Getting soil and plant crops
See Part 1 here.
See Part 2 here.
Now comes the fun part, playing with dirt and planting seeds! We used a mix of garden soil, compost, peat moss and manure. The entire bed took about 36 cubic feet of this mix. We broke it down like this, 12 cf of garden soil, 12 cf of compost, 9 cf peat moss and 3 cf of manure. We layered about a third the different ingredients in the bed at a time and mixed them together with a garden fork. Once that was done I couldn't wait to get planting.
We bought some small plants that were already started. Things like tomatoes, bell peppers and broccoli. The rest of the crop we started from seed. Our final planting consisted of eggplants, scallions, spinach, hot peppers, three varieties of tomatoes, green bell peppers and four heads of broccoli. I can't wait to see the crops start sprouting and flowering!
2 comments:
Hi! I came across your photos on Flickr while following up on someone's search for "raised beds." Those photos led me to this blog entry, and, I've got to say, I'm impressed! Your raised beds look wonderful.
You've clearly discovered the two hidden secrets of successful raised-bed construction: nice wide planks at the top to serve as benches, and a yellow dog with a black face and curled tail to supervise the project.
Happy gardening!
Thanks Sherwood, I'm so glad you found my article! We're still in our first year of planing and so far things are going well. I love the wide planks we chose even if they were a pricier solution than thinner boards. I hope to make another bed or two in the coming year and I'm sure the pups will be more than happy to help!
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