Back To Work

I've drawn them a hundred times. I've dreamed about them even. And now, they are a reality.

The raised bed project is complete. Well, at least the construction/building portion of the project.... we still have to erect the rock-outlined bed (with native rocks, no less), and cover the mud with weed fabric and aggregate. But that's really it besides enjoying and using it!

FYI - Longish (but oh so awesome) post follows.

The largest bed measures 20' long x 4' wide. We positioned it parallel to the first set of beds so we could access it on both sides, even though the fence side is triangular and narrow on one edge. Plus we're going to wire trellis that part of the fence, so we wanted to keep it accessible.

The other bed is 14' long x 3' wide, and like the originals we installed in March '07, parallels the house.

Picture parade

Before work could begin, we had to move the pile o'dirt because it was directly in the way of the new bed (right, middle).

This is a "Before" shot I took on 11/11. It shows the location of the new bed on the right. We had to remove a small tree there.

Major Discovery: there is a 1" irrigation pipe right where the tree was, and isn't covered by the new bed install. We can install a valve box and full drip system in the beds! Sweet!




This is how long the sides of this new bed are! We were shocked as we installed it because the ginormity (yes, Katie word) of it wasn't evident on paper.















As usual, Jake supervised. Unfortunately, we have a sneaking suspicion that he has been "marking his territory" in the last few months, and thankfully he can't reach the previously installed raised beds. However, those are 3 boards tall and the new beds are only 2 boards tall.

So, our next project is to install a small garden gate to keep the pup out of the garden unless we're there.

Sorry dude.



Here's a shot of what it looked like before we put the short boards on.

Notice we simply moved the pile o'dirt to another location before we put it in the bed. Having to move that much dirt TWICE in the same day sucked. My back hurts really badly tonight...

Notice all the "implements" as Chris calls them (tools). I swear at one point in the day that every single tool we owned was in the backyard with us for one reason or another...



This is a mason jar with at least an inch of grubs in the bottom. Unfortunately the huge snail is blocking your view of them. We have a Japanese beetle problem - at least the Black Widows eat the adults!

It was comical as we dug through the pile o'dirt finding these. "Ooh, there's one. And another. Sigh. And another." The interest soon wore off and I began hoping we wouldn't find anymore. The interesting part is that they were even in the native clay dirt...those suckers can dig man.




We tucked the new bed in for the night, filling it with the pile o'dirt, and heeling in the blue flowered aster at the other end of the picture. ("Heeling in" is when you have a plant that is sorta planted in the ground, but it will not be its final location, and will be moved relatively soon). It had lived in the pile o'dirt, so it had to be relocated.

(Funny story: I originally purchased the aster because it had blue flowers, which is the name of a song Chris really likes. I got it when he was out of town. Being a good gardener, I cut all of the buds off so it could focus on growing a strong root system, and flower tremendously when the weather cooled slightly in the Fall. Well, because of the California Sycamore tree on the other side of the fence, it was too shady for this to bloom. Chris has never seen the blue flowers, so hopefully where this plant is heeled in will reveal them...Also, I thought all asters were annuals. This one appears to be a perennial!)

Good night new bed! (me with an "implement")













Good morning new bed!












We got up on Sunday with tons to do. We had to get the onions sets in the ground (see Seed Order section below), had a school presentation to finish, Chris wanted to work on his car a little bit, and we had to make a trip to Lowe's to get another post and the caps for the posts. So the other bed had to wait... Since we got a late start after everything else we had to do and it was really cold, I don't have any "during" pictures.

We still need to order some more dirt (guess we know what we're doing next weekend, unless it rains), but you get the idea of the new bed placement.

The original beds we installed were 78 ft² of gardening area. To give you an idea of how big this project was, we added 122ft² of new space. So we now have a total of 200 ft² of gardening area. Holy s! But this girl has big plans, so no inch will go unused. Stay tuned next Summer.





Chris wanted me to take a picture of how we installed the end boards so they would be level. We placed a 2"x6" underneath so the boards could rest on it, and then screwed them in. Unlike the first set of beds, we leveled these ones.... We didn't however dig these into the ground. Instead, if they bow slightly, we will use short lengths of rebar to anchor the middle posts into the ground. As you can see, the posts are hollow and have room for an anchor.






Seed Order

In other news, I made my seed order for next year already. (Picture: Evil Magoo [aka. Travis] was TOO interested, as usual.) I've seen lots of folks talking about all the wonderful catalogs they've received already. I have only received one, and it's the one I ordered from (and still would have no matter how many catalogs I received)... Peaceful Valley Farm Supply. This company is awesome. They're located close to me (Their location in Grass Valley, California is about an hour's drive Northeast of here). They offer a huge selection of organic products, and are actual people - not a huge faceless corporation. Shelly called me personally about my orchard order, and I suspect she was the one who put it together. I am a loyal customer to a fabulous company!

I've put the list of what I ordered at the very bottom of this post, in case you're at all interested. This is on top of what I already have.

We really wanted to get the beds done before Winter really sets in, because it's Folsom's wet season. (We've actually received 3.22" of rain in the last week - which is great, but makes for soggy, muddy work.) The rest of our orchard is set to ship any day now. I bet we'll receive it in time for next weekend or the weekend after. So the more we have done, the better prepared we'll be for a ton o'plants. But I don't know if you can ever be prepared for a larger order like ours.

Last night, I was exhausted. My back was killing me (see a chiropractor regularly, as young as I am), but I wasn't too sore otherwise (thank goodness we go to the gym!). But I was excited. It was like the night before Christmas. I had thoughts of seeds, plants, food, canning, drying, and preserving flooding my head. I can't remember the last time I was this excited, even with the first round of beds. Even Chris shared my sentiment this morning as we were planting the onion sets.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. Seed order info below.

Peaceful Valley Farm Supply seeds
Basil 'Genovese'
Celery 'Tall Utah'
Corn 'Ashworth'
Corn 'Double Standard'
Corn 'True Gold'
Greens 'Arugula'
Chinese Cabbage 'Pak Choi'
Pepper 'Sweet Chinese Giant'
Pepper 'Cal Wonder'
Squash 'Summer Early Crookneck'
Squash 'Winter Butternut'
Tomato 'Roma'
Tomato 'San Marzano'
Turnip 'Golden Globe'
Watermelon 'Moon + Stars'
Sunflower 'Harlequin Mix'

Renee's Garden Seeds
Borage, blue
Chirvil 'Fancy French'
Edamame soy beans
Lettuce 'Romaine Caesar Duo'
Mache 'Gala'
Pepper 'Chile Southwestern Trio'
Pepper 'Jewel Tone Sweet Bell'
Cosmos 'Dancing Petticoats'
Moonflower vine
Nicotiana Jasmine Alata
Poppy 'California Native Orange'
Zinnia 'Decor'
Zinnia 'Cut + Come Again'

Other
Onion Sets (Red)
Onions Sets (Yellow)