Re-Purposed Garden Phase 2

Well, we have just finished the second phase of our re-purposed garden.  We were able to get two raised beds from a very unique find.  My parents own an interiors shop (carpet, window coverings, etc).  They had a client who ordered custom made carpet - very pricey.  Carpet normally comes any length but almost always in 12' widths.  Because this was a custom made piece, it came 24' wide.  The company who made it had to package in in a wooden crate.  That crate has been sitting out at the dumpster at my mom's store.  Geoffrey and I decided it would be a perfect addition to our re-purposed garden.  So, yesterday we went to the shop and Geoffrey was able to cut it down to two 10' boxes. We took them home and this morning, we got to work turning them into a garden. 

Geoffrey, hard at work.

We had to reinforce the ends and replaced the bottom pieces of wood with chicken wire.  In between these two long, narrow beds, we also built a lower bed that measures 3' x 10'.  The wood used for this bed was almost all found about to be put into the trash. This bed also has chicken wire all along the bottom.  Because we wanted all three beds to be the same length, we did have to purchase one 2" x 10" board for one side. All in all we spent about $15.00 on materials for this garden. The chicken wire was found in my mom's garage and she let us have it in exchange for part of the harvest : )

Next came the hard work - filling all of the beds up with dirt. Shoveling dirt is never something I enjoy.  Filling three pretty good size beds was a bit exhausting.  I freely admit I hate manual labor.  

Here we were almost done - where is my beer?

For dirt, we used what we had around the property.  Some family members have their cows grazing out here so we were able to get some pretty fertile soil.  We had done the same thing for the dresser beds.  The bed closest to the fence was easy since we drove the tractor right up to the fence and dumped.  All the others needed to be done with a shovel and wheel barrow.    Once they were filled, planting began.  Here is a look at the end product:

Please ignore my sweatshirt on the fence

So what went into these beds?  Here's a list:

• cucumbers
• squash
• zucchini
• lettuce (mesclun - cross your fingers, it may get too hot for lettuce)
• peas
• strawberries
• melon
• potatoes
• pumpkins
• dill
• basil
• marigolds

We put the lettuce where it will get a lot of shade so hopefully it will grow.  We just love fresh lettuce so we'll think positively.  I also planted oregano in a pot so it won't run wild in the garden.  This garden was a lot of work so I am looking forward to eating well this summer!

Tomatillo blossom!