Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Raised beds.















Raised beds does not mean I've put cinder blocks under my bed, Jessica. No, raised beds are for gardening. Vegies next summer! I purchased 100 cinder blocks, a big pile of dirt, 3 bags of peat, and 5 bales of hay. Now I'm attempting to construct raised beds. No one ever accused me of being a carpenter or a gardener. I could be drinking a glass of wine and writing on Facebook.

I took twigs, rope, yellow spray paint, and a tape measure and blocked out the plan. 3 beds: 4 feet by 15 feet. Then I started to dig, to set the blocks into the dirt a bit so they won't move. It's hot but breezy. I dig and set blocks. Eewww, I'm sweating. I frequently lay on the ground to absorb negative ions from the Earth (yeah, that's why). I wonder if I'm alarming the neighbors. Are bugs crawling on my arms? Oooh, look at that cloud. Am I getting muscly and slimmer? Do these shoes make my calves look fat?

Too low. I think I'll need another level of blocks: another pallet, 90 more blocks. Digging them in means they're almost level with the sod and I have a big pile of dirt to load in there. And the peat moss. The hay is for between the beds. Yes, from this angle, (prone on the lawn) I can see I'll need another row of blocks. Note to self: call landscaping place. And get up and back to work. Cab Sav awaits.

Well, one is done. It is a sad, sorry looking thing. Somehow it came out 4 feet by 12 feet. Hmm. Maybe it will look better with plants spilling lushly over the sides. Pumpkins or cucumbers. Anyway, my reward after all that work? A shower and some chill time.