Fall Project

This remarkable fall has been wonderful!  Yesterday it was 77 degrees [normal is 55-ish] and just the latest in more than a week of warmer than average days.  Today and tomorrow should be the same and then it will drop all the way down into the mid-60's for a few more lovely days.  We may be back to "normal" by Christmas weekend.

I have not wasted this wonderful weather miracle.  Everything [no, really, everything] has been deadheaded.   You know it's done, when you wander from bed to bed looking for something to cut back!  Bed are now mulched that have not been mulched in years; all the root suckers removed from the shrubs; the cutting garden top-dressed, and a fall project completed.

A "Kitchen Garden" has been on my radar for several years.  I collected pictures and plans; i thought and thought about what might work; i drew several sets of plans.  And, finally, a class assignment in one of my horticulture classes pushed me over the edge and i finally did the work. 

This was my "old" veggie garden - a raised bed (36 sq. ft.) set in the middle of the flattest, sunniest part of the yard.  The shed is to the left and the edge of the carport to the right. [All the other photos are taken from the other end.] It was the only viable place to grow veggies.

Staked out and grass killed - we lived with the stakes for a couple of weeks - adjusting them until we were comfortable walking around it, and then i killed the grass.  

There will be two layers of fencing - first a wire mesh (above) to keep the critters out.  It is buried three inches into the ground.

This may be my favorite part.  There will be a six-inch planted border all the way around the garden.  In the "front" it will be annual flowers - some are already seeded in.  In the back it will be okra, and down the sides it will be lettuces and other greens.  It will give me an additional 26 sq. ft. of growing space. 

The master builder in the family made two new raised boxes for me - a total of 72 sq. ft. - and i put down a bale of pine straw for walkways.

The nearly done garden - with the pots it's slightly more than 100 sq. ft.  White picket fencing all around and in each corner will be a big blue pot - you can already see one with herbs on the right and one with blueberries on the left.  I think peas on a tuteur in the right far corner and more herbs in the left far corner.

All that's really left to do is to finish mixing the soil and start planting!  I can hardly wait.