Some Progress

Hubby was very productive yesterday. He mowed the lawn, put together the potting bench we bought last fall, AND built me a frame for a raised garden bed.


We discovered this potting bench being used as a display rack in a discount store late last fall. Being the floor model it was the last one left and the price as they say, was right. We pestered the sales people for screwdrivers and took it apart ourselves. It has a basin for mixing soil a drawer for spoons and whatnots, and a couple hooks to hang my hand spades and trowels.

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The new Salad Bed Area
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This is the north side of the house which tends to be considerably cooler throughout the summer making it a perfect place for the salad garden. This first photo is the "before" picture I took, when we began planning out our space. The tractor tire serves as the current compost spot as I was attempting to build soil there. The bird feeder never seems to have seed in it. I'd like to move it to somewhere I can actually see it and watch the birds. The little hill at the bottom right is a pile of useless clay, rock and weedy bits that was left from the crushing of the old cistern. The cistern was crushed shortly after we moved in, and I hadn't known they were going to do it. If I had, I would have arranged to keep it as it would have made a wonderful root cellar. Now my old garden was way at the end of the property. If you follow the driveway up you'll see lots of tall straw colored grass. That's the old garden. I don't know why the previous owners put it so far from the house. The garden hose doesn't even reach that far.


In this second photo, you can see the tire has been moved and the feeder pulled out. The clay pile now mostly fills the back of our old pickup. That clay is going to be spread on the driveway to fill in some holes. When all is said and done, I should have enough room here for 3 bed frames like the one you see in the photo. The perimeter will be fenced to keep out the goats. I planned to trellis peas on the fence, but I think it's likely the goats will just eat the peas through the fence so that's probably not the best idea.

Things are growing!
My lettuce has come up. The oregano is coming up. The basil seems undecided. I think I might have some echinacea. The mint is having a tough time after getting heavily rained on. The sunflowers are all coming up. I think it's just the watermelon I'm a little worried about so far.