Current Obsession

I have started to garden again. After 18 months, this is something, and quite a shock to my poor body. Tommy got me motivated and I decided to go with the square foot gardening. This is a bit more than just raised bed in that the soil mixture is more important and the square foot blocks help to maximize production. Each vegetable is planted 1, 4, 9, or 16 to a square. Veggies like zucchini get 9 squares. Most vines, even for the heavier items like watermelon or winter squash are trained vertically.

Due to the available wood, I opted for a 6X3 rather than a 4X4 garden. I made several mistakes; I used nails instead of screws and I did not account for dog curiosity.


This looks fine, but it followed a generous amount of cursing that came after I saw that the dogs had ripped it apart. I put the dirt back, renailed it and resquared it and added some stakes to the outside and added the twine to mark the square feet.


And then I planted. For this first of many boxes I am trying to get the last of the spring things in and the first of the summer: tomatoes, black bush beans, green bush beans, yellow bush beans, red and yellow onions, carrots, beets, and potatoes. See what I mean - a lot for a small space.


Gopher's eye view

A little extra protection from curious dogs now that it is planted. So far they are getting the drift.

I have spent five days mowing the lawn back into something manageable. 18 months of neglect has taken its toll. I also have willows to pull out and cattails and all sorts of other bums...more on that later. This is working beautifully into my hermit plan. If the garden works out you will see the harvest - if not I will disavow any knowledge of its existence and delete this entry asap. :>