My Garden, Part 1
Karl, how does your garden grow?
Well, I don’t know. No one knows. It’s impossible to know. Technically, I don’t even know if it can be called a garden yet. There are the garden beds and the mulch, but no plants. It’s hasn’t had any plants in it’s entire existence. Give it a chance; it’s only one day old as I write this.
I started thinking about growing a garden as soon as I bought my house last August. I’d been living in an apartment with nowhere to grow anything. One of the things I really wanted in a house was a place to plant a vegetable garden. After I bought the house I was too busy prepping it and making it more hospitable. Then, it was winter (a very cold and snowy winter) so I never had a chance to prepare the beds last fall. As the weather warmed, I knew I had to get going on it or I would be too late for the early spring plantings.
My problem with home projects like the garden is I work them out in my head before I start. You’d think that would be a good thing but it’s not. I can’t start physically working until I’ve resolved certain design issues in my head. This is dumb, but I got stuck on which wood to get for the retaining walls of the raised beds. I know cedar is one of the preferred woods for gardens because it’s rot resistant. It’s also more expensive. I did go to an actual lumber yard (yes, they do still exist) but I got the measurement wrong when I asked them about the boards I thought I needed. They of course didn’t carry what I asked for so I went home frustrated thinking I will never get the wood I needed. (Upon reflection, I’m sure they would have had something in the dimensions I ultimately wound up with.) The most available alternative for a long lasting board is pressure treated wood. I know they no longer treat it with arsenic, but I still didn’t trust whatever they use from leaching into my garden and making me sick. I finally had the realization that whatever I was building didn’t have to last the ages. It only needed to last through one or two years to see if the garden works for me. I can always replace the side walls when they start to rot. So I bought some plain old pine planks.
Once the walls were decided upon, everything then started to move. I’ve been observing the backyard since I moved into the house for the best location for the garden. Last weekend I picked the part of my lawn that seems to catch the most sunlight throughout the day from spring through summer. There are a lot of tall trees around my yard that will block the sun, but I think I picked the best spot. Time will tell.
I purchased eight 1”x10”x8’ planks of raw pine. I cut them all in half so I had sixteen four foot boards. I then pre-drilled the wood to avoid splitting and screwed them together to form four boxes. I then measured about nine feet from the house (it looked like it would be the most attractive location) and lined up the first two boxes parallel to the house. I then spaced all four boxes two feet apart in a larger square so I could get to all sides of each bed.
If you haven’t been following my blog, the reason for the four beds is the design I choose for the garden is based on the French Kitchen Garden. The idea being the garden will produce vegetables from early spring to late fall. Theoretically it will provide most of my produce during that time.
Anyhow, I marked the edges of the frames and then moved them out of the way. I then started removing lawn where the beds were going to go. I stacked the turf upside down next to the concrete slab where my garage would have been if it hadn’t been torn down some time before I bought the house. Ultimately that will become another garden bed. Having gone for my first bike ride of the season the day before and my back questioning my decision to excavate the yard, I called it quits after one bed. The next day, I continued the process and removed the lawn from the other three beds.
This weekend I continued the process by turning over the soil in the beds and mixing in some of my almost compost from what is meant to be my compost pile. It’s okay that it still has twigs and some small sticks in it. The dirt under my lawn is pretty good but clearly leans toward the clay side of things. Not too bad, but I think the particulate will be good for it. I then topped the turned soil with four forty pound bags of topsoil in each bed. To that I added one half of a forty pound bag of manure in each bed. 
In between the beds I laid newspaper out to smother the lawn and topped it with pine bark mulch. Now I don’t have to worry about grass or weeds growing between the beds.
The last thing I did was to plant some of my spring vegetables. I started with a mix of green and red leafed lettuces. I also planted some radicchio, kale, and mustard greens. In another bed I planted a couple of varieties of radishes. I’m not entirely sure what to do with radishes, but I’m sure I’ll think of something.
So, there you have it. Garden things have begun. In about a week I should have some sort of progress. All the spring vegetables I planted have a germination period of three to five days. As long as things continue to go well, this garden thing might just work.
