Starting Seeds Again!

After a little scream of frustration, I got out my spare seed tray and started over. This tray is much smaller so it'll be easier to handle. I'm thinking I may just have to give up on the seeds this year and just go buy plants at the right time, but I'll see how far I get. I should be able to use some of them, I hope.

Disaster!

I went to set out my seed pods this morning so they could get some sunshine.  I apparently didn't grab them properly because the middle gave out and just slipped out of my hand!  Now, I don't know what is what seed!  I guess I'll have to start over.  Another week delay in seed germination.  Ugh!

Raised Beds - Assembly Complete!

You're looking at thirty-two cubic feet of potting mix for the two 4x4x8 raised beds!  I actually wound up not need this much for the two beds.  So, I put the two raised bed kits that I had initially purchased around our Purple and Green Ash trees and I used what was left of the potting mix for one of them.

The Purple Ash already had some strawberries growing around it so we'll put the box up and train the strawberries to grow up and out of the box.  For the Green Ash, I planted some Irises that were transferred from my grandmother's garden.  After I planted them, however, I am now wondering if they will get enough sunlight as the Ash is pretty large and provides quite a bit of shade.  I guess time will tell.

Later in the day, I went to Home Depot to get the two other rubber pavers for the walk way.  I made the mistake of looking at their potting mix and found that the same brand and it was several times cheaper than what I purchased it for at the local nursery!  That was rather an expensive hull too!  Here I was thinking I was saving a bit of money by purchasing the already mixed stuff instead of purchasing the compost, peat moss and vermiculite individually and mixing it myself.  I could have saved myself about a quarter of what I spent!  I should've checked the big box stores first.  Oh well, at least I gave it to a local company so that should make me feel better, right?  Oh, and if you're wondering, I wouldn't really recommend this brand.  It stinks like manure!  Hopefully the smell will dissipate after a few days.  Phew!

The finished product!

Raised Bed Take Two

The more I looked at the kit that I put together, the more I didn't really like it.  They just seemed too flimsy and the sides were already beginning to bow!  I convinced my husband to put a nicer, home made one together.  We purchased four, eight feet cedar panels and had the store (Home Depot) cut them in half for us.  As you can see, these are eight inches wide so for a single height, I didn't need to stack two.  We also purchased one eight feet long red wood fence post and my husband cut them for the corner joints.  He even rounded out the edges so they wouldn't be sharp!
I also found a fence post solar light.  They were a little pricey at $4.00 each so I bought one to see how it would look.  Looks pretty good (last picture).  I guess I'll have to save up.
I will also be using the rubber pavers for in between the boxes so we don't have to worry about trimming there every week.  You can see in the photos, I've got one to get a feel for them.  I think they'll work nicely so I'll need a couple more to fill in the gap.

Found the sprinkler head!	Putting the first box in place	Prepping for the second box
	Both boxes placed

Seeds

Finally got around to planning seeds. I know I'm late in planting the tomatoes, but we'll see what happens.  Started the seeds in a Jiffy tomato seed starting green house.  The seeds planted are:

• Early Girl Tomato (4)
• Beefmaster Tomato (4)
• Rutgers Tomato (4)
• Roma Tomato (4)
• Peaches & Cream Corn (12)
• Bok Choy (4)
• Napa Cabbage (4)

I also purchased a smaller second Jiffy green house, but I don't think I'll need it.  I still have pumpkins, watermelon, carrots, broccoli and a variety of herbs to plant, but they are better suited if they are sown directly into their beds.  I'll set these out during the day to get some sun and hopefully in a week or so we'll have seedlings!

Weeding We Will Go

It is absolutely gorgeous today! Looked over at my garden walkway to see lush greenery. Too bad it's all weeds! We did have a short rainstorm so I figured the soil may be damp and ripe for a little weed pulling.

Before

After about an hour, I'm about 50% done. Time to take a break. My legs are complaining after having quatted for that long.

After

Raised Bed Assembly

Gorgeous day today! Not too hot and not too cold. Great day for a little gardening! Time to assemble the raised bed frames I purchased yesterday.

These are cedar and very light. I thought I would need a mallet to put them together, but all you need are some very thick and sturdy gloves. Lot's of potential for splinters!

I put it together on my patio thinking I needed a level surface. While the assembly went very quickly on the flat surface, they are pretty flimsy so moving it was a bit precarious. I decided to put the second one together in place of it's final destination.

Initial evaluation of the product is that these are flimsy. If you are not careful, the little end pieces will break. The wood was splintering quite a bit. Maybe it will be sturdier once it is filled with soil. I've seen other kits on-line, but I don't know how much different they are. These were only $35.00 for each kit so I suppose I can't complain too much. They assembled very easily. These two took me less than 15 minutes total to put them together.
As you can see, these will cover our large bald spots in the lawn very well. I've seen these were they were connected side by side unlike my layout. I want to have easy access to every area of the bed so I chose to design mine diagonally. I'll probably put down some rubberized pavers in the corners to help with the mowing. I think I may go ahead and purchase a third bed kit to place on the left side.

Time to go make the soil!

Resurrection of The Garden Bunny

In honor of Earth Day, I am going to resurrect this blog from a four year hiatus. I have lots of ideas. I'm just trying to figure out which ones I want to bring to reality. I purchased two cedar raised bed kit from Home Depot and contemplating where to put them. Every year we battle a bald spot in our lawn. This year, I am tempted to just put these raised beds there to cover it up and not worry about it. Hubby is off on a play date with his friends tomorrow so that may be my day to play in the garden. :-)