Sunday, May 1, 2011

How Does Your Garden Grow??

One of my favorite hobbies is gardening. I love to garden. When I moved in with Jory, I left behind a 300 sq. foot garden that took many, many hours of labor to perfect. When we moved into our new home I was very pregnant and couldn't wait until I would be able to garden again.

And now, I'm gardening again!

I knew I wanted to build another raised plant bed again, but I didn't want to buy redwood. Redwood is rot resistant, making it perfect for plant beds, but you never know if it's old growth or not when you buy it from somewhere like Home Depot. Thankfully, I was able to find this redwood from an old deck. It was going to be thrown away and I was able to recycle it. It made me feel good to use reclaimed wood, especially if it is precious redwood.


I made a design and started building.




My cheerleaders:




Lots and lots o' dirt:



Once the bed was complete, it needed to be placed. The corner posts protrude 6 inches from the bottom and go into the ground to stabilize the bed. Once it was placed, I filled it with dirt.




Oh, precious dirt:



My plant bed was complete. It is to be filled with organic veggies and herbs. But where would my flowers go? I would have to tear up some grass and make a flower area.



I tore up the grass and filled it in with mulch, which holds moisture and in turn saves water. The first plants in the flower bed are gardenia and Australian tea tree. Eventually I will fill it in with native California plants and other perennials.




In the raised bed I am germinating arugula, broccoli, spinach and California golden poppies (which will go in the flower bed). I also have a sweet basil and jalapeno plant, which will be planted tomorrow:


To help keep my organic garden pest free, I lined the raised bed with copper tape, which repels snails and slugs.


And that concludes the first chapter of my gardening saga. I am hoping to complete my checklist of Bay Friendly gardening criteria and get my Bay Friendly Garden plaque from the Bay Friendly coalition. Next, I'll be looking for a bird bath. Anyone have one they're tossing???

2 comments:

  1. Yes, I agree, looks amazing! Cant wait to see the garden grow! So exciting! Ps luv luv luv the new look to your blog!

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