Sunday 16 May 2010

A New Vegetable Bed

Yesterday we were up at the crack of dawn, all excited because we were going to build a new vegetable plot. We purchased the timber from Travis Perkins on Friday (yes, a Honda Civic can transport 8 ft long gravel boards), along with some stakes for the corners, so we were eager to get started.

We marked out the position of both future vegetable plots on the grass with the timber, and the position of the future greenhouse and future apple trees and future Japanese Maple with flowerpots. We have a Grand Plan, you see ;). Once we were satisfied that the layout was right, I went off to the gym and left Braveheart to begin removing turf from the designated vegetable plot area.

He marked it all out with string and began cutting strips of turf. It took him all day! At the end we had a vegetable plot and a big pile of turf strips.

Today was spent constructing the raised bed. First of all we dug around the edges to loosen the soil and create a channel for the boards to sit in. Then we began hammering in the stakes and attaching the boards to them with screws. We left one open at the end so it will be easier to tip three tons of topsoil in from a wheelbarrow.


We are very satisfied with our weekend's work - but wait! there's more...
I also planted up all the tomatoes, chillies, peppers, aubergines and courgettes.


And I stacked as much turf as I could get into these leaf mould bags, grass to grass and roots to roots. It takes a year or so but does rot down into lovely compost.


We finished the day with a well-earned glass of cider from last year's sparkling batch. And very nice it was , too.

3 comments:

Auntie Noo said...

What a wonderful way to spend a weekend. Watch those plants tho' I lost my tomatoes to frost just last week! :(

Fiona Reynolds said...

Blimey - you have been busy. And that's a lovely step by step guide to installing raised beds. Thank you!

MysteryKnitter said...

You have been one busy woman. I wish you all the best with the garden.