Day #559 Starting a Raised Garden

Home Depot had a raised-bed garden kit on sale a few days ago.

Do you know how little room there is for a 4-foot square garden in my yard? Oh, there’s plenty of room, but before I can use it, I have to rip out the EXTREMELY effective ground cover that I started eight years ago, when I thought I wouldn't want to mow much grass.

This morning I tackled an area right beside the front walk, in front of the birdbath and just downhill from the safflower-seed feeder. After an hour, this is what I had. Pretty pathetic, isn’t it? Those are four-foot-long boards, by the way.

The other side of the path, the side with the Vinca major, looks great, 

particularly the end that has the honeysuckle blooming in it.

But it may be a while before I can get the wild strawberry and vinca minor pulled out. Wonder if it’ll be too late to plant anything by the time I do???

BEEattitude for Day #559:

       Blessed are those who plan ahead, for they shall find the road easier. maybe.

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Day #115 Gardening in Bags

I found a great article in Mother Earth News (the only magazine I subscribe to) about how to start a garden in bags of soil. Sounded great to me, since my “back yard” is a small strip of weedy ground between the house and the woods, strewn with spiky round seed pods from the sour-gum trees. The thought of trying to turn it over and delete all the weeds has kept me – well – NOT gardening back there for the past six years.

This year, all that’s going to change. I’ve bought three bags of soil (that’s all I can fit in the trunk of my little car without tipping its front tires off the road). I laid them in a row, side by side to keep weeds from growing up between them.

When the weather is right, I’ll cut a big rectangle out of the top surface, poke drainage holes down through the bottom, and plant my seeds. Lettuce and beets to start with, followed by tomatoes and dill and chives, scallions and parsley and nasturtiums and marigolds. The list goes on.

Now all I have to do is buy 25 more bags. And straw to put around the ends of the bags to keep the weeds from growing up in the pathways and over the edges. Home Depot, here I come…

Boy, am I going to have a busy spring and summer.

BEEattitude for Day # 115:

       Blessed are they who garden, for we shall pollinate their plants and they shall have food in abundance.

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       The downy woodpecker eating home-made suet outside my window as I write this.    

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Day #97 January Building Project

I just realized it’s January.

Dumb, huh? Of course it’s January. But January in a normal (i.e. pre-bee) year was just a time to gather my momentum for the coming year.

This time, it’s Uh-oh! Only about 9 weeks left! And I was planning to build a top-bar hive to put my package of bees in.

I have some plans I bought from www.BeeLanding.com. Now, all I need is:

        lots of wood

        a bunch of wood-screws

        two hinges

        a rectangle of glass (so I can make a viewing port)

        some steel thingies to brace the angles

I’d better visit Home Depot tomorrow.

I could also use a friend with a table saw. Know where I can get one of those?

BEEattitude for Day # 97:

       Blessed are those who plan ahead, for we shall settle happily into our new home and produce great stores of honey

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       My wonderful sister who, I hope, is having a delightful birthday     

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