More on raised beds

I fibbed just a bit in my last post when I said that I had made two raised beds. It's more correct to say that I've only just today finished them. More pics:

The slats are there largely to keep a top layer of weed cloth in place. No sense in letting anything germinate in these nice new, fertile beds before we're ready. Plus it keeps the fill from blowing away (it's a very windy day here today). The slats also establish our square foot grid once we transplant seedlings. They just have the ends tucked under the top plate - they aren't fastened in place.

Our two beds are tucked into the sunniest corner of the yard, between the raspberry beds.

When my folks were in town a few weeks ago, my dad and I put the trellis in. We rented a power auger to dig the post holes down four feet, but it turns out that the dirt a foot or two down becomes very loose. As soon as we'd pull the auger up the hole would half fill back in. My dad ended up getting a post hole digger to lift out the rest. The posts go down about four feet to be below frost line. For aesthetics, we knocked the corners with my table saw. I've got eye hooks in the posts for putting supporting lines across. But as the tallest cane is currently about 6" tall, I figure I've got some time still.

When the raspberries arrived last fall, they were basically a bundle of twigs with some spindly roots packed in ice. I carefully planted each stunted cane, then watched them stand forlorn in the beds all winter. More than one were snapped off by an errant dog or toddler, as recently as a two weeks ago, I feared that there were no signs of life. Then I learned that the plants will send up new canes from the roots, rather than bug from the existing cane. It appears that all of them have survived and are putting up new green.

Manly Tools

I love the power! It feels so good.

While my folks were in town this past weekend, my Dad labored hard to prepare a garden bed for a batch of raspberry bushes my folks have given us as a housewarming present. With advice from my semi-professional landscaper cousin, we picked up lumber, hardware, and fill and set to work.

My Dad, bless 'im, spent most of Saturday afternoon in occasional drizzle digging up a patch of earth and trenching the base timbers into place. These were to be spiked into place using 3/4" diameter x 4' length of reebar, and we'd picked up a massive drill bit to match. The only problem, we discovered, is that my modest cordless drill only has a 3/8" chuck, while the bit required a 1/2". It's just as well, my drill wouldn't have been able to supply the necessary torque for the job in any case.

The solution? Craigslist. In about five minutes' searching, I found a guy just down the road who was offering a slightly beaten up corded power drill with the requisite 1/2" chuck, for a whopping $20. He even threw in a mud mixer attachment for the drill and a handful of large lag screws.

So now we could drill through the 4"x6" pressure treated lumber, but how to get these large bits of steel through them? How about a nice new 4.5-lb blacksmith hammer? About 40 or 50 whacks per bar really made the forearms stiff. A bigger and heavier sledgehammer would have been more efficient, but stood a fair chance of breaking some bones.

Those lag bolts the drill seller gave us came in handy - we used them to tie the timbers to one another. But how to drive the 3/4" hex heads? How about an upgrade to my lightweight socket wrench set? A set of large-diameter deep sockets and a 3/8" ratchet should do the trick.



Yes, it was a fine weekend for spending money on tools.

Unfortunately, the weekend is only so long, so there's still a bit of work to do. For one, the tool rental places in the area are closed on Sunday, so we couldn't rent an auger for digging the post holes for the trellis. There'll be some painting to do, as well, since the appearance of pressure-treated lumber, even after aging, is just atrocious.

Oh, for the love of raspberries!

Berry Baby

It is blueberry season here in New Hampshire, and we have certainly been doing our share to support the local farm economy. In addition to buying fruit at the farmers' market, we've also gone twice to a pick-your-own orchard and berry patch just north of town. They are open until 7 one night a week, and it makes for a pleasant evening outing.

B enjoys hanging out in her Ergo, accepting bitten-in-half blueberries from us every so often.


Here she is signing "more"!


Once we collect a couple of big colanders full of blueberries, we head up to the raspberry patch, which is on its last legs but still producing a bit. The raspberry bushes grow closer together, forming tight rows, so we feel comfortable letting Brynna out to roam.


She then heads off like a shot...


Because there are berries to be snatched!


Yum!


Tonight B spent the whole drive home thrusting her little hand up above her head, over the back of her carseat, demanding one blueberry at a time from our stash in the front seat. She would then chortle maniacally and stuff the berry in her mouth before insisting (loudly!) on another one. It's hard to get her to eat anything else these days—I think she might turn into a giant blueberry soon.