Monday, April 30, 2012

I built a Garden!

Yes, this post has nothing to do with triathlons or training or my Ninja skills. It has everything to do with getting back to Mother Earth and letting the Earth provide for my family, the way it was done originally. Normally we have a spot on the side of our house that I built up with landscape timbers. We tried to grow veggies and herbs (yes, I pronounce the h cause its there!) but it was shaded way too much we think, and never got a good bounty!

So our first step was to get the neighbor's permission to cut his tree back that was shading the side of our house. I tried several times to contact him, but let's just say this guy prefers to be left alone and never answer his door or come outside. To be honest, in the 10 years we have lived in our house, I have only seen him a few times!  Creepy huh?

So, with that option not available, we decided to do the next best thing. Steal an idea from one of your friends and build a garden in the backyard. So that's what we decided to do. It consisted of using cinder blocks for the frame of the garden. I used some landscape fabric to help kill the weeds and then placed 40 cubic ft of dirt on it. This was phase 1. It looked like this when Phase 1 was complete.

Next was more construction. I guess I could have left it like that but I wanted it to look good. So a friend of mine came over and we bought some lumber, screws, nails, lattice and concrete and went to work. Who says you need a truck to haul stuff? I'm from Arkansas originally, we can fit all sorts of stuff in cars!

                                    

I really wanted it to have some protection from the scorching heat of Memphis, but yet I wanted to make sure it got plenty of sun. We worked on building this from about 5 PM until 8ish. We had flashlights out and wanted to complete it, but we could only get Phase 2 done. Here is Phase 2.
So as you can see, it is starting to take shape. I can already see the fresh veggies pouring out and our grocery bill dropping!

So the other night, I got out and finished this sucker. I had to add another cross board up top and then the lattice work had to go. Now I am not really a "handyman" at all, and I appreciate the help my friend gave me, cause there is no way I would have completed it without some help! So here is Phase 3, the completed version!


So that was my spring project. I told my wife, I will build it, you grow stuff. We are planting tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, cantaloupe, beans, and strawberries. Hopefully, we will see a lot of stuff grow!

4 comments:

  1. Very cool! Congrats on a successful project! I hope your harvest is plentiful!

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    1. Yeah, I am hoping we get enough veggies to offset the cost of the garden!

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  2. Kind of late for strawberries - they are producing right now though you may have to put them in now for next year. What? No squash? And what about those Herbs? :) Really though - this is lovely. I tried to convince my husband to build something like this and in turn he decided I should go to the Farmer's Market. Hmm...

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    1. Farmer's Market? I totally forgot about that! Just kidding! LOL My job was to build it, the wife will grow everything!

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