The Vegetable Patch

Having a vegetable garden is a must, so once the weather started to warm up, we began planning. Because the ground is largely clay and rock, we knew it was going to require some work. We chose a location on the north side of the house that is in sun for most of the day and decided to build raised beds that we could fill with compost and top soil.

After settling on a basic design, the real work started! When Dan began digging in the site, we discovered that there were many more rocks and much larger rocks than we had anticipated. It quickly became clear that additional equipment was needed, and so we bought a pick-ax.

Dan smashed the biggest rocks with the pick-ax and dug out enough dirt to set the raised bed into the hillside. He then built a sieve using our garden fencing materials so that we could sift out the smaller rocks and debris. Note the large stack of rocks to the left of the garden. That pile continues to grow and may turn into its own little rock garden.

We were also in need of a permanent compost site. We used re-purposed wood pallets to form the frame of the three-sided compost. If you have the space, this is a cheap and easy way to set up a composting site. Start adding leaves, vegetable waste from cooking, coffee grounds, tea bags and you will have fresh, rich soil in no time.

Once the first raised bed was done, it was time to put the fence up (to keep out pesky animals) and to begin work on the second bed. We had originally planned on only building one bed, but decided it would be more efficient to build them both now - plus we knew we would want the extra growing space!

In this shot, taken just before we started planting seeds, you can see that both raised beds have been installed and top soil, compost, and peat moss have been added to create a rich growing environment. At this point, we also had two compost sites and the fence was nearing completion.

By the end of May, our vegetable patch was complete and seeds had sprouted! We are looking forward to fresh tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, peas, carrots, basil, pumpkin, and peppers!