Starting the Garden

I feel so much better now that I have some plants in the ground.  I used 2x12's from the local home improvement store to make two raised beds.  The lumber cost around $40, which kinda hurt to shell out just to make some garden beds.  I decided to go that route after considering several options of using different types of scrap.  I decided that the number one thing to keep in mind the whole time is keeping the neighbors happy.  The minute they are not happy, it could be the end of the line for sustainability.  So, I decided to go with what I thought would be the best compromise between looks and cost.  $40 is not a bad price, and they don't look bad enough to complain about.  I added some cheap stepping stones in the middle, which I will continue to do as I add new beds.  I started with two for simplicity's sake.

The bed on the left is all the cold weather crops that have been in the ground for several weeks.  On the far side is broccoli, then some romaine lettuce.  A little bit closer, you'll see some cabbage and a couple of sprigs sticking up which is onion.

The bed on the right was just planted last week.  Unfortunately, the last couple of days has been a torrential downpour here locally.  My young squash, beans, tomatoes, peppers, and cucumber were absolutely pounded.  I have gone through pulling leaves out from under the dirt, but I am concerned about many of them making through this test.  All of these were started from seed indoors, but many may have to be replaced with plants from the store. 

Both of these beds are 4x8.  I built the beds by first scalping the sod with a flat shovel and sitting it aside.  I then used a fork I found that has thicker tines than a pitchfork to stab into the soil and loosen it up.  After the soil was aerated well, I replaced the sod upside down. I then poured in some composted manure I purchased from a lady for a good price consisting of rabbit and several birds (I won't need to do this again, since I have built up my supply of rabbit manure).  I mixed all this up with a small borrowed roto-tiller and covered with cardboard to keep the weeds from growing back.  All of this sat for several weeks before the cold weather crops were planted and a couple of months for the warm weather bed. When I planted the cold weather crops, I left the cardboard down for weed control.  I cut holes in it and inserted the plants.  When planting the warm weather bed, I decided not to do this, as it seems to be blocking some of the water.  It will be interesting to see which one worked better by the end of the season.

There is definitely a difference between the two as of now.  The cabbage and lettuce are taking off, and there are quite a few heads of broccoli ready for harvest.  All plants in the other bed are struggling to survive.  This is a lesson learned: wait until plants are big enough to withstand Georgia thunderstorms before planting.