Category: Farm

Today we purchased some 2 cu ft bags of organic raised bed soil and a few of mulch. All that I felt the car could safely handle. After I unloaded them inside the garden gate and changed into gardening gear, I grabbed the tractor key and headed for the barn. The old deck joists are 16′ long and double thickness, so they weigh as much as I do (a very slight exageration). I dragged, pushed, pulled, and tugged one on to the tractor bucket that was strategically parked right at the end of the pile. First I had to remove all the wood that had been added after they were wrestled in to the pile. Once it was on, I could get to some 14′ ones that are single thickness and loaded 1 of them and a 4 X 4. I didn’t raise the bucket high enough and lost the load in the driveway about halfway down. With a lot of maneuvering, I managed to get them back on the bucket and made it to the yard between the house and garden. The doubled joist was marked in half and with the circular saw set at max, I was able to get it cut in half with two cuts. Each half is still heavy, but I could move them. The first box was built, though I need to add another tier on the ends. It was build just below the box I moved yesterday, set on cardboard and filled with most of the soil we just bought. After the potatoes are planted there, I will add more soil as they grow and by the end of the summer, the box will be nearly full.

The other box is going to be 14′ long by 4′ wide, built beside the one I moved. I started weeding the area as I dug a trench for the side that is uphill and the chickens were loving the fresh greens being tossed into their run.

They stayed close to where I was working. I got cardboard down on the uphill edged and fastened one corner to hold the board in place as I continue to weed and level that bed tomorrow. I will add the other end and the other side board then.

I think I have enough cardboard to finish under that box, but not enough to do the path that is to the left of those two boxes and I certainly don’t have enough mulch so another trip will be made just for more mulch later this week before the rain showers begin on Friday. The two reclaimed wood boxes are so much sturdier than the deteriorating cedar ones I bought a few years ago from the local big box hardware store. If I can man handle a few more of the 16′ double joists back down to the garden and figure out how to get them in the garden alone, I may replace the rows of 4 x 4 and 4 x 8 cedar boxes with more home made long beds. If I had power at the barn, I would cut them in half there and move 8′ lengths. The boxes to the right of this one are falling apart, as is the one I moved yesterday, though I added some screws to it today to try to give it another year of use. I think because I am terracing the long bed into the slope, there will be enough soil to mostly fill it, though it is going to mean shoveling piles on top of the cardboard then laying more cardboard and raking it smooth. It may take a few sacks of the purchased soil to give it enough depth.

It didn’t get finished today, dinner had to be prepared and cleaned up, but tomorrow is supposed to be another beautiful day, so I hope I can get that box finished if not totally filled.

One of the double 16′ joists is on the top of the pile, so maybe I will fight with it tomorrow or the next day. Where are the strong teenage grandsons when you need them.

In spite of it still be sunny, chilly, and windy, the outdoor part of the summer garden was begun. All of the existing boxes that aren’t planted with garlic, asparagus, or blueberries were weeded and amended. One box was shifted to the left and this week, I will rearrange the stored wood in the barn to pull out a few of the long joists left from tearing down the old deck and they will be cut and built into a long box that will hold this year’s tomatoes, and will rotate with corn and potatoes in other years as they are the crops that require the biggest beds. Another double box will be built and a narrow long box will be build. I will have to purchase more Black Kow to help fill and amend them and may need another run by the pet supply store where they willingly give me the large cardboard boxes that come in. I have enough in the garage to put down for the longest box and maybe one more. The narrow box will go where the old compost pile was and that soil is good, it just needs to be regathered from where the chickens spread it out in the fall.

To the left of those two boxes is where the longest bed one goes, the other right where my shadow is.

The box on the cardboard is the one I shifted to give me space for the long box. The narrow one goes to the right of the two rows at the top of the photo. I realized that I am going to have to restring the hot wire before I turn the charger on, it is sagging enough to touch the metal fence in spots. I dug out some of the more stubborn weeds in the paths, but most of what is there will die off once new cardboard and mulch is laid over them.

Since we only have my old CRV now, and nothing to pull the trailer, the bags of compost and mulch will have to be brought in in smaller loads, enough to wear me out each day.

Last summer, I set two 5 gallon buckets full of comfrey filled with water that makes the best, stinkiest fertilizer along the fence. I used a bit of it on the fall peas that froze before they produced and the lid blew off that bucket so it filled again with rain and snow. It was used to fertilize the transplanted raspberries and the blueberry bushes while I was out there. The other bucket will be diluted and used as I plant the tomatoes and peppers later in the spring.

I finally received a notice that the tomato seed shipped, so they will be started this week. It is nice to be outdoors again and know that the garden didn’t get ahead of me with weeds before I could get it ready. Onions and peas will go in this week, probably late in the week when it is supposed to warm up and be followed by showers next weekend.

I tried to move the half barrel that I thought was still semi sound and the bottom fell out of it too, so I have loose staves and barrel rings to clean up. Maybe the staves can be pounded in the edges of the asparagus bed as it lacks a box. Soon it will be time to pull the mulch back from that bed and start looking for the first fresh green vegetable of the season.

We took a short noon time drive and you can see the hints of buds coloring the tops of the trees, not green yet, but the pinks and reds of the bud covers that swell first. This winter of isolation is going to end.

Late this week, when it has been two weeks since my second COVID vaccine, we are going out to replace the dishwasher that failed a couple months ago. I still don’t feel “safe” in the big box stores, but safer than I did 6 weeks ago.