I spent almost the entire day yesterday outside working on the new greenhouse garden beds. Originally I was thinking about building the walls out of large concrete blocks I had seen at Home Depot last summer. But then I started thinking, I don’t have concrete anywhere else in my backyard so wouldn’t it look a little weird/off if I added concrete?
Instead I had the Handsome Husband {under very close supervision} cut a few long timbers from the trees he fell last fall. The HH and Monkey Boy hauled them uphill and set them in place.
The new garden beds are 2′ x 16′ on the sides and 2′ by 10′ at the back. My first thought was to plant the beds with sweet potatoes {because of their gorgeous vines & flowers}. But now I’m second guessing myself. Maybe planting pumpkins would be a better choice. If I were to plant pumpkin seeds in the beds the pumpkin plants would have plenty of room to spread out and grow down the newly cleared hillside.
I think it might look kind of cool and natural.
Or, I could just use the bed on the right side of the greenhouse for pumpkins and the other two beds for sweet potatoes. Hmm. We’ll see.
Another project I have been working on is digging up mulch. Every year we typically bring in about 25 yards of fresh mulch. This amount covers both the front and the back yards and is rather expensive. So this year I decided instead of buying mulch for both the front and back yard we will only buy enough to freshen up the front. Since I am expanding my garden area this year in hopes of growing 2,000 lbs of fruits and veggies, I’ll simply re-purpose the mulch I am digging up in the back.
What are YOUR plans for this weekend?
I bet you can guess where I’ll be.
Laura says
Mizz Mavis, Just want to give you a big thank-you! You’ve really inspired me. I’m I’ll be digging as my sore arms allow, I’ve got beds prepared. 5 raised to be exact(my DH made those) with sifted black gold. I just reclaimed some abandoned flower/azalea beds, for blueberry bushes. This is our first year in our home that has an acre.25 and it’s a little overwhelming sometimes. I keep seeing you dig, & clip coupons. I’m not making the stacked deals like you’ver perfected,but saved a bundle on detergent this last week, trying to include some of the incidentals like gas & special timed trips in the savings factor. We are a family recovering consumers. I just want to keep the cost down, but got to go with babysteps. Anyway, keep writing! I’m reading. Found you by way of our friend @ thy hand. Isn’t she a peach? 🙂
Mavis says
I LOVE Jane. She is a rock star. 5 garden beds is awesome. You will do great this summer growing veggies and FYI baby steps is the only way to go. I think when you do too much at first it can be discouraging. Keep up the great work.
honeychile says
I’m waffling about my garden this year because of the deer. No, we don’t live in the country. That’s why it’s a problem. We live in the city on an acre lot, but believe it or not, there are full grown deer close by. They mostly live in an overgrown wooded 30-acre tract which belongs to an abandoned church, which adjoins our lot. At night, they visit to see what I’m growing. Because we’re city folk, we are entranced by deer, not annoyed like my country friends are. So I don’t know how I’m going to manage a garden this year. Last year, I was beginning with the chickens and only did some half-barrel container gardening…which the deer ate. I have lots of colorful seed packs calling my name. Maybe some temporary fencing…
carolyn says
When I was growing up the deer were harvested out of the garden and the orchard along with the fruit and vegetables. God put everything on this earth for a reason,,,,figure it out !