Productive

Holy shit, I was productive, today. Katie and I planned a party (in the future), we finished our taxes, and we completed the other half of the raised bed system I spoke of earlier. We accomplished this all the while finding time to spend with Katie's family, as her grandfather passed away early this morning. RIP, Huck. He would have approved of the gardening.

Anywho, the second bed is complete. The two recent beds are both 3' deep. The longer of the two is 16' wide, with a divider in the center. The shorter is just over 10' long, with one bay being about 3'-6" and the other about 7.' By having separate cells, I can better regulate soil content for specific crops. Also, the dividers provide extra structural reinforcement. Between each of my beds I have left 3' paths. This is wide enough to get the lawn mower through. 3' is wide enough that I can pivot the wheel barrow 90 degrees. The 12" height of the sides of the beds is a perfect fit for the wheel barrow. I can upend the barrow with the lep fully over the wall. I have several inches to spare. It is wonderful being able to DUMP compost into the beds (from a 3' wide path). Yay, MATH!

The growing medium composition is a work in process. Just like the 6" beds from last fall, I smothered the grass with newspapers (3-5 pages thick) that were then hosed down. The smothered grass composts in the ground. Atop the newspapers I put a layer of composted leaf litter, a layer of composted manure, and another layer of leaf litter. The compost comes from several bags I hadleft in the garage since last year. Yes, I know that they've lost much of their goodness. I am mainly thinking of filler, at this point. I am reluctant to use the soil from my tomato pots from last year. I had some blight, and I don't want to risk it being transferred to the new beds. Most of the soil (which will be deposited on top of the leaf litter layers in all beds) will come from Comtil. I have never used Comtil, before. I am REALLY hoping that the soil is delivered in bags. If not, I might have to look elsewhere.

I should have photos for you tomorrow.