Raised Beds - Is there a Pea Under that Mattress?

A raised garden bed has many advantages. It allows for deeper tilled soil, slightly earlier produce as the soil warms up faster and good drainage. So any garden girl worth her salt must have a raised garden bed! Bart and I went into the lumber store, had a quick conversation with the lumber man and ordered the wood. The ideal wood is cedar or redwood, but we took a bit of a shortcut and got treated lumber. I hear the organic gardener's gasping! I'm a newbie organic gardener and hope to improve substantially with age.

Mason took a wood shop class this semester and throughly enjoyed it, so I thought I'd ask him to help. Oh, my. I wasn't prepared for his sophistication, his dexterity, his knowledge. He knew, oh so much more than me. Well, ok, that's not saying much. Let me rephrase. He has mastered many woodworking skills. He measured the wood, and positioned and handled the electric saw like a pro.

We carried all the pieces to the location and he drove in the stakes.

We had a little trouble screwing in the nails, so Bart took care of that later in the evening.



Filling the beds with quality soil was a bit of a challenge. We had good dirt all around and it just took about ten thousand shovelfuls to get the beds full. We prevailed.

Next we planted lettuce and spinach seeds, and potato and onion sets and I'll be darned if the plants didn't sprout.

My handy-dandy assistant Bart did a fine job on the signage.

Step Two: Build Raised Beds - Complete. Now, we may need to devise a plan for a little problem we may face this summer: hot, southern winds.