Garden Beds, Part One

Perhaps it's because of the economy. Perhaps it's because I was raised by a woman whose organic garden was twice the size of her house, and I took it for granted, never learning to garden. Or perhaps it's because this is the first house I have lived in that has a yard large enough to turn into dinner. I must plant a garden.

When we finally decided to grow our own vegetables, we knew it would be challenging. Research would need to be done. Time (and money) spent. Muscles worked. There is a lot that goes into it, which is why I thought I would document it. If we want to do it again, or if others need someone to lay it out there in a to-the-point description, here it is.

We live in Oregon. The soil is rich. It rains all the time. There are more worms here than coffee drinkers. My friend who has some beautiful raised beds told me, "This is Portland. You stick it in the ground and it'll grow." Of course, it's not quite that simple, but we are lucky. It's not the South where you have to water constantly, or the desert where the soil is dry and depleated of nutrients.

We began by building the beds. Western Red Cedar is supposed to be the best because of its weather resistant nature and long lasting ability to hold up. They say around 20+ years. It's also quite expensive. Right now, around $35.00 a board (we wanted 2x8's). We found that Douglas Fir would last for about 10 years and was only around $1.50 a board. That was more like it. You want to make sure you buy untreated wood and screws for outdoor use. We built the beds link-n-log style, for sturdiness, three boards high, with each finished bed measuring about 8x4.

We dug the dirt down about two inches and dropped the beds into the troughs. We were then ready for the soil. We wanted to mix equal parts clean top soil and compost, but the more we researched the proper mixture, most landscapers recommended a four or five part mixture. We eventually went with a landscaping service who delivered 2.5 cubic yards of dirt containing top soil, compost, steer manure, sand and pumice for $160.00. It seems steep until you start looking around and comparing. If we had a truck and could have picked it up ourselves, it would have saved quite a bit. We spent the next several days shoveling from the pile to the beds, dodging the rain, covering the pile with a tarp. It is advised to let the dirt sit in the beds for a couple weeks before planting. I assume this is to give it time to settle in, allow the worms to crawl from your yard into the new beds, and to give the rain time to penetrate.

That is the stage we are in right now. Waiting. And learning about planting times, strategy and fertilizing. I will update this when we proceed.