Garden Project 2011 started this past weekend with me building two raised garden beds. I have been dreaming of spring time, gardening, playing in the dirt, watching the garden grow and enjoying the crops for months now. Last year when we moved into the new house we had so many projects to do on the inside of the house that I was never able to plant a garden outside. Through this past fall and winter I have envisioned all manner of gardens big and small but logic and reasoning have led me to the task of establishing two 4 by 8 foot raised garden beds. This Garden Project is the culmination of reading about and attempting experiments such Lasagna Gardening, Square Foot Gardening and Companion Planting. I hope you will find this educational, entertaining and maybe even inspiring.
I had searched the web for ideas and plans for building the beds but Tracy scored a winner on bed plans from the Yellawood website. I modified the plans to enable me to build the desired size of 4 by 8 foot beds. I am not a woodworker by any stretch of the imagination but Tracy and I were both pleased with the final result. Let me brag for a sec and said that Tracy was impressed with what I had done. Below is one of the beds with Stoli Cat investigating what was new in her back yard.
Now that I have two beds I have to fill them up with soil. These beds ended up being 11.5 inches tall and that means I have got to come up with a lot of filler material/compost/soil to grow some veggies. There are many sites dedicated to Lasagna Gardening as well as some great books. I started with a base layer of 4-5 sheets of newspaper topped with 2 inches of hay. For those of you who have never bought hay, once you cut the strings that hold the bale together it will burst open like a can of biscuits! Hay Galore! I thought I would need several bales so I bought four of them. Turns out I needed about half of a bale. Once I spread the hay around and it fluffed up I had plenty to go around. Below are the two beds, three bales and hay everywhere. I have also seen websites on "hay bale garden beds" so I may end up with another side project to talk about.
So this is the start of my experiment on raised garden beds and Lasagna Gardening. The plan is to finish filling in the beds, letting it "bake" aka compost for a few weeks and then plant some veggies seeds. Companion Planting means that things grown together will assist each other to increase productivity and success. For this garden I will be planting Bed A with tomatoes, basil, oregano, and pepper plants while Bed B has cucumbers, okra, squash, and beans. Each bed contains plants that grow well together. Square Foot Gardening will come into play later on. The idea is to optimize gardening space.
Special thanks to Oakley Lumber in West Nashville for selling me the 2x6x8 foot boards of rough cut cedar, Home Depot for selling me the nails and screws, and Yellawood DIY plans for the raised beds.
Now that I have two beds I have to fill them up with soil. These beds ended up being 11.5 inches tall and that means I have got to come up with a lot of filler material/compost/soil to grow some veggies. There are many sites dedicated to Lasagna Gardening as well as some great books. I started with a base layer of 4-5 sheets of newspaper topped with 2 inches of hay. For those of you who have never bought hay, once you cut the strings that hold the bale together it will burst open like a can of biscuits! Hay Galore! I thought I would need several bales so I bought four of them. Turns out I needed about half of a bale. Once I spread the hay around and it fluffed up I had plenty to go around. Below are the two beds, three bales and hay everywhere. I have also seen websites on "hay bale garden beds" so I may end up with another side project to talk about.
