Raising the Bed

This is not what you are thinking, I am not hanging my bed from the ceiling, hammock style, although that is not such a bad idea…..except for when it comes time to get in and out of it….

I am talking about a raised garden bed.

Up at the Homestead, I am limited on actual garden space due to something called a septic system taking up a good chunk of the flat/cleared land that makes up our plot.  The remainder being very rocky, covered with trees and not much dirt.  Don’t even try to dig through the moss and lichen as all you will succeed in doing is breaking a shovel.

So what to do?  Build a raised garden bed was the obvious answer.  Mainly because I didn’t have access to a bulldozer to clear some more land, that would have been a much better (and FUN!) idea.

I grew my tomatoes, herbs and lettuce in pots this year at the Homestead, pita yes, but very functional and having them on the deck kept the deer and other critters deterred from venturing up and gobbling them down.

But I pestered hubby, I mean, I REALLY pestered hubby to build me a raised garden bed for next year.  He finally gave in.  Yay me! So we headed into town to the lumber store (no free advertising for them, but safe to say there logo is orange and white – you can figure it out) and we picked out a whole bunch of aromatic cedar boards and posts (love the smell of cedar, perhaps I need a cedar chest built too???)

Once back at the Homestead, hubby got to work scoping out the exact location and setting the boards out in a dry fit.

Then it was time to use all those power tools he has stashed in the garage.  He loves his power tools.  Typically, a new project merits a new power tool, lucky for me this project didn’t.

I had picked a sunny location that would be getting at least 16 hours of sun in the height of summer, but with close enough access to water and hydro.  Hydro you say? why would you need hydro for a garden bed? are you stringing Christmas lights? Patio Lanterns? No….unfortunately, there are loads of afore-mentioned four-footed creatures in the area that would devour the garden if you didn’t put some type of fence around it.  An electric fence is the way to go.

So hubby spent last weekend planning, sawing, screw gun in one hand, beer in the other and of course, the occassional obligatory swearing when something didn’t quite go as planned.

Because of the sloping rock everywhere, he had to make sure the bottom boards followed the slope of the rock (so the dirt wouldn’t escape), no easy task.  Numerous trips back and forth into the garage for fine-tuning of board cutting led to a very thirsty construction worker.

In the end, I have a beautiful, 5′ x 10′ raised cedar garden bed that I can not wait to get at next Spring!  All I need now is a couple layers of landscape fabric, a truckload of dirt, my seed packets and seedlings and away I go….

But apparently Mother Nature is going to make me wait about 8 months before I can do that….

2 thoughts on “Raising the Bed

  1. Well,Deb, your man did a beautiful job on your bed. I LOLed when I read he needs a new power tool for each project-I also have a hubs who -though he has a full garage of tools- feels he needs something new to accompany the materials for the ride home in the back of the truck. I tease him about needing “company” for his material.
    If/when your hubs ever feels the need for another project send him my way, I have several handy dandy projects I would like to have done before the nasty white stuff flies. I can pay him with pickeral fishing, ahem and I also make butter tarts and apple pie-how is that for a bribe?
    You will love your plot of dirt and the 8 months will fly by. An electric fence is a good idea (but the deer might just hop over it). My dogs keep most critters out of the garden (they feel that if they cannot play in the garden, nothing else should enter), I have heard of people putting hair or hanging strands of Christmas tinsel around the garden. Some people put up motion sensor lights. Someone needs to invent a motion sensor sound of a dor barking.
    Just remember to turn off the fence before you go in to pick you bounty 😛

    • Now you gone and done it…you said the magic words…’butter tarts’ and ‘pickerel fishing’….be careful what you wish for 🙂 Especially after he reads this! A neighbour up there has electric fence around his garden and the deer steer clear, one brush against it and they jump like kangaroos 🙂

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