Garden Bed

Dirt Under Our Fingernails

The 12’x4’ garden bed is installed. It is ready for lettuce. Thanks to A’s unwavering, almost maniacal enthusiasm, we were able to spend one evening after work assembling the kit, the next digging out the sod in the installation area, and the following day digging and then leveling the bed and going to Agway for supplies (you know Agway is a good choice when your town’s primary source for organic produce at the local farmer’s market is seen getting his supplies there) and “making” soil from a formula that includes peat moss and vermiculite and sand and compost and lime. It’s done. It looks beautiful. According to the neighbor, the kit’s posts are nicer than those on their actual bed frame.

If it were up to me, the process would have been spread out over a longer period of time, with breaks for leisurely breakfast and too much coffee and maybe a brief timeout to watch an episode of something on the Investigation Discovery channel. If it were up to me, I would’ve been distracted by knitting or teaching the cat to play fetch or obsessively washing the dishes.

But, see that’s the thing about this whole project, it is not just up to me, and therefore, I received my necessary nudges. And, I found out that I can carry 50 lb. bags of sand, use a socket wrench, and that I am really good at mixing with a hoe (it seemed like mixing dough for baking, somehow).

So, we are ready, and we have even installed some protection against the Great Vole Infestation of N. 3rd Street, which may or may not originate in our yard, but definitely effects houses on our block.





The Supply List:

(1) 12x4 raised bed kit (purchased with Christmas money from A’s parents)
(3.5) bags of 3.8 cubic feet of peat moss
(2.75) bags of 4 cubic feet of coarse vermiculite
(6) 50 lb. bags of play sand
(3) bags of mushroom compost
(1) bag of lime
(1) bag of PlantTone organic fertilizer
(2) sheets, 12’ long, by 24” wide of hardware cloth
some of the existing soil from the yard

Also necessary:
(2) cups of coffee
(2) tuna melts
(1) hose hooked up to the basement sink

Seed Starting

The snow has almost melted, and we spent the morning evaluating the area for the garden plot (looking at that list of plants below, then at the space for the raised bed, I wonder how it is going to work. But, according to Square Foot Gardening, it will), as well as planting our first seeds in the basement. Today we started the onions, both kinds of basil, the parsley and thyme. Most were so small, they looked like specks of dirt. I was afraid that if I sneezed, they would be lost in the recesses of the basement like those S-hooks that still haven't appeared after I lost them while "helping" to hang the lights for growing.

Good luck seeds!