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[Bentley]

That salsa looks great!  I dont know where my mind was will all the tomatoes and peppers we had!

[Kristin Meredith]

And so it -- I was going to say begins, but the reality is the beginning happened a few photos back with the picture of the level dirt beds.  Bent got rid of vegetation from the old garden, did a rough level, and then brought a lot of dirt  and really got the whole patch leveled out (there were some big dips and pot holes in the old garden masked by grass;  nearly had a turned ankle a couple of times!)

Now the hard work start.  I measured and staked the back line leaving room for a path that is the perfect width for the mower (we tested!).  We have started with the line of cemet blocks which will form the beds -- there will be three beds across separated by a path between them and three beds going up towards the house, again separated by paths.  We will grow grass in the paths and the hope is the blocks keep grass and weeds out of the beds.  We will also fill the raised beds with a much better combo of dirt.  Going to be a long project because I can't keep at it moving blocks all day and it isn't fair for Bentley to do it all.  But at least we have started!

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[Bar-B-Lew]

Now you just need some cows and pigs with that large garden and you may be able to self sustain your own food.

Maybe some chickens and a catfish pond too.

[Kristin Meredith]

we have finished getting the blocks around the 3 big, back beds which will be for watermelon, cantaloupe and winter squash. Our lines aren't perfectly straight but not bad for folks with no cyphering skills! We have alleyways between the beds which will have grass. It will make it pretty but also serves a gardening purpose of helping to improve the bio-soils food web. Our neighbors, Old House Vineyards, is in the middle of harvest and the crush and is giving us the remains from the crush -- the grape skins and seeds and a bit of pulp. It will help amend the soil Bent is transporting literally tons of it. This terrible Virginia clay needs a lot of amending!!! We smell very good this afternoon!

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[Kristin Meredith]

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[yorkdude]

Oh mercy, that’s a WHOLE lot of work. Are you guys not going to travel? Thought you were heading out. It looks fantastic and very big.

[Kristin Meredith]

We are leaving Friday morning.  We hoped to get the 3 big beds done before we left in hopes there might be some rain while we are gone and the dirt will settle.

[pmillen]

Our neighbors, Old House Vineyards, is in the middle of harvest and the crush and is giving us the remains from the crush -- the grape skins and seeds and a bit of pulp. It will help amend the soil

Will the grape seeds sprout in your garden area?

[Kristin Meredith]

We used some a couple of years ago and never had any issue with sptouting.

[dk117]

we've had a few frosty mornings, so yesterday we put the garden to bed (punny).   raised the beds 6 inches and added 5 yards of dirt.  We're already counting down to next spring. 

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[dk117]

just read through the whole thread.  Bent, yes, the 5 yards of dirt amounts to potting soil.  My garden was 5 years old, getting tough (we too have plenty of clay) so I raise the beds and add a 4-1 mix from the local nursery.   From their site:

Equal parts Sand, Compost, Sandy Loam, and Super Compost. 

That will make for easy gardening and weeding for two years minimum.    My mom visited last night and said by the time I'm her age, adding 6 inches to the beds every 5 years I won't have to bend down anymore

Next year I hope to post more of the garden as I was out of town a bit this summer. 

DK

[Kristin Meredith]

Really nice looking set up you have DK.

[Bentley]

Really does look great!  Will be luck if we can get ours to look close to that.

I hope between raising our beds and getting grass between, we can finally get the look we want.  And I hope that the soil in the beds will now be so compost rich that weeding is like pulling up moss.

[Kristin Meredith]

Work has continued on the garden remodel without me.  Bent spent some time in the last week bringing more spent grapes and working them into the soil he brought up from the old cow pond.  Then he went and gathered and moved the rest of the used cinderblock.  He spent some of yesterday and all day this morning building the middle three beds and is now filling them.  I could not help because of the shoulder and he cut corners a little by not running a line.  So the beds were not as straight as they could have been.  I spent a little time trying to correct them, but hard to do with just one arm.  And he was really impatient to start filling them

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[yorkdude]

Looks great either way. Lots of work though.