Raised Bed

I've been trying to get a real garden going for a few years now. I kept trying to start seeds and then never transferred them and then they died of course because they outgrew their little peat pots. Oops.

Because of my lack of gardening skills in the past, I've been hesitant to dig up a hunk of my yard for a garden that potentially may not work. But without dirt, my little seedlings can never grow!  So this year, we're changing it up.

For my wedding gift, I asked Red to build me a raised bed. Just one. We'll see how this one goes and if I succeed, maybe next year I'll add a second. He finished it last week and I'm so excited to get it filled and start planting!

It's 8'x 4'x 12". It needed to be level so instead of jacking it up, we dug it into the ground. The shallowness of that area won't be a problem.
We've got it sitting in an area that gets equal parts shade and sun. It's really the only option, as any other area of the yard gets full on sun or full on shade.

After 18 inches of snow just a few weeks ago, it will be nice to take my first free weekend in months and get some yard work done. When I was a teenager, if I'd been asked if I'd ever be excited about yard work, I'd probably have given you the middle finger or something equally immature. A decade later, I think it's going to be the highlight of my weekend!

I'm starting with easy vegetable plants and flowers. Half and half maybe. Tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, cucumbers, some sort of squash. The Burpee seed packs I picked up had bonus basil seeds in them so we're giving that a try to. For flowers, all I've attempted is Sunflowers.

So far everything has sprouted and they have survived the last few nights outside in their peat pots. I hope to transplant them all this weekend.

The shade is provided by this beauty.

Which bloomed gorgeous pink less than 48 hours after my wedding. (We got married under it) What the hell.

Send me some green thumb vibes will ya?

Emily