You've made your bed now plant it

I had given y'all a little sneak peek of the raised bed project here and here. These weren't cheap by any means. I have no doubt they could have been done a lot cheaper had I been patient. But I'm not. And I wasn't. I am more of an instant gratification kinda girl  in regards to this. I don't currently have the skill set (or confidence) to build the cedar raised beds. And I sure as heck wasn't gonna wait on the hubbs to build them. So cedar raised bet kits were just fine by me. 

The beds were RIDICULOUSLY easy to assemble. I ended up with 2 different types because the big box stores were pretty much sold out. Beggars can't be choosers. One type is dovetail corners and you drive metal pins through to the ground (as shown  below). The other three have slats slide into a grooved corner block.

We figured out placement by using our existing raised bed as the center point. The hubbs  initially rototilled a 6x6  area. Then we went back in with a the hoe to pull out any clumps of weeds, large dirt clods and removed rocks/ debris. We used a rake to screed the soil as level as possible.

Next we put down 6 layers of  newspaper (lining the sides) which we wet to hold in place.

Add dirt

Once the beds were filled with soil we back-filled around the exterior sides. And then the best part...PLANTS!!

This is what it currently looks like with the beds in place. We didn't install the corner caps yet because I don't know if I want to add another tier to each bed.

These were my inspirations and SOMEDAY I will have the dream garden. 

http://firstadream.blogspot.com/2010/07/lusting-after-raised-bed-gardens.html

energyscapes.com

http://www.insideurbangreen.org/2011/01/raised-bed-garden-kits-plans-hardware-and-more.html  

Until then I will enjoy what I have, continue to imagine what it will become and savor the fruits-n- vegetables of our little piece of  garden-heaven.

Happy Veggie Garden

I swear one of these days I will go back to doing stuff around my house. it's just that I love to garden. So that is where I have been spending all my time (and all my money, haha).

Here is my veggie garden in mid April--not much to look at except weeds

Here is my veggie garden in mid May right after we planted. It all looks so puny!

This is the veggie garden the beginning of June. What a difference! Wahoo!

I now have 5 raised beds installed and plan on adding 5 more. Unfortunately it looks a bit odd because of the two-tier plastic raised bed in the middle. Oh well. That will be dedicated to strawberries next year. 

From left to right...

(1)Raspberries,  (2) Rhubabrb, (3)Middle--Carrots, strawberries, chives, (4)Herbs--Pineapple sage, sage, thyme, majoram, oregano, basil (5) Blackberries

Dang I need the hubbs to run the rototiller for me --another reason why I am trying to move to raised beds-- (I can get a small tiller--that I can handle and do it myself)!

I think my squash  will be prolific this season!

Holy Jalepeno's!

MMmmmmm...'Maters!

What's going on in your garden?

A Sunday Stroll around my yard

Happy Sunday Y'all! 

What a BEAUTIFUL morning!  The hubbs was up early to go fishing so I decided to head out in the garden in the wee hours this morning. 6:30 am found me groggy and bleary eyed but I am glad I was out before the waves of heat came rolling in.

I took the dogs out with me but decided Chubbs could be my garden buddy this  morning. He is 10 and  his favorite thing to do is his impression of a speed bump. Except today he was rather alert.  

Here he is inspecting my raised bed's project

Zombie dog and killer garden mist! lol

The morning mist on a grape leaf.

If I can keep the critters off of them--I may get some yummy grapes this year!

My outta control perennial bed.

Dew covered Asiatic Lily

Evil sneaky weed planning to overthrow my garden bed. It must be stopped!

I thought this plant is a daisy--but now I am not sure. oops!

My Cone-flowers are as tall as me.

It just screams HELLO!!

Butterfly bush beginning to flower

A thirsty petunia

Coleus

A perfect dew covered rose.

I have lots more to share but I am tired. Last night was a very late night 3am and back up at 6:30am. ugh! Then this afternoon I had a 70 minute drive each way to attend my nephews graduation. I am glad to be at home in the AC and it is quiet. Umm I think I need a nap! So I am gonna go dream about all my fruits, veggies and flowers. What is growing in your yard?

No pussy-footing around

So I decided to walk the garden and check the progress of all my plant babies. On my walk back to the garden I ended up with my garden buddy, Boy Meow-Meow.

Boy Meow-Meow

 It is kinda sweet  because my dog Gollie-gollie guru and my cat Kitty-BubbityBub used to be my garden buddies.  (None of my fur kids have normal names, lol) They would follow me around the yard and through the garden. sniffle I miss them so much! 

My Gollie-kins as an awkward puppy

Crazy ol Kitty Bub

So the strawberries are looking good. Flowering and a baby berry--YAY!

Tomatoes look good.

My Roma's are starting to flower!

Peppers are flowering

Anaheim pepper

Woot! A baby poblano

My Butternut squash is looking kinda puny.

My watermelon looks kinda flattened.

What the heck is going on? All the mounds I made for the squash, melon and cukes have been compressed.

HEY! One of my cukes is broken!

HMMMM...I wonder....

Could it be?...

GASP!!

NOOOOO!

BUSTED!!

Thanks a lot Benedict MeowMeow! Yes it is true! My Boy MeowMeow was the culprit. Don't let his handsome looks and charming demeanor be a guise for his nefarious plans.  He has been identified as potential threat. I shall be watching him closely!

Lett-uce have a moment of silence

For my lettuce (and spinach) bed is no more. It has been destroyed by a marauding, slimy band of slugs and cabbage worms. And some other evil looking bugs that I can't identify.

I noticed a few nibbles and thought it's ok I have plenty-- a few little blemishes won't hurt. There had been constant rainfall and I couldn't get out to look at the bed or harvest because the backyard has been a swamp. Until Monday when I saw the carnage. In my enthusiasm of over planting (thinking it will choke out the weeds) it made a perfect incubator for DOZENS of  cabbage worms and even more slugs...umm EEEWWW!

I am so sad! The skeletal remains of the  lettuce and  spinach were ripped from the raised bed. (The hubbs was helping me so no time for pictures). So I sat next to the raised bed Wednesday night for about 30 minutes after the bed was cleared and watched dozens of slugs come to the top of the soil. I picked them out and dropped them in an nearly empty beer can. So gross! There was enough beer that they drowned. But hopefully they weren't feeling any pain, haha

'Nati light is good for something

I already had green onions/ chives planted (which I THOUGHT was a natural deterrent) After the clean-out I sprayed everything with an insecticidal soap because my radishes look a little munched on. The carrots and chives are fine. Maybe I should  plant some marigolds as an extra measure?

 I planted the strawberries and so far they look happy. I think I will make this raised bed a permanent strawberry bed (assuming my strawberries survive) once I harvest the carrots and chives. I can't plant the strawberries in the lower tier because of the chives. Not good companion plants.

I am going to reseed some planter boxes near the house with some leaf lettuce. So I can keep a much closer eye on them. Good thing lettuce grows fast!

How do you deal with with the bugs making a buffet out of your veggies? I am always looking for hints and tips--especially those organic garden tips!