level. I just have to unscrew the cap and screw the extension in. Aimee helped me to sift more dirt and then mix in the second set of bags of garden soil and conditioner. It really didn't take that long and taking the soil from the East fence area to level it out for the blueberries worked great; we had just enough soil to completely fill the third bed.

The blueberries needed to get planted along the East fence, but we aren't sure what kind of material we want to use to make the raised beds they will go in. So, I decided I could build a temporary raised bed frame and plant the blueberry bushes in that, as long as it was smaller than the final one, and then we could build the other walls around it and just pull out the temp bed walls. Hoping all goes well when we get the final bed plans done and remove what we did.

After getting the first level down, I dug down a shovel head depth to loosen the compacted soil that will be under the bed. The only thing I wish I would have done is put a layer of landscape fabric down under the bed, but it is probably better since the bushes may end up rooting deeper than the box.

I then built the other two levels of the box to bring it up to a level of about 17 inches and started sifting dirt from the pile in the middle of the yard into it. Aimee again was a great help with digging the dirt into the wheelbarrow to give me a little rest from sifting the rocks out of the dirt. We ended up with a big bucket full of rocks and another one full of roots for the yard debris.

Sam had fun helping in his own way, which was mostly in the way; I actually hit him in the head with the end of the shovel one time. I almost ran him over with the wheelbarrow and almost hit him in the head with the sifter while pouring out the rock. I did get him occupied with taking rocks in his truck out to the other side of the gate where I was piling them, but it only kept him busy and out from underfoot part of the time. He shoveled dirt, helped mix dirt, carried rocks, brought me shovels and other tools I needed most of the time, and did have a great time out there climbing on the sifter between loads.

The blueberry bed filled and wet down to help it settle a little bit before we plant the blueberries hopefully tomorrow.

The pile we took the dirt from for the blueberry bed, the pile was in front of the railroad ties just to the right of the garden, out to where the shovel is sitting. 

The final look of the garden.

Progress on the garden

So, Sam and I got home tonight about 5 and Aimee welcomed us home.  The drive was wet and crazy, with several people driving almost dangerous, cutting me off once and a lot of others just being stupid. I won't go into the details cuz I could go on and on... you already know if you have been reading my blog.

Anywho... it was clear out when we got done with dinner, so I went out to check the garden and did some watering on the second bed that was under the canopy I have up to shelter the third bed until I got it together. Then I noticed that Aimee hadn't put the new fertilizer I got Wednesday on the tomatoes and other veggies, so I went about putting the fertilizer around all the plants and found a couple piles of cat waste in the second bed. Yuck. I don't want that in my garden.  I took it and all the dirt around it out, but I need to find a way to keep it from happening again. I am hoping with the dirt being wet from watering it won't be as desirable for a litter box.

Aimee offered to get Sam to bed so I started in on the third bed and started drilling the pocket holes for connecting the sections together. After trying to put the short section in the second row, I found I made it an inch too wide, so I put it on top and unscrewed one side to screw it back in at the right width; with the ends poking out the one side, figuring that I would cut them later.

The sections screwed together quickly after the pocket holes were drilled and I then found the plastic I cut when I put in the first bed two years ago, amazingly, and got it stapled to the top of the bed box. The landscape fabric took a couple staples to keep it in place and then I started moving the sifted dirt I did last fall and started filling the bed, mixing in some bagged garden soil as I went. After I got the bed about half fun I put in the soil conditioner bag and mixed it in so help keep the "native" soil a little more help to not get sticky like in the other beds.

I put the rest of the pile in the bed, which wasn't much and I don't have enough.  I still have two more bags of garden soil and one more of the conditioner soil to add to the box but I am going to need more sifted dirt; guess what I get to do tomorrow. At least I should be able to sift it right into the garden bed, which will save me from double digging it, or actually triple digging it since it is already moved at least once.

Oh and I found a nice friend under the cover I had on the sifted dirt pile. He was cold and pretty sluggish; I was kinda sorry I had to throw him over the fence. ( I really don't like his kind in reality and was glad he wasn't snapping at me like they usually do when I discover them.)

Adjustments

I built the 3 1/2" section for the third raised bed, to bring it up to the same height as the first one, and got it all screwed together before coming in for the night. It will go on top of the bottom full height section, cuz it is already in the gravel and level. The end screws were not going into the end grain of the one side board straight so I put pocket hole screws through the top to hold it in line. The end ones then went in and everything held square. If you enlarge the photo you may be able to see the one at the top on the left side; the right side ones went in just fine so they don't have pocket screws.

So today, if the rain holds off and I can get out of Costco (with the unusually crazy mass of people here today), I need to get out and get all the levels of the third bed screwed together.  Then, when I find the plastic I cut to line the box, I can start filling it with garden soil, sifted dirt from the yard, soil amendment and sand. We hopefully will get the watermelons and pumpkins in the ground before they die in the starting pods.

Update (5.3.2012): BTW, I didn't make it back in time to get the bed screwed together, had to put Sam down for a nap he didn't want to rest for and go to our Parenting class that night. I will get back to it this weekend, after I get back from taking some time to visit my mom, who is recovering from double pneumonia; cooking, cleaning, straightening up and trying not to urk my dad too much with requests for new vacuum bags and other cleaning supplies he can't figure out where my mom put them (she doesn't remember either in her over-tired state).  Anywho... back to it on Saturday when we get back.

Raised bed progress

Today, after sleeping in til almost 12 noon, I got up, ate "lunch" and then went out to cut the raised garden boards to length. I had to figure out how to support the long end of the boards as I cut them and found that two scraps of 2x6 and two pieces of 1/4 inch plywood did the trick. I should have screwed them all together to keep them from falling over when I was trying to position the board for the cut, but just dealt with it.

