Garden

It started in February. The looking and poring over the seed catalog. The big tractors bringing dirt in from the fields. The planting of the seedlings, hoping that somehow, that would ensure that the garden would actually get finished this year...

The very expensive perfectly lovely and slightly stinky dirt that has been sitting in my parking spot for two weeks...
and here we are! Three of 9 beds finished! I'm hoping the fence gets finished soon and that we can save the very steep slope for next year... I'm already tired!
Aren't they lovely? The indigenous dirt is RED CLAY, as in, get it wet, and it's practically playdoh that takes forever to drain. Not so great for planting. We had invested lots of time and effort and rototilling into a 20 by 30 foot somewhat flat spot that after about 4 years of soil additions was showing promise. But, when the decision was made to totally revamp the space between Grandma and Grandpa Hulbert's house and ours, it was time for raised beds.

So, I did the math, toddled off to Home Depot, ordered bricks and had dirt delivered and filled Jared's camel back and sent him outside to work. I did help build the walls up quite a bit, but he did all the hard parts like the corners and making sure the bottom layer was level.
They are awesomely high (because of the slope, one side is higher than the other) and Jared has plans for water to each bed and power to put the drip systems on timers, a separate amount for each bed if I want. Isn't he smart? Once all the beds are done, he'll hook the water up and we will spread all of the walkways with rock, so it will be dust free in the summer and you won't sink in the winter. There is a big path down the middle for tractor access, if we ever need to dump more dirt or rock or whatever.
Yesterday I got to plant two beds!!!! In the first went potatoes (I think it's late for potatoes, we'll see how it goes...) and marigolds (above), sage, and nasturtium for bug control.
In the second went peas, the lettuce transplants (and some more seed), sage, cilantro, marigolds, edamame, carrots, radishes, and two kinds of beets. (the milk jugs are to protect them from the deer until the fence gets up. Hopefully the fence will beat the rest of the seedlings!)
I've been meaning to take pictures for days, Max woke up at 6 so I snuck out to get some in the good morning light. These two pictures turned out so beautiful, and it's appropriate because that's how I see my garden. I don't see dirt and trash from all of our work, I see a beautiful place full of plants and fresh produce.
Thank you Jared, for working so hard! It is and will be BEAUTIFUL!!!