Gardening

Over the past few weeks, Kelly and I have discussed how we plan to garden this year with the addition of our new dogs.  We adopted them last July and were able to harvest a good bit before they thought plants were chew toys and produce was for playing keep-away.

Last year, we tried our hand at gardening both at the community gardens and in the back yard.

Several people at work have been talking about building raised garden beds, and Kelly and I agreed this would solve the problem of the puppies and still being able to harvest in the back yard.  I read online including a how-to guide from one of Kelly's favorite bloggers, The Pioneer Woman.  I also read from Organic Gardening their how to build a raised garden bed.

After deciding where and how to build, I purchased (6) 2x10s 8 feet in length.  I cut 2 of the 8 foot pieces in half using a hand saw and then moved the wood to the back yard.

I used both 3 1/2 and 2 1/2 inch screws in no real order to secure the two layers.

The bed measures 8 feet by 4 feet and 20 inches tall.

After the bed was complete, I went to Bricko Farms, a local organic store and got a truckload of garden mix soil.

Prior to planting, I decided to map out where everything would go.  The garden will include red potatoes, bell and jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, and okra.  Most of the plants started as seeds in styrofoam cups and were then transplanted to the garden.

As you can tell, it is jam-packed.  Here's the raised bed with potatoes (covered with dirt to create a mound around each and to protect from our last frost), tomatoes, and jalapenos:

 One of the tomato plants with marigolds surrounding it...supposed to keep the bugs away.

The fencing was added to keep the dogs out.  It took them about 5 minutes to jump into the garden bed, so while we hoped the raised bed would keep away temptation, the fence was necessary after all. 

 Watering the jalapenos

Lastly, we will add the bell and red peppers as well as the okra. Here's hoping for a great garden.