Re-framing the Garden

Yes, it is June 1.  Warm weather has arrived and I am lagging behind on my gardening.  After much deliberation and much physical effort digging out and removing rocks, stones, boulders and building debris, I finally decided that it would take me years and years to dig garden beds and develop a good/deep soil profile.  Several friends had suggested that I simply build wooden frame raised garden beds like I had in Vermont.  Initially, I did not want to incur the expense of buying the lumber and then the soil.  However, I realized that I was already purchasing some garden soil, compost and peat moss by-the-bag and it was costing me quite a bit to do that.  So, I bit the bullet and bought some lumber, had a dumptruck deliver some garden soil, and began constructing my garden beds.

Six cubic yards of garden soil (70%) mixed with compost (30%).  

I had thought that I would make my garden beds 4'X8'X6".  When I went to Home Depot to purchase the lumber, I found that they were out of 4'x8' lumber.  As I stood there contemplating "Plan B" (I didn't have one), the nice young man who had told me they were out of 2"x6"x8" boards told me that he would substitute 2"x6"x10' lumber for the same price!  Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I immediately knew what my Plan B was, and decided that my garden beds would be 4'x10'.  

It seemed a simple matter, but as I looked over my yard I could see that the yard was actually a trapezoid and not a rectangle as I had thought.  The trapezoid shaped yard was creating a lot of puzzlement in my mind.  Everything seemed very uneven.  Those who know me will appreciate this "dilemma".  Should I run the beds parallel to the fence or to the patio???  What would I do with the little leftover triangle-shaped beds that would result from either plan?  I measured and graphed everything out on paper and sketched out several different plans, and finally decided on this one.

2015 garden plan - second iteration

I ran a string to indicate the line that would parallel the fence.  After sawing lumber and drilling pilot holes so that the boards would not split, I began to assemble my garden beds.  Then I placed them along the line and made sure that they were straight.  

Beds are aligned along the green string.  

Then, I lined the beds with corrugated cardboard (leftover boxes from my recent cross-country move).  Then I filled each bed with the soil.  You may recall that I already had broccoli, peas, radishes and tomatoes planted.  Of course the previously planted beds were off center and out of line with my new plan!  I took the row cover off and admired the broccoli, radishes and peas.  Beautiful plants.  

The row cover not only insulated the plants from freezing temperatures, 
but it kept the insect pests away! 

I could also see how far "off" the bed was....

I did not want to disturb the plants, if possible.  I only had to dig up a few of the broccoli plants, align the beds, fill the beds with soil and transplant the plants into the newly aligned beds..  

  

I know my rows are slightly angled, but this is a temporary situation as the broccoli, radishes and peas will soon be harvested.  Once I plant the next crop, I will have straight rows once again. 

I used this opportunity to thin the radishes!

A convenient benefit that I had not realized would happen, is that my row covers fit the ten-foot long bed.  The concrete reinforcing wire which I use as the framework of my row covers is five feet long.  So two row covers laid end to end, fit perfectly inside the ten-foot long bed. 

Row covers are back on.  They fit perfectly

This process took me about two weeks.