Seriously getting ready

Heath bought the wood (red cedar). I bought a truck load of stuff (seriously, to Heath's horror). The next step is to actually BUILD THE GARDEN! Next weekend.

Elizabeth from Frager's garden center was a huge resource. She helped me to decide on the composition of the much aforementioned garden-to-be. We went with 2/3 organic potting mix (which already has lots of good stuff like peat moss), 1/3 organic leaf compost and a few cubic feet of vermiculite. We also picked up a slow release organic fertilized made by Dr. Earth. We got a fine pine mulch to top it all off.


The delivery from Frager's arrived and Heath and I spent a good 45 minutes hauling bags of soil, mulch, compost and pea gravel. There are enormous piles of stuff everywhere.

Then it was on to moving the compost bin. I leveled the ground in the new spot next to the shed and then started digging up the compost. We inherited the bin from the previous owner, Mr. Booze. I understand from our neighbor that the compost at the bottom was several years old. But roots had gotten into it. Tree roots, ivy roots and who know what else. I slowly trudged my way through the bin and did end up with some good stuff at the bottom. Unfortunately, I had to sift through it to remove more packing peanuts, which are NOT compostable! I was surprised to find that much of the kitchen waste I've been putting in there all winter was actually decomposing, even though I don't think we've actually successfully "cooked" it just yet.

I'm tired. There was a lot of digging. After all the clean up last weekend, this weekend we pulled out the railroad ties and moved the compost bin:


Our helper Elizabeth at Frager's suggested that we dig a trench with the objective of clearing all of the good soil away to get down to the clay where our garden will be. Which we did, and then layered pea gravel and mixed it into the clay and soil really well to break up the clay. The purpose: drainage. Darn clay.


We covered about a 5' by 10' area. We still need to add more pea gravel around a 4' by 4' area for the second raised bed.

Yep. We changed our raised bed building plans and found one that we are both happy with. We'll have two beds (4' by 4' and 4' by 8') and they will be 16" tall, which is taller than what we had planned. This is good. Heath found a great deal on red cedar that will be cut to size and ready to pick up on Tuesday. I just hope the Civic can take it!

Next weekend, we will build it. Hopefully it won't rain.