New Raised Beds

Well I used natural, untreated wood for the beds, and they lasted about 10 years, but the oldest bed rotted away. I liked the wood for the somewhat more natural look and I wonder how much nutrients it actually contributed.

 This spring, I decided to replace them with concrete cubs. I bought this at home depot for about $9 for 39" long curbs.  This was a bit of work, and the body felt it. I also was reluctant to use to much limestone and un-natural products, so I hope it does not shift much over winter. My Garlic planted last fall in the background and a few other challenges, make it delicate work at times.

The best news of it all, is that I removed some of the paths, which were 2.5' wide, replacing them with 1' sq stepping stones. This added over 50 sq feet to the garden and I suddenly had a bit extra to plant in.  After planting my tomatoes, and peppers (about 2 weeks later this year than usual), then Kales, roots, onions, salad etc, I found I had half a bed over, which I planted with about 9 cabbages. My hope is to have more for sauerkraut this year.  This year I am also doing more borecole. With 1 hybrid, bulldog, and 2 heirloom version. I loved this in fall stew and want to see if there other uses I can find for it.

The old beds can be seen here 

Lastly , I had a bit of bad luck on the compost side. I usually buy Mushroom compost from Islington Nurseries, and although it does not come with an organic sign, it is usually just sterilised horse manure and straw. This year I got a load, only to find tar, stones, clay and even plastic in it. I dumped the load and swore never to go back to Islington Nurseries, but then needed alternatives. In the end I settled for alfalfa pellets used mainly as horse feed. at $20 a bag, it is not that badly priced, but does require a bit of a drive to find a feed store. You can see it on the top of the beds. This with my own compost and some peat moss, filled the extra space inm the beds. Lastly I sprinked a few bags of sheep manure compost bought in bags.

The garden is stil pretty messy at the back end, but I am planted by May 24 weekend and eatingt from the grenenhouse. With the rain, and a bit of help, this should be a late, but bumper season.