The Modern Victory Garden

Sunday my teenage daughter volunteered to help me move all of the wood that was stacked in the driveway and help place it in the garden expansion area.  We laid them out in a rough configuration of how the beds were to be constructed.  The extra timbers were stacked carefully behind the shop where they will reside until such time as they are needed.  Moving all of this wood and marking out the bed layout was more than enough for one day’s work – particularly after I had done a double dig the prior day.  I have to say though, that my daughter did the vast majority of the wood moving and she was definitely sore and tired today as a result.  I was very thankful for her assistance and proud of her for volunteering and then sticking with it until the job was finished.

Today, I got going on the new bed construction process.  I had the day off since it was Presidents Day and wanted to make good use of the three-day weekend to make a big dent on the garden expansion project.   I was moving pretty darn slow because I am very stiff and sore from the two back-to-back days of heavy lifting work.   Got underway around 11 am and wrapped  up at about 3:30 pm.   Took about an hour break mid-way to eat some lunch and finish baking the weekly loaf of no knead bread.   I am happy to report  I managed to get one full bed constructed in that time frame.  The new bed measures 4'x24' and is on the top end of the sloping garden area.

The garden expansion project area has a definite slope to it, so the new beds will be terraced. This requires digging and leveling the high side to bring the timbers down to a grade that makes it level with the low side timbers.   There is quite a bit of trenching and grading that must be done to get a bed that is square and level.  I started with one corner and than worked my way down the bed.   My husband helped out by doing all the drilling and fastening work.  He seems to move faster with the drill than I do and he is more precise.   Here are some pictures of the new bed as completed:

The bed has not been double dug yet. There is no way I could do that in the same day as the construction itself! I intend to continue with the bed construction process until they are all completed before coming back and beginning the double dig process in the beds.   You can see in the photos the other timbers laid out in the rough shape of the other beds.  There are two more 4’x24’ beds to create plus a 2’x16’ vertical grow bed.   As a reminder, this is what this site area looked like after we had cut down the large trees but prior to the stump and fern removal.

Quite a difference already and I know it is going to be a great looking and very productive garden area once completed.   For now I am very happy with how this first bed turned out and I am extremely worn out.   It will be good to head back to work tomorrow to give my body some physical rest!

Hope you got to spend some time in the garden this weekend too.