Monday, March 9, 2009

Gardening with Raised Beds

Well, I took the plunge on Saturday and began to build my first raised bed. I was following instructions given by The Pioneer Woman on her blog site, using 2' by 6' untreated wood. The job looked totally simple to me but what was supposed to take about an hour took me about 2 1/2 hours, even with my brother-in-law's help.

You see, the first problem was getting the screws to cooperate and go through one 2' by 6' and into another one. Whew! I was using a 18 volt power drill and the screws still weren't cooperating. Oh, and let me mention I had predrilled the holes.

I knew I needed help so I called Super Chuck, who arrived shortly with his own drill and two battery packs. This man was serious, y'all! He backed out the uncooperative screws, drilled larger holes and then reinstalled the screws. From that point on, the job went a lot faster. Bless him. If I had the materials to contruct another bed he would have stayed to help. Here are some before and after pictures of my first 8' by 4' bed.

This is what my garden looked like before I began the project. The "bushes" are herbs. They look dead but they aren't.

This is Super Chuck doing all the work.

Voila' - the finished project. Isn't it pretty?


On Sunday, I started building two 4' by 4' beds. The next step is filling the beds with soil. Any volunteers? Keep in mind - those who don't help don't eat.

1 comment:

Danielle said...

Beautimous! I'm so proud of you. Does it count that I thought of you and thought of driving over to surprise you with a helping hand on Saturday? Colin just didn't cooperate with a long enough nap.