A Little Bit of Sunshine (and a whole lot of rain)

The projects got a little off-track this week.  There has been lots of rain. It was a tough week both weather and work wise. My intent was to post what the upcoming projects would be and then show the result at the end of the weekend or the beginning of the following week, but that didn't get done. I guess this is all a part of the blog, seeing what really works for me, just a regular person who can only do things at certain times.

So…we’ve had lots of rain. Sometimes I forget how the rain can affect me. I don’t usually mind the rain, which is a good thing, since I live in the rainy Northwest. At times though it can get to be a bit much, especially when it’s supposed to be vegie planting time! It was such a dark, dreary weekend, which my mood mirrored. But there was light at the end of the tunnel, or in this case at the end of the weekend. On Monday (Memorial Day) when it was supposed to rain all day, there was a clearing about midday. And then, there was sun! Bright, beautiful sun!  It sure lifted my spirits to get outside. It still makes me smile when I think of it.

I finished the garden tubs. Project two is completed.  I planted different types of greens in each one (both red and green romaine lettuce, mustard spinach, a leaf lettuce blend, summer spinach, bibb lettuce, and another blend of gourmet greens). The lawn will be edged when I work on the side yard more. That’s another project. The old strainers on the stand next to the tubs all have different greens in them as well. If I find some nasturtiums, I may add those to the strainers for a little color and some trailing down the sides.  The strainers I found for between .99 and 1.99 at the thrift store. I lined them with moss, which is definitely easy to come by here - even in my yard.  I left space in the washtubs to plant again in a couple of weeks.  That way, we'll have our greens for a longer period of time.  Here are pictures of the washtub greens project:

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

We also started our next project. This project is one of those two parters. We are building raised beds for the backyard. The backyard is one of the two places in the yard that gets sun most of the day.  The back of the house faces south.  So...of course, I will plant vegies there.  I have found that the shrub that borders the back of our property shades the backyard more than I would like, but I will sacrifice the space for privacy.  Without that hedge, I can see directly into the house behind us.  Even though the hedge has grown up nicely, at night looking out of the second floor window you can still see the eluminating blue light from the neighbor's computer, so the hedge stays.  I will write more about what we see in the neighbors yard another time.  Nothing bad, just not the best view from the window. 

Even in two parts, this project will be difficult to complete because there is a lot of to do in the backyard, so we’re just going to focus on where the raised beds will go. Then, in another project, we can continue to work on the backyard.  We need to prune the hedges, straighten the potting bench, clean up around the bunny and basically just tidy up. I want to create some privacy and make a better pathway. And, and, and...

I'll will try to stay focused on this project for now.  So, last weekend we focused on getting all the materials we need, as well as preparing the boards.  We got the wood and also had some soil delivered. It won’t be enough soil. It's never enough soil. We started by making one frame to see how difficult it would be. Not bad really. We have a picture of that one. You can see how much work there is to do in the backyard, but isn't it going to be great!  So, I guess this is kind of my intro to next weekend’s posting, too. I’m hoping to get the beds planted as well. We’ll have to see, yet again, what the weather is like.


Backyard raised vegetable beds project:
Materials needed: 10 x 8 boards, 1 x 1 boards for stabilizing, wood screws, soil, vegetables plants and seeds. I will need, but already have: cardboard for the bottom of the raised beds as needed (where the sod is), floating row cover, green mulch to warm the soil, potato towers and totes ( We’re going to try turning a couple of our old totes into potato totes. We got the idea from one of the workers at a nursery I stopped at. We’ll see what happens.) Here is a link to growing potatoes in bins:  http://www.the-organic-gardener.com/potato-bin.html .  I'll show you ours when I get them finished and as the potatoes grow.

This was a bigger investment. We really had to budget for this project. Unfortunately, as I said, we need more soil. The good thing is that it was primarily the cost to put the beds together, so that won’t have to be repeated. The yard will look so nice and tidy. Here is a site that I enjoyed looking at and will read more.  It has advice on how to plant a raised, no dig vegetable garden, as well as other gardening information:  http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/

Project Cost:
$65.00 for wood
$5.00 wood screws
$105.00 soil delivered
$19.75 plants – all bought at the local farmer markets
     (2) peppers $5.00
     (6) peppers assortment pack $4.25
     (4) eggplants $6.50
     (2) cucumbers $4.00
$8.00 (approximately) seeds – We got the seeds at a buy one, get one free sale and I had a few leftover from last year. Here is our list:
Cantaloupe, watermelon, broccoli (all started indoors), zucchini, yellow
summer squash, acorn squash (we love acorn squash), radishes, carrots, and cucumbers
Total Cost: $202.75

Now for the pictures:

Backyard looking east at the bunny hutches. The black marking sticks are the beginning outline of the where the raised beds will be.

The first bed is put in place! We will have four of them.

We will be layering on top of what you see in the bed.

This area should be transformed the next time you see it.  The weather forecast isn't great, but I'll hope for even a little bit of sunshine!