Project {Garden}: Part 1

Basement plans are slowing down as the weather gets warmer and we get busier. But, that just gives us time to work on other areas of the house that need a little TLC.

If you saw my yard post last year, you know my yard is a mess.

We did mulch and did some planting last summer: I got some tomato plants that my grandma started for me, some onions and strawberries. I planted them in the dead space we had in our back yard and they did not do well. I am pretty sure that our soil is bad.

I also planted some hostas and we removed one of our rose bushes that was taking over our patio. This year, I have a master plan and this week we tried to execute part 1 of that plan!

Above is the spot where I planted my hostas last year. I have decided to move the hostas closer to the patio and kind-of bunch them together, instead of having them spread out. I was surprised to see that they were already coming up and they had survived last year. I was convinced I had killed them after seeing them shrived and burnt at the end of the season.

The biggest decision/project this year was a raised garden bed. I decided to do this because our soil is too rotten to plant in {which I found out the hard way}. But, I really wanted to have a garden. The easiest {and cheapest} way I found to get a raised garden bed is to build it out of cedar boards, DIY style.

I went to Lowe's and bought three 1x8x8 cedar boards and had them cut one board in half so I had two 1x8x8 boards and two 1x8x4 boards. This would give me an 8 foot by 4 foot raised bed.

Chad helped me screw the boards together and voila we had a garden bed!

I had already put a weed barrier down last year that was still very much intact so I was able to just put the bed down on that with no prep work.

I bought a combination of peat moss, garden soil and compost/manure mixture. To fill my 8'x4' bed I used 4 cubic feet of garden soil, 6 cubic feet of peat moss and 3 cubic feet of compost/manure mixture. We mixed it all together using a garden hoe. I also mixed in a little plant food {below}.

I was seriously behind on planting my onions. This is supposed to be done at the beginning of March. So this was the first thing I planted. Last year, a mixture of bunnies and our awful soil {are you sick of me mentioning that yet?} was the demise of the onions. One day, I went out and all the onion tops were gone! Eaten by Peter Rabbit himself, I'm sure! I planted A LOT of onions {over 60} in hopes that the bunnies share and we at least get a couple this year.  These can be planted fairly close together (4'' apart) so I was able to fit a lot of onions in a small area.

Strawberries are supposed to be planted about this time of year, too. So I went ahead and planted those while I was at it. Here is my dilemma with strawberries. Chad really wants them. I planted them last year {yeah, you guessed it - shitty soil} and they didn't survive. I FINALLY had one strawberry beginning only to come out and see that it had been eaten along with the onions! I was sad. None-the-less I've decided I will give it ONE more shot this year. If these don't work, I'm giving up! So we have 4 strawberry plants next to the onions.

It was also time to plant Rosemary and Thyme but WAY too early to plant my other herbs: basil, oregano and cilantro. I was overly anxious and went ahead and got those, too. I may be kicking myself when they die because it still going to be in the 30's at night around here. I was quickly running out of room in my raised bed and only put the thyme and rosemary in the bed. The others got their own little green pot. Cute huh?

I have tomatoes plants coming from my grandma and also some bell pepper plants this year. I won't plant these until after Mother's Day though. I am really hoping that this raised bed will solve the problems I had last year and I will at least get ONE tomato {or ANY product from ANY of the plants}!

Lastly, I got some river rock from Lowe's and placed it around the raised bed just to make it nicer to look at.

I will post Part 2 of the Garden Project once the tomatoes and peppers are planted. Also, part 2 will include getting rid of that nasty area we planted in last year on our fence line. {yay, you won't have to hear me complain anymore} We are going to till this land up and plant some grass seed. Hopefully it won't be such an eye sore. I'm sure we will do some mulching like last year. Also, we may or may not be getting a shed this year {depending on the basement budget}. Stay tuned!