You Grow Girl!

The major undertaking the past two weeks has been putting in raised garden beds. My husband did all the work, but I did most the parenting. I think it was an even trade.

We bit the bullet and spent more to get cedar. We had thought about recycled plastic timbers, but they were special order and not much of a savings. We also thought about untreated wood that we could treat ourselves with linseed oil. In the end, we decided on cedar. I have to say that the amount we spent could have easily bought us a share or two in the local CSA.


We put in four beds that are about 3.5 or 4 by 8 feet, which is enough for two rows of crops in each. And those were the dimensions that fit nicely in our existing garden plot. In between each bed, we used concrete patio pavers that were left over from other projects (reduce, reuse, recycle, ya know), so that was not an added expense. We wanted a row along the garage for two reasons: so that we could walk around/behind the beds, and so that we didn't have wood and soil against the siding of the garage.


If you are wondering about the picket fence along the last row, it is camouflaging our downspout. Our yard slopes towards the garage and if we don't divert the water, it ends up pooling in the garage. It used to run straight through the old garden. The fence will also be the backdrop of my daughter's personal plot. She decided on small pumpkins (Jack be Little),which will grow up the trellis, and a variety of sunflowers. The fence will help support the sunflowers as they can get heavy and topple when they reach maturity.

I don't expect to actually harvest any sunflower seeds, but that's okay. They will look nice.

I am going to use leftover wood to make a sign for my daughter's garden. She's been asking every day if it's time to plant yet and was so excited when it was finally time to sow seeds and transplant seedlings. She was very opinionated when we went to the garden centers to make our purchases. She didn't want to buy plants, only seeds because plants grow up from seeds.

So we've planted tomatoes (Roma and grape), bell peppers, snow peas, green beans, zucchini, strawberries (June and ever-bearing), sunflowers, and pumpkins. I was disappointed that I didn't find any rhubarb. If you have any rhubarb, let me know. My husband likes to eat it raw. That's too bitter for me, I like it in strawberry rhubarb pie!

Now we just have to water, weed, and wait.

(Yes, that's a Little Capers shirt that my daughter has worn every. single. day. this week. With the cape. Without the cape. On errands. To bed. I can't get her to take it off. And yes, I did manage to wash it a couple of times before returning it to her body.)