With a Little Help From My Friends......

This past weekend found us enjoying the Easter holiday with family. After all the eggs were found and the children had safely come down from their sugar highs, we went about adding a garden to the backyard. In two days we were able to put in raised beds containing a herb garden, summer veggies, raspberries and strawberries. Brian and Jeff went after the construction side of things. They broke up nine pallets and constructed raised beds. Tabitha and I went after weeding out the sod, breaking up the dirt and planting the beds.

The pallets to be broken apart.

The lawn marked and grass pre-treated with Round-up to prevent a crab grass infestation of the beds.

We broke up the sod and removed the top layer of grass. 

The beginnings of the raised beds. Stakes hammered into the ground and boards screwed to stakes. 

A layer of paper over the dirt and cardboard at the sides to prevent grass from creeping in and taking over the beds. 

Store-bought garden soil filled in the beds. 

Trying pots out in different places to check spacing.

Herbs, tomatoes, basil, pepper, cabbages and broccoli planted. 

A side view of the beds. The side boards were screwed into stakes that had been hammered into ground. All the wood came from the pallets. 

The plants were mulched with straw. Lettuce, spinach, carrots, green beans, beets, sweet peas, zucchini, Chinese red noodle bean, cucumber, radishes, yellow squash and watermelon seeds were planted in the remaining space. The Chinese red noodle bean, cucumber, watermelon and sweet peas will be trained to grow vertically up the fence.

Another bed was planted with raspberries, red and yellow, and strawberries.

Here they are mulched with straw and ready to grow.