The garden is underway! Last night I spent a lot of time pulling off tape from all the accumulated boxes in the basement. I stacked them up out on the porch and this morning after Sophia went down for her nap, Wola and I went outside to work in the garden :)I was hoping to have enough boxes to do the walkways but that's a no-go so at this point I just focused on the beds and then we can do cardboard for the walkways later. It isn't quite as important for them, anyway.
So we laid out the cardboard on top of the weeds and grass, and then I put the beds on top. It's supposed to be pretty rainy this week and so I wanted to get this done so the cardboard would get nice and wet before I put anything on top of it. Tomorrow I'll call a tree trimming company and arrange for a truckload of wood chip mulch to be delivered, that'll be the first layer in my beds (to hold down the cardboard) and also it'll be what I put in the walkways. I might just focus on the beds and pile up the leftovers instead of spreading it in the walkways, or I might use what cardboard I have and spread it on that part. The chipped wood is free, so if I need to get a second load that's no problemo. Tree trimming companies are a great source for chipped wood mulch - they have to pay to dump it, so they are generally more than happy to deliver it to anyone who wants it. I probably have enough cardboard for half of the walkways, though I found a bunch more in the garage so I could have more than I thought. We'll see how far I get.
On Craigslist today there was an ad for someone offering free manure, they can even load it for you. Now I just gotta find someone to let me borrow their truck :) We really will need to get one... the plan is this spring, I'll get my annual bonus and with our tax return we should have enough to get a decent truck with cash.
But anyway, enough with the yakking... here's the pics!
I didn't take out the camera with me initially so this isn't QUITE the beginning, but at least I took some pictures :) You can see Eleora in the back being super helpful by throwing handfuls of dirt into the bed ;)
Here she is doing a balancing act on the beams that Tommy pulled out of the ground yesterday
I must have done the math wrong when I planned out the area. It just looked like there was not enough room between the beds. it was supposed to be three feet but looked closer to 1 1/2 feet between the beds.
So I changed the layout and I think I like it better. More spacious and roomy between the beds, and I think there will be more area with better sun. This garden area was all that the landlord would allow me to use, and it's pretty shady so full sun will be a commodity this summer. Good thing we like broccoli, because it doesn't need full sun!
I tore up some paper grocery bags I'd been saving to "patch" in spots on the cardboard where there were holes and other spots that the weeds could go through. I weighed one spot down with a brick, and you see here Eleora is going after the brick to put it back where it "belongs" which is on top of the beams in the back where I put it this morning. Oh toddlers... everything has to be in it's "spot."
So there you have it! Now the garden is ready for layers! Hopefully I'll have more progress to report later this week :)
