for the veggies

In spite of cold rainy weather and a few snow flurries, we made progress on a few projects at Our Haven. 

Our greenhouse foundations sits, waiting - we just found out our selection is on backorder until the end of May. So, we put our energies into making the raised beds.

Our plan is to start with two 4'x8'x24" beds and get things growing. In June, we'll add four more. 

 It was a bit cold, not to mention wet, so my sailor started a nice warm fire to work by.  We (he) did all the cutting and prep up in the barn out of the weather. 

 He also expanded his wishlist to include a table saw, saw horses, a work bench, and stand for his work light. For now, we make due with what we have - and it works.

 We used 1x8x12 cedar. Hubby cut the 12 foot section into one 4ft section and one 8ft section, each 12 foot piece gave us half the course of the box.  After everything was cut, we were ready to begin assembly. 

 Here is one of the long sides. We plan to sink the box a foot into the ground for stability and to prevent torquing from frost heaves. These puppies aren't going anywhere. 
 

Just when the sides were assembled, the sun came out! It was perfect.  I knew about where I wanted them, but not quite. I wasn't sure of how the size would impact the layout of the ground space, and considering that a crookedly hanging picture bugs me from two rooms away, I needed to stake them out and get a feel for the visual impact they would create in the space. 

Of course about 10 minutes after this picture was taken, the skies opened up and we had to call it for the day. Hubby staked the sides in place so we could finish up in later. 

Milder rain today allowed us to finish putting together the first veg box. Originally I thought three courses (24 inches) would be enough. After we got the wholes dug, and the sides sunk in, I realized that working from standing at that height wouldn't be the best angle for our backs since none of us are shorter than 5'10. We decided to add a fourth course to make it a bit taller. 

Once the box was set, we added galvanized chicken wire to keep rodents from being able to burrow up and then loaded about 6 inches of gravel for drainage. Now all that's left is to fill with my garden soil recipe and plant. Woohoo!