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January 14, 2013

Raising the bed.

Which is similar to raising the roof. Kinda sorta. but not really.

You know I love my veggie garden. It has brought me tremendous joy the past few years.
B U T, it has brought me tremendous anxiety this past year.
Anxiety? I know. I am wacky.


My garden circa early 2012

You see, the problem was every time I went out there to work the garden, it was filled with weeds. Grass weeds. Weed grass. The kind of stuff that required so much work, that it overwhelmed me.
So instead of looking forward to gardening, it stressed me. And then there were the rocks. Actually boulders. In some spots, I could not place plants because apparently our property was at one time a quarry. 


my garden mid 2012
I thought about just scrapping the whole dang thing. A match and some gasoline. *poof*

I shared this with Coach's Mom at Christmas and we discussed that if I were to raise the bed, and add tons of new soil, it would be easier to maintain. But taking on THAT task also overwhelmed me.

B U T since I have the best MIL on the planet...she volunteered for herself and Coach's step-dad to come back and build a bed for me. Yes.they.did.

I know. I am so darn lucky. And it's not like they live down the street...it is a 2 1/2 hour trek for them.
So, two weekends ago, they came over and we started.
 Sometimes the Coach threatens me with that very same sledgehammer if I don't cook him chicken wings. 
 There was much debate about my garden fence. Do we leave it? Do we redo it? Do we scrap it?

Of course, you can't work in the garden without having a dog or five getting in your way. 
 The coach came up with a genius way to keep the fence, but make it better than before by using things we already had. He has the brain of an engineer. which is exactly why I don't know what he is talking about half the time. 
 The Coach and Bill pretty much had this job handled...but every once in a while Sue or Lindsay would bark out some orders from the shade of the golf cart.
I would never do that. I barked my orders from the shade of the house.

Ok, that was 2 weekends ago. This past weekend I had 7 yards of compost delivered. 
Two deliveries like this one.
 And then my super sweet nephew Bryan and the Coach shoveled it into the bed.  You'll be proud to know that I also helped out with the shoveling of sh*t compost.

On Sunday, I added my plants.

Voila. My garden is raised, as are my spirits.
No rocks. No weeds. Just plants and some garden chotskies.  
 We had a bit of extra compost material and filled in low spots on either side of the garden.
 I'm still debating on putting some sort of lattice/fencing on the backside...because I have tomato loving dogs.
 Yeah, they look innocent enough...but right here they are both plotting against me to eat all the tomatoes. 
Bastids.

So, that has filled up my life for two weekends....and I am a happy bee right now.
I'm so thankful for my helpful peeps! 
Now I can go back to only being stressed out with things happening INSIDE our house! 
You know, like a normal crazy person. 
XOXO



23 comments:

  1. Raised beds are the best! We have raised beds since the Alabama soil really can't be called "soil".

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  2. I want a garden too, but I don't want to do the work that's entailed to keep it weed free, and also, we have so many deer that we would need a VERY SUPER HIGH fence to keep them out. Not sure if this will happen this year or not. Maybe it's just a pipe dream I have?

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  3. I love it when people will work for me!!

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  4. I love it! I know how you love your fresh veggies and now gardening will be such a pleasure.

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  5. You are lucky to be surrounded with such hard-working people with great minds. It's gonna be a fab year of produce over there!

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  6. my ex always had raised beds, they were fab. and yes, keep the critters out!

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  7. Very nice. If they get the urge to travel up here, they can even start ours. Yes, I said "start". For years we've said we've thought about starting one, but with my dad & sister having their own gardens, we get the fresh veggies without the work, so why bother? :)

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  8. I hope you are going to be extra nice to your MIL, but then how could you not be? All of our beds are raised -- our lot has about two inches of soil over rock. I guess that's a disadvantage to living on a plateau. I expect to see great things from your garden this year.

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  9. Such a great idea, I need that! Only a little higher so I don't have to bend over to much. Getting old (sigh)

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  10. And here I thought I had the best in-laws on the planet....

    Very nice raised beds. It's crazy to me that you already have a garden planted in JANUARY, but hey, to each his own, right? ;-)

    We had a MAJOR temperature drop here, so the last thing I'm thinking about is planting veggies. I'm busy enjoying the frigid cold right now, thank you. =)

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  11. The lattice is a great idea! It will be decorative and keep the dogs out of the garden. Also...you could plant decorative gourds or pumpkins or even morning glories. Your garden is lovely.

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  12. Wow---that is awesome!!!!! All of our beds are raised (our reason is that we don't have enough dirt below ground here --all ROCK)....

    Hope it works well for you... That is so nice of your MIL and hubby and Coach of course to help so much!!!! They do take such good care of you, don't they????

    Save me some maters if the boxers don't eat them all... ha ha

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  13. I love it. We are planning on creating raised beds for a spring garden for me. As of right now it's just a fancy thought and that's about it. I guess I am using the word 'planning' with air quotes right now. Hoping it gets done in time to plant something yummy in the spring. And if I don't want to eat it, then I can juice it. Score. Your raised beds are making me a tad bit jealous. Can you bring me some tomatoes? : )

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  14. OH man, lookin' GOOD indeed...but the wife was laughing just now as she looked at this and wondered who would be enjoying a fresh garden in JANUARY and I am like 'fukin' FLORIDA'.... ahem :)

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  15. Wanna lend me your mother-in-law? Just for a weekend? Thanks.

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  16. Oh it is so so pretty! So worth the effort. Hmm now I am wondering if I can swing something like that in my back yard. Uh in about 4 months when the ground thaws!!

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  17. I never thought about the dogs getting into the garden! Tomato lovers eh? thats funny

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  18. Seriously jealous over here. Renting and a tiny yard. My one attempt at one lousy tomato plant went horribly awry. Sigh. Then again you're not too far from me...if those tomatoes disappear in the middle of the night you'll know I stopped by!! LOL

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  19. You're a nut!

    Love the raised bed.

    I'm going to put a small one in as soon as we get moved, too!

    Maybe your in-laws aren't too busy to take a short drive up to Phoenix?

    mwahahahahahahahahahaha!

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  20. very natural scenario. i love this and riding the open car is very enjoying.

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  21. Yes, I remember your garden from previous posts. It does look phenomenal for you now! One question - - - why didn't the truck back up a little closer and dump the dirt into the raised bed? But they probably did what you all asked - - right?

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