Garden from scratch

I'm so tired.  So, so very tired.  But accomplished.  This weekend has been so busy.  Wedding prep, moving, gardening.  All exciting things.

I can officially say I have a garden at our new house.  To think that I had no idea whether a garden would even be feasible this year, it feels really good to have some dirt with stuff growing in it.  It was actually pretty easy, and something that everyone should do of they have a corner of their lawn to spare.  And who doesn't want food growing in their yard?

Here's what you need:
*12 Cherry tone timber logs
*12 1ft long 3/8in. rebar
*Drill with 1/2in. drill bit (or smaller, as long as it's bigger than 3/8in.)
*Saw
*Shovels

We broke ground on Tuesday after we bought the logs at Home Depot for super cheap.  The biggest job for this was digging up the grass.  After we started digging, we noticed that it was originally sod so it came up in nice sheets.  Once we took out enough grass for the size of box we wanted, we stacked the 8ft. logs three high and made a box that is 4ft. wide and 16ft. long.  We stacked them Lincoln logs style, with ends overlapping in the corners and the middle, and drilled half inch holes for the rebar that we used as a skeleton to keep the logs in place.  They were each put in about 6 inches from each corner and from the middle so that each end of each log was secured.

This was then filled in with a combination of dirt and two types of compost: the chicken crap stuff from our place and the yard waste/kitchen scraps stuff from my parents.  Hauling dirt is hard work, but great exercise.

Eager beavers, they are.

Then we were ready to plant.  I had some squash plants on hand because they were busting out of their pots, so they went in first.  I had some help from our new, young, next-door neighbor friends (who I have a feeling are going to be coming over a lot once they see the zoo that is moving in with us,) and garden 2012 was in business!

Today I went back in the rain and planted some tomatoes, onions, and broccoli.  The kids were over helping once again, and were really excited that the tomatoes each had a little house to live in.  I'm already out of space, which is sad, but not surprising, and I'm itching to get the other two boxes we have planned, built.  We're hoping to make another one that is 4'x16' and another smaller one that'll be 4'x8'.  We're also hoping to try straw-bale gardening, but that's a topic for a whole separate post.

So there you go, garden 2012 is well under way, despite this nuisance called a wedding that is just 7 days away.  I guess I should make sure to enjoy that too.

Have a great week and send good weather vibes!  I don't want to get married in this rain!