The Garden, Week 5: Big Developments

Our best ideas, at least around here, often get put on what we not-so-jokingly refer to as the "Mañana Plan." That is, it's something we'd genuinely like get done but because of lack of funds or bad timing or just plain old laziness, we don't quite work up the wherewithall to accomplish.

At first it seemed like the whole tree removal, hedge destruction and planting bed project could end up in the pile of good intentions gone awry, and it made me especially nervous to commit to it in print. But maybe the specter of having to face the humiliation of questions ("How'd that tree project come out?") or, worse yet, jokes ("Remember that tree project you wrote about?") galvanized us into action.

So Saturday bright and early found Dave driving out to Home Depot in his trusty truck, returning with a rented rototiller which he diligently used, along with a pickax and ax, to turn the patch of grass and a tangle of hidden tree roots into a new planting bed. Then it was my turn, while he had a well-deserved hot-bath-with-a-beer-back to soothe his sore muscles, to plant the tomatoes and peppers I'd purchased from the tremendous selection at Garden Fever.

The five tomatoes, Green Zebra, Early Girl, Cherokee Purple, Sungold and the wild card, a French Carmello, are now happily ensconced in their walls of water (above, left) with some of Dr. Kobos' Magic Dirt to help them along. The peppers I chose were two Jimmy Nardello's that I'd become addicted to last summer after finding them at the Gathering Together Farm booth at the Hillsdale market, and then two anchos, a pasilla, a jalapeno and a paprika.

The raised beds continue to thrive (right, above), and it's almost time to start harvesting the first chard, arugula and radishes. So exciting!

And So It Begins

There's nothing like a little competition to get you inspired, is there? It happens to Dave whenever the neighbor next door gets out and mows his lawn, making ours look like it just got out of bed after a night of hard drinking. I'm susceptible to the green meanies when it comes to the garden, and this year was no exception.

One morning a couple of weekends ago we casually looked out the back door (not snooping, not at all!) and there were the neighbors, sneaking around putting in their tomatoes. GAAA! So, of course, we had to run to the nursery this last weekend. Now ours are comfortably ensconced in their Wall-O-Water jackets, basking in their little red greenhouses and, hopefully, growing like weeds.

We decided on just five this year, since last year's bed got a little crowded by harvest time. There are Sungold and Sugar Lump cherry tomatoes, a red Siletz, a Green Zebra and our perennial fave, the Cherokee Purple. We'll be planting lettuce and arugula around the bases while the baby bok choy grows in the second bed.

Oh, and you can still download the plan for Dave's raised bed here. I'll keep you posted on how the competition goes!

Making Our Bed

Ya gotta love a guy who gets all motivated by the activity next door and decides to build a raised bed for our tomatoes this year. The local paper had an article about how to build one, but no, that was pooh-poohed as not being sturdy enough to last his minimum requirement of twenty years.

This, of course, necessitated getting out the computer and drafting a plan of his own, which translates into the opportunity to use as many saws, drills, planes, levels and other tools as he possibly can. After myriad trips to the hardware store to get the cedar, screws and any new tools that might come in handy, he got down to the business of cutting the wood and assembling the materials to make the frame.

We had to wait a week or so for the weather and our schedules to clear, then we dug up the lawn, put the frame together and hauled in multiple bags of compost and manure, a solid afternoon of hard work that was rewarded with a very dry martini and toasts to the eventual harvest. The next day I planted two Cherokee Purple tomatoes, a Brandywine, a Green Zebra, a Black Plum cherry and an Isis Candy cherry, then surrounded them with their red Wall O' Water tomato teepees. The bases were scattered with basil and arugula seeds and watered liberally.

There's room for another bed next to it, which fits nicely into my plan to eliminate as much grass as possible and turn this patch of southern sun into a productive terraced garden. That and get rid of the arbor vitae and replace it with...oh, well, you don't need my whole list. I'll save that for another post!

Details: Dave's 20-Year Raised Bed plans available here.