Pictorial of Building my Garden Boxes

[tallpines]

Cut a couple of logs from woods


Took them to the neighbors for sawing


Nice load of 2 X 8's and 2 X 10's of white oak and pine


Stacked for drying

[tallpines]

Man alive---seemed as tho those "green" whilte oak weighed a "ton"!


Will end up with 6 boxes that measure 5' X 3', and 3 boxes that measure 4' X 3'.
6 of them will be 10 inches deep, 3 will be 8 inches deep.


We will use 100% organic compost as recommended by the extension agent who presented a recent class we attended.
Here is our first ton, hauled from 75 miles away on our snowmobile trailer.
Tomorrow we go get another ton.
A ton is equal to 2 cubic yards----cost us $26 a yard.




Filling up the first couple of boxes.


We're expecting the compost to settle quite a bit.
The 4 cubic yards will fill our 9 boxes with a little to spare.
We expect we will need to get another load of compost this fall, or early next spring.



Will post more as the project progresses.

.

[nehimama]

Impressive! Can't wait to see pics of your goodies growing. I hope this will be a super gardening season for you.

[Countrystyle]

What a nice load of lumber! Love the birdhouses too! And of course the beds too. Here's to a nice growing season!

[willow_girl]

You'll grow a lot of veggies in those!

[MOgal]

Ya'll really started from scratch, didn't you? What's the life expectancy in your area on raw boards like that in contact with soil?

[7thswan]

Very Nice!

[tallpines]

Originally Posted by MOgal

Ya'll really started from scratch, didn't you? What's the life expectancy in your area on raw boards like that in contact with soil?

We expect the white oak to out live us (we're mid sixties).
The 3 pine boxes may deteriote and need replacing but we figure by that time we will be ready to cut down from 9 boxes to the 6 white oak that will remain.

[dezingg]

Those raised beds look good! I'm impressed how you turned logs into boards, nobody does that in my part of Calif. I'm also impressed that you came up with a way to haul compost in a trailer that wasn't built for that.

Overall, I'm very impressed by your "can do" and "let's get it done" attitude. Good job!

[Timberline]

Wow, nice looking place. Did you build the retaining wall behind the boxes, too? I really like the looks of it.

[MOgal]

Thanks, TallPines. We don't have trees on our place large enough to do something like that but your beds are just what I would love to have.

No need for me to haul home compost. I could probably fill yours from our barn....Goat poop is wonderful in a garden.

[tallpines]

Originally Posted by Chalk Creek

Wow, nice looking place. Did you build the retaining wall behind the boxes, too? I really like the looks of it.

Up until 2000 this was all woods ------ 40 acres that has never ever been clear cut ---been in the family for over 100 years ------------ so, yes, that stone "wall" is actually a 3 foot wide by 75 foot flower bed that we built 3 years ago. At one end it wraps around an old claw foot bathtub that holds my 10 growing goldfish during the spring, summer and fall.

[Betty Jean]

Then we need to see pics of the fishies as well!

Hmmm. I'm guessing dirty fish water will make a nice fertilizer for some of your plants.

Years ago my son had a red slider turtle. I always put the dirty water on my tomato plants after we cleaned the turtle tank. The maters loved it!

[Freya]

Yes now I want to see the wall/tub/fishies too!!!!

[tallpines]

More photos

One day while hubby was helping out a neighbor, I spent sometime at the table saw cutting a bunch slats;


And now the slats are in place and I have 126 squares for my Squre Foot Gardening;


Another view;

[MOgal]

I love your house! And the obelisk! And the arbor! Beautiful!

Don't forget pictures of your garden as the season progresses.

[Wayne02]

Very nice! Thank you for posting the pictures, digital cameras and the internet are wonderful ways to share information.

What I especially like about your set-up is the sizing of the boxes, the layout, and the spacing between the boxes. This will make it much easier to maintain and work the garden. For younger folks this is probably not a big deal but I am through with doing the long/wide raised garden scenario as tending the plot has just become more pain than it is worth. Being able to move between the boxes and not having to over reach to get to all of the soil in any of the boxes is priceless.

[Maplelawnfarm]

Beautiful!