a memorial weekend to remember

the hubs decided to take some major time off around the holiday weekend so that we could get this garden started.  we borrowed grampy's trusty ranger to get more lumber, and some 55 gallon barrels to collect rain with.  [borrowing the truck for the umpteenth time this spring prompted a major fight very important discussion between me and the hubs on getting our own truck.  that's in the works as i type.]

still life, with ranger

as i went out for the barrels, a local landscaper dropped 9 yards of rich, composty soil in our yard.  at least he charged us for 9 yards, but it's probably more like 11 or 12.

hard to tell scale, but there is a rake and a shovel on the right-most pile, and there are actually 3 piles.  sheesh.

hubs got to work building the one million raised beds.  we had hemmed and hawed about the material to use, but in the end chose to go with pressure treated.  especially since these are for edibles, we wanted to be cautious.  we got the kind with cqa, which has nothing on the epa action list, though there are no comprehensive studies on the long-term effects.  what a choice.  we couldn't really afford cedar, so we went ahead with it.  it's fairly simple construction - 2 2X6s on a side, corner posts of 4X4s, drilled and screwed.

the work room - hubs is particularly proud of his cord hanging innovations

boxes were made at a break-neck pace.  then set in their spot and leveled in all directions.

hubs leveling each one meticulously upon my command that they "not look wonky"

we put down landscape fabric across the bottom to slow the progress of rocks up through the boxes.  then i filled with the brown goodness.  i almost counted the number of shovelfuls for each wheelbarrow, and then wheelbarrow trips to fill each box, but didn't.  even i am not that big of a geek.  but trust me, it was a lot.

and shoveling, and shoveling, and shoveling...

the original plan had all the boxes lined right up, all pretty like.  of course that ain't real life.  there's a huge rock in the way, so the boxes closest to the house had to be shifted over.  of course those were the boxes that i had pegged for the strawberries, and those puppies were more than ready to be planted, having sat in our fridge since the fedco tree sale a month ago.  so we adjusted our plan, but had to move a ton of soil just to be able to fit in the other strawberry box in its new spot.  in retrospect, i should have just let the strawberries go in different boxes.  i'm so stupidly stubborn like that.

cute, neat "plan".  note:  straight lines, orderly boxes, humor

yummy variety of strawberry that we are now the proud parents of...yup, 50 plants

our blueberry box dimensions and position changed about 5 times

to the boy: "do you want to help?"
boy:  "no, i want to be the director"
i kid you not.

in maine, there's this half-joked about rule that you have to get your garden in by memorial day or else you're screwed, vegetably speaking.  the growing season is so short that you absolutely have to maximize the time those suckers are pushing out their spawn.  so i was actually a bit stressed about getting them in the ground.  tuesday, the day after the full-court press at all nurseries in the area, i loaded up on starts.  it felt amazing.  two kinds of broccoli, two kinds of cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, bush cukes, sweet peppers, swiss chard, and tomatoes, including 10 roma, 8 slicers, and 2 kinds of cherry.  whew!

there's my girls!

teaching the boy how to plant a tomato - tool box required

before aerial

after aerial

tornado warnings (!!) prevented me from completing the last of the boxes today.  but i feel great that i pretty much made that memorial day garden deadline.  now hubs just has to remember to water them.