Garden Update

It's that time of year again where I realize I'm falling behind on my garden and there's still a forecast for snow. Sheesh. So I looked through my seed packets and marked them with the planned planting dates. I was doing great with everything until I came to the tomatoes and peppers. You'd think I would have learned from last time but it looks like I screwed up. Again. I should have started the damn seeds weeks ago but didn't. So tomorrow I get to shop for a small greenhouse thing to get them started indoors and then I can transplant them to the "normal" garden after we finally make it into spring. And this year, who knows when that will come.

Below are pictures of the newly expanded garden boxes I built. I wish I had the ability to mill my own timber from downed trees but I don't so I just bought the lumber. After a few weeks storage in the shed, I finally got the chance to build them. William helped for a little bit but got bored and went inside. Elizabeth helped with both but still took a few breaks to play on the swing set. I guess swinging a hammer isn't very fun when your old man is swinging it. Although they did seem to be interested when I said a few swear words.

You see, I attached the brackets and the two ends to one of the boxes and then realized I built it wrong. So of course I said "shit" or something like that under my breath. Both kids perked up but I don't think they heard the word itself. Not that it really matters if they did since I'm sure they already know it. I think what caught their attention was my tone of voice. Anyway, I got it fixed and finished the build.

As for the design specs, there were none. I just went to store and bought lumber and brackets. They're 2x6 (I think) treated boards that are 8 feet long. For the middle braces, I just cut one in half. So all told, I used 7 pieces. For the brackets, I just went with some decking brackets and screwed them in with galvanized decking screws. The screws were a little longer than expected but they work. I had ot hammer the pointy ends a bit to make sure nobody cut a finger open. Underneath each corner and in the middle, I put some paving stones. Nothing fancy but enough to let some of the water drain out as needed. I used four square ones and two rectangles for each box. I cleared out the sod and put down the cardboard that was leftover from the treadmill. In between the new boxes and the old one, I left about 4 feet of ground, put down weed fabric, and covered with mulch. We'll see how it does.

The day was pretty nice for a build like this. The next day we got 5 inches of snow. I swear spring is never coming.