Tuesday, March 30, 2010

I'm at it again....

It seems every spring I put in more beds and then say I am finished expanding the garden. Well I am putting more in.... but this is the last of them because I will be totally out of space. If you would like to look back at my bed building the first set is here , the second set is here and here.

I will start with the easiest one above. This area I was calling my pot garden last year, no pun intended because it was full of potted plants as well as some herbs & rhubarb. That will all making way for a new potato bed. It will be simply edge with 2x3 lumber and lightly amended with compost. It will be 5'x6.5' and should provide lots of spuds, anywhere from 24-30 plants.

This bed will be built like all the rest with 2x8 lumber. All the native soil will be removed to a depth of 12-16 inches and replaced with good triple mix. This area has quite a slope to it so the top will be a few inches out of the ground and the other end will be over a foot out of the ground. I have it all leveled out with sting so I can calculate the correct amount of lumber. It also is irregularly shaped to follow our irregular lot. The size of this bed will be about 2.5' wide at the top, 10' long and 4.5' at the bottom. The planting plan for this bed is still up in the air, it is a little shady so I will have to keep that in mind before planting. Maybe parsnips & carrots.

14 comments:

  1. I love the bed building madness. It makes me feel so much more normal when I stand out there and scope out more places for beds.

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  2. Oh, you're so lucky, I wish I could make more beds! I do have a shady spot in the dog kennel....maybe next year.

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  3. I know what you mean...I think all gardeners suffer from moreitis...never enough plants, seed or land... : )

    Btw...I visited your mom's blog...very nice! Now I know why you are such a cook.

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  4. More veggies, less grass to mow, WTG !

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  5. I'm with miss m - it'll be less grass to mow - so it's all good!

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  6. Love it! The larger bed will be alot like the retaining wall bed I built last year - that turned a steeply sloped area into a great level growing bed. It's one of my more useful garden beds now because the higher edged sides are really easy to work in - the bed area is much higher up and don't require so much bending over to reach!

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  7. I won't be finished expanding the garden until all the lawn is gone.

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  8. I knew I'd cracked it when I got rid of the lawn mower!

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  9. I agree with chiot's run, don't kid yourself, as long as there is still some grass to rip out you will be expanding your garden.

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  10. Glad to see you're upgrading your pot plants! I feel the same way. Hubby says 'no more' ... so I've built some smaller ones this year for potatoes, and (he doesn't know this yet) boxes under my bird houses ... they're for pumpkins, etc ... Can't wait to see how yours turns out! Constuction is right up my alley ... vege gardening I suck at!

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  11. Just don't go too crazy making beds that you lose your front walk! Seriously, I'm envious; I'd build more beds at home but we don't have enough sun in our yard to make it worthwhile. And we can barely grow grass either.

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  12. Good luck digging! I would do some myself if our ground wasn't so wet right now. Now that you've run out of ground space, it will be interesting to see how you will expand your garden even further. Once you start, you can't stop!

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