{raised garden, pt2}

Onto day 2!
I was already sore, but so excited because I have been waiting so long for a real garden.
{not that pots in your apartment aren't a garden, but still.}
 
Now the hard part is making the garden even. I've got my level, but I was never able to get the garden completely flat. I needed to have the lower section {to the left in the picture below} of the garden below the grass level, in case all of the rain and dirt started to push the garden down hill.

But I also needed the top part of the garden to stay above the grass level, so that I didn't have all of the grass and dirt spilling into my garden after a hard rain. Also to prevent slipping, I decided to just create a trench to slide the board into, so that there was compact dirt on each side.

I hope that made sense. If not, just tell me. So, this is what it ended up looking like. It's fairly flat, except maybe a quarter inch off. Good enough!

Instead of using a weed liner, I chose to use cardboard. You can use newspaper too! It sounds like cardboard will last long enough to kill any grass, and then decompose. Also, the worms love it. I found plenty of worms, and definitely kept them in the garden!

Then spread your new dirt around. We purchased way too much dirt, but each bag was about $5.50, and since I lowered the boards into a trench, I didn't need dirt to fill 5x6 exactly. I used about 4 bags, and I am sure I will use another one or two as the dirt settles. Another $22-33.

Coco was a very helpful garden puppy. She was a little too interested though. If you tell her 'no' and are very clear about what she is not supposed to do, she will be good. We had the pots in her way on the deck for a long time, and she left them alone. I expect she will do the same with the garden. Only time will tell!


We spent 42-53 on the garden, not including the plants. To re-pot all of my existing plants, it would easily have cost that much to buy cheap big buckets.

More later-I'm off to play in the dirt!!