Garden Renovation

I built my first garden back in 1997 and other than minor repairs it really held up well. The original garden was a 10 x 20 raised bed garden. It had a picket fence with one entry gate. The fence was low enough that I could step over it and get into the garden if I didn't want to use the gate. I never really liked that because it meant I was stepping on the dirt in the garden. Every time you step on the dirt in your garden it gets packed down. The more you walk on the dirt, the harder it gets. Vegetables just don't like growing in those conditions. Many times you will see gardeners lay boards down to walk on or step on. The board helps spread your weight out and lessen the impact on the dirt. Other gardeners will have designated walkways that run along the garden beds. It's all a matter of preference and how much space you have for your garden.

When my winter lettuce was just about done I decided to deconstruct my old garden. It came apart easily and I stacked the boards and picket fence by the side of the garage. I just couldn't put it into a dumpster yet. I wasn't sure what I was waiting for but I had worked so hard on making the picket fence that I just couldn't throw it out yet. My patience (and the neighbors' patience) paid off because several weeks after I had torn the garden down, a good friend came over to visit. She talked about how much she wanted to start a garden. Here was the perfect way to help someone start a garden and not have to throw all the boards and pickets into the garbage. We offered her the boards and picket fences for her to start her own garden. She jumped at the opportunity. She knew her son would love to reconstruct the raised beds and picket fence. I was super happy they wanted it. A couple of days later it was gone. I am happy that the pieces of my old garden have found a new home.

I decided to make my garden bigger and change the layout. I wanted to be able to access my garden beds as easily as possible. I created two 10 x 10 beds and one 5 x 22 bed. I then laid them out with a walkway between them to look like a T. At the end of each part of the T, I created an entry area and space for a gate. I decided to use pickets again and added chicken wire inside the pickets to stop the local rabbit family from squeezing through. I always think of the book "Watership Down", by Richard Adams, when I imagine the rabbits working their way into the garden. Another cool feature is that the gates have hinges on them that I found in a salvage shop in San Diego when I was visiting my sister. There were so many cool hinges to choose from.

Once I had the beds in place I ordered some compost for filling the raised beds. I got the compost from Farmer Dave's Compost. It is a family owned business located in Racine. They have a great mix of pure compost and dirt. This works out well since pure compost will settle too much. If you get a mixture of compost and dirt, it is more dense and the level of dirt in your garden bed won't settle significantly. Here is a link to their website http://farmscompost.com/

I really think the garden turned out well and I hope it lasts me another 18 years.

Here are some pictures of the construction process.

The load of dirt

Almost full

Pickets being added

One of the gates with recycled hinges and sliding latch

All planted