Frugal Raised Beds

Today we built 4 more raised beds. We used reclaimed wood from our deck rebuild and on old grill cover that did not fit. All we need now is some great soul to fill them with. I love a great day in the garden, especially when we save money. 

Garden Area Enlargement and Fence Construction

This last week I spent several hours expanding my garden area and constructing a new fence.  It was very affordable since the plastic lattice was already at my house...left by someone else a few years ago.  I am so excited for my new area.  I am now in the process of amending my raised beds and planted and building some new raised beds.  I have 2 already constructed from found items in my yard!  I love that I am being frugal and getting more growing space in the garden!!!  Here are a couple of pictures of the fence and new raised beds.  

June Garden Chores 2016

June Garden Chores Included:

1. Weeding, Weeding, Weeding
2. Watering regularly
3. Watching closely for bug invaders...so far none...keeping fingers crossed that this holds true for the rest of the summer.
4. Built 2 more raised beds and planted zucchini and cantaloupe in them. They are growing quickly...must like the HOT weather!  I have caged a couple of the zucchini to grow them vertically and protect them from critters!
5. Planted 3 sweet potato slips in 2 grow bags...hoping that this works.
6. Planted cucumbers and built a simple trellis for them...going vertical with them this year.
7. Harvested the beets...planted onions in their place.
8. Harvested the sugar snap peas from the container...replaced with green beans in same container.
9. Planted more sugar snap peas near the trellis in the large raised bed.  Hoping that they sprout and do well.
10. Planted more lettuce and spinach to extend these harvests.
11. Planted some spaghetti squash...seeing if this takes...never have grown this before.
12. Planted all the tomato (12) and pepper plants (19) I was gifted.  Holy cow I hope these all take!
13. Transplanted and thinned the tomatoes I started from seed.  Have given away 12 of them.  Still have over 80 in starter pots.  Holy Moly...that is a ton of tomatoes!!!
14. Harvest the potatoes.  I was excited because this was the first time to grow potatoes.  I will need to plant more next year! Planted some bush beans in the place of the potatoes.  
15. Harvesting the herbs as needed.  Planted another round of cilantro from seed. I need this for my salsa when the tomatoes and peppers and onions are ready!

Salsa Garden Raised Bed

Finally got my salsa garden raised bed finished!  Tomatoes, sweet peppers, and jalapeno peppers!

Cold Hardy Veggies Raised Bed Update April 2016

As of April 24, 2016 the raised bed with the cold hardy veggies is not doing so well.  I am hoping to see if I can fix that over the next few weeks.  I am thinking it may be a soil issue... will see if I can add some compost to it to improve the situation.  Keeping my fingers crossed that I do not lose all the vegetables I have planted there..ugh!

Lettuce Garden Raised Bed Update

Here is what the lettuce looks like this week!!! Pictures taken on Sunday April 24.

Raised Beds Update

Last week I worked on my raised beds.  They are complete and some are planted in.   I have 4 types of lettuce in the small bed.  I have cold hardy veggies in the large bed.  Waiting for the last frost before I plant in the middle sized bed.  I also got free mulch and put it around the walkways to control the weeds! I am planning on getting some small hanging plants for the black hooks to encourage the pollinators to come to the garden.

Raised Beds

Started to build my first raised beds this weekend.  Here is the start of them. Next I will need to add the bottom layer of cardboard and then the organic soil mixture.  I am excited about how they will turn out! I found these rolls of cedar edging for a  great deal! I made them different sized so I had more options for growing area.  Thinking I might add a salsa garden to the middle sized one, a lettuce garden to the small sized one, and still deciding what I will do with the big sized one...so many possibilities!!! What shall I plant?!!