Feeling Green

haha, for once...I'm actually NOT feeling green!
Today's photos where all taken by Reese. I think her photography talent has surpassed mine.
Step 1: Ok, for those who might be interested...to build a raised garden bed similar to ours, you need the following:

3 2x10x10 pieces of UNtreated lumber. Treated wood (like for fencing, etc) has been known to have asbestos and other carcinogens in it. If your garden box IS built from treated wood (like those cute landscaping timbers) and you plan to eat what you are going to grow, just line the box with plastic or weed barrier or something before you fill it with soil.

Cut one (or flash a pretty smile and have the guys at Lows cut it for you before they load it into your car) of the boards in half so now you have two 2x10x10s and two 2x10x5s.

12 2 inch coated sinkers (nails)

a Hammer. If yo don't own one of these, it's probably because I broke it. Seriously, I broke 3 hammers last summer doing jobs that should have been done with a crowbar. Oops.

I think the assembly is pretty self explanitory. Use the 2 10ft boards as the long sides and nail the 5 ft pieces on the ends to form a box.


Ok, to take care of the grass (cough weeds) currently growing where the box is, you could rotatill the ground, treat it with RoundUp (but then you need to wait about 2 weeks before putting anything in the box...or you'll end up with Round Up in your soil, and it will kill your plants!), put down a layer of commercial weed barrier, or tear it out with Jenny's shovel, like we did with the first raised bed.

This year, we're trying another method we've heard is equally successful, and we're going with it because it's the least expensive and the easiest route and... well, we are both cheap AND lazy.

Step 2: Line the bottom of the bed with newsprint and cover it with a thin layer of soil. Spray with water. Add more soil. Done. The idea is that the newsprint acts as a wimpy (but free) weed barrier, and biodegrades over time as the weeds die. Hopefully it works!
Step 3: buy a larger shirt, because after seeing yourself in photographs, you realize that what you THOUGHT looked cute was a very warped perception and clearly a bad idea.