Raising A Garden

For the last two years I have been growing a square foot garden. Not a raised bed, however. What I did was double dug a plot two feet deep into my lawn. Well, at least from a distance it could pass for grass. The soil was compacted clay. So what I ended up with was a two foot deep basin which retained water. 

In May of the first year it rained. Lots of rain fell. Rain filled the double dug plot, drowning most of my plants. I replaced the drown plants. The remainder of the growing season I didn't get any other drowning rainfalls. The garden was fairly successful.

Last year I wanted to build a raised bed frame but couldn't justify the expense of the wood. So on my patio, I mixed forty pounds of sand and all the shredded leaves I gathered from the front yard the autumn before with one foot of soil I dug out of the plot. I then filled the plot with the mixture and mounded the rest on top.  The plants were above the surrounding lawn, up out of any retained rain water. No plants drown and the garden yield was better.

This year I was able to fit the expense for wood into my budget by spending less on beer and whiskey, eating away from home less and making due with my current wardrobe. Such a sobering sacrifice for two 2"x12"x16'*, one 2"x12"x12'** and one 2"x4"x8'*** boards, a box of exterior screws and some landscaping cloth.

I can't wait to finish constructing the frames and raise my garden beds even higher.

*50mm x 30cm x 4.87m
**50mm x 30cm x 3.65m
***50mm x 200mm x 2.43m

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