When Andy bought this place, it came with well-developed fruit trees, flower beds, lawn, and veggie/herb garden. We've been working our tails off ever since, just trying to keep up with it all! It sure is satisfying work. Lately, we've been noticing weeds and unwanted grass taking over faster than we can keep them out. The weed fabric, laid however long ago, is disintegrating into powdery uselessness. Last year, we spent as much time weeding the walkways in the garden, as weeding the garden beds themselves - decidedly, a gigantic waste of energy. So....this Spring, we decided to start over. And, what a project that turned out to be!
After tugging and digging as much as we could muster, we rented a powerhouse of a rototiller that tore through the garden like nothing could stop it! And, I'm thinking...this is starting to look as big as my mother's garden...and there are only two of us!
Of course, we'd mapped out the raised beds in CAD, like nerdy folk do, so it was time to just execute the design! We decided to run underground lines with a shutoff valve to each row of
beds, so we could water more efficiently based on planting and
harvesting schedules. At least it looks like we know what we're doing!
14+ hours of painting started with trying to finish off paint leftover from building the shed last year, and ended with running into town for more paint in order to finish them all before the rainstorms hit! Hoping these rot a lot slower!
Many hours of assembling, dirt-moving, fabric-laying, and bark-scattering happened between these photos!
Friends Katie and Roman were staying with us for UI graduation, and were more than happy to help!
Makes me happy, just looking out at the tidy rows of beds. I can hardly wait to see them bursting with growing things!