I got them all cut then realized I needed to go get more gravel before I could take them out and put the boards together. So I borrowed my neighbor's truck again and went to get a half yard of 3/4" Open gravel from the local landscape yard. It took 5 wheelbarrows full of gravel to empty the truck, with Sam's help. Sam then helped me sweep out the liner and get the truck ready to return.

With four of the five wheelbarrows of gravel in with landscape fabric underneath it, I was able to finally able to take the lumber out and start putting it together.  I made a drilling template to be able to evenly space out three screws to connect the lumber together. It made it really easy to get them located in the right place, square so the screws went in right and evenly spaced; aesthetics, you know.

While I was out there finishing up the drilling, I noticed there were a bunch of birds flying around above us. It turned out that it was 7 hawks of some kind just swirling around pretty close to each other. It is kinda hard to see them in the photo but the black specs are them.

With the drilling done, I had to put together and level out the gravel for the first level. It went much more smoothly than I expected for only having a 4 foot and two foot level out there to level the gravel around the perimeter of an 8 by 40 inch frame, two feet away from the other raised bed. After the leveling of the first layer, the other two levels went together even easier. The last wheelbarrow of gravel went in the bottom and put a final 2-3 inches in the bottom for drainage. There will be quite a bit more dirt in this one since I didn't fill it up with gravel like I did the other ones; a good depth of soil for carrots and beets.

They are just stacked on top of each other right now, but tomorrow if the rain holds off, I will be able to pocket screw them together like I did the other one in the picture. I ended up with the new bed two and a half inches lower than the bed beside it and the middle bed is an inch lower than the first bed, to the right of the picture. So I think I am going to make a three and a half inch spacer row for the last bed then put a small cap on the top to it is easier to lean on and sit on. Then I can make a cap with a 1 inch spacer to put on top of the second bed and just put a cap on the first bed. They should all end up about the same height.

Aimee weeded more of the rest of the yard; in front of the shed, a little under the cherry tree, next to the house in the back, more around the flowers by the deck area.  She had done the strawberries, out front by the house and finished along the back fence including the raised beds by the garden. It really is looking quite nice, especially since I haven't had to do much weeding this year.

Longest day

Today started with getting up at 7:30 wondering where Aimee was; she had evidently opted to sleep on the couch in light of my rampant snoring when she came to bed. That got me up and going since my mind wouldn't calm back down, even though I would have normally crawled back in bed for awhile.

I started the projects for the day by getting the planer running and planing the boards for the garden bed. I had to cut down the 14 foot boards from the deck in two: 8 and a half feet and 5 and a half feet boards. This allows me to have room for the gouge out at the end of the board as it leaves the first roller and the blades dig in a little more; allowing me to get the 8 foot and 40 inch boards I need for the raised bed.

The boards planed really easy once I had them cut to length, with the exception of a couple I had to back up the depth a little bit due to some cupping that wouldn't let them feed through at the depth I had set. I re-ran these boards again at the same depth as the others, keeping track of how far back I turned the depth knob.

The melamine board I was using as an extension table in the planer, with the melamine skin worn off from planing the deck boards (please pardon my phone, it sometimes has issues corrupting pictures).

Once those were done, I went to HF to get the 12" Compound Sliding Miter Saw I have been wanting to get; I had a coupon for $119 for a saw that retails at $199 and usually never on sale for less than $149. I am pretty happy with it, with the minor exception of the saw's table not being level with the center portion of the saw that swivels with the angled cut.  I even didn't mind the tuning I had to do to get the blade square to the fence and table. oh and there was a slight adjustment i had to do with the extension arm to get it to be level with the main part of the saw table involving a hammer and a block of wood, those arms are surprisingly tough to bend. 

With the saw put together and "tuned", I turned my attention to lunch and then to preparing the garden for the last raised bed. I had to relocate the wood chips I had spread out over the ground to keep it from being so muddy. The chips moved and the landscape fabric pulled back, I started measuring where I needed to dig out for the gravel for drainage.  It was going to be tight and pretty close to the fence, so I fudged it a little ways toward the other beds and marked 6 inches wider all around for ample drainage area. I got it dug down about 4 inches and to make the area drain that much more due to the muck, I borrowed my neighbor's post hole digger and dug six holes down to the sandy soil that is below the clay surface soil.  Sam was a great help during all the digging, taking shifts to help put a shovel full of dirt in the wheelbarrow or dig out the edge of my hole. 

I only had a small amount of gravel left from the dry wells, but it was just enough to fill in the 6 holes.  I will have to go get more or steal from my driveway extension in the front. That will have to wait till tomorrow since it was getting to be dinner time and we cleaned up, ordered pizza and came inside to eat. After sitting here in my chair for a couple hours now, I can really feel that I worked hard digging in really sticky soil that weighed a ton, and the post hole digger really worked a lot of muscles that haven't been worked in a while. Translation... I hurt; wrists and hands being the worst, but my quads are a close third. I don't really understand why my quads got such a workout, but it was a day of about 8 wheelbarrows full of heavy dirt that I dumped in the front and one of gravel that got dumped in the holes. 

After the first wheelbarrow of dirt from today, the dark dirt on the ever growing pile.  

Halfway? through digging out for the gravel. 

After I was finished digging.

The picture of where the holes were roughly located.

and without the stamps so you can actually see the gravel filled in holes 

Sam and Aimee planting Marigolds in the garden beds; they are suppose to have pest repellent properties, so we thought we would try it out. (I like his nonchalant pose.)

Aimee finishing up the last of the flower beds against the back fence. She has been doing a great job weeding out the beds and making it look fresh for spring. Now to get landscape fabric down, Preen weed preventer, and some bark down to keep the weeds at bay.