vegetables

Vego Modular Raised Beds

We are replacing the garden beds I built in 2012 with steel modular raised beds by Vego Garden. There will be four of 4′ x 8′ beds (replacing the three we have now) and they will be 17 inches tall, which means they will be much easier to plant in now that we are getting older.

I’ve been trying to get them assembled. Stephanie and I started together this past weekend, but only got the first bed partially assembled. (It was a busy weekend.) It has been unhelpfully raining the past several days so I haven’t been able to get any further. And judging by the forecast, it won’t get much better so I should probably suck it up and work in the rain.

For nostalgia purposes, here are photos of the beds I made back in 2012 when they were new.

Raised Garden Beds

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2007 Spring Flowers

Hyacinths

April 2007 flowers

The 200 bulbs we planted last fall are coming up nicely in front of our house, and last night I planted 2 daisy plants and a lavender plant in the front. I also bought seeds for Columbines, Butterfly plants, and Delphiniums, and the other day Stephanie and I planted seeds in a starter kit for Texas Blue Bonnets and Aster.

I need to get some topsoil to prepare beds for our vegetables; we’re planting lettuce, cucumbers, sugar snap peas, green onions, rhubarb, radishes, oregano, parsley and basil. I hope. We need to get started soon. This is the first year I’ve planted vegetables, so I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing.

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Amending the Soil

Me and my load of crap.
Our flower beds have very depleted soil, so I picked up a load of compost this morning and spread it around the beds after overturning all the soil. It’s amazing how much compost this requires, really. I’ll need to get another load of crap for the front beds; a truckload only covered the beds on the south side of the house. Technically, it’s not just crap – it’s a mixture of compost, peat and topsoil. But it smells like crap and attracts LOTS of flies, so basically it’s crap.
You can see a bunch more pictures of the work I did here.
I got it from Indiana Mulch Company, because I priced it in comparison to the bags at Lowes and this is a way better deal. They also are handy because they’re right downtown (we pass them on the way to the recycling place) so I don’t have to drive all over to get it.
Homestarrunner's poopsmith
I in no way resembled this character while shoveling shit.

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