RAISED BED PROGRESS REPORT

It's been a slow process. At one point I was ready to forget it, given that we have plans this summer that will keep us from the farm for weeks at a time. But Mike said, "Anything we do this summer is all clear profit for next summer even if we don't have a great garden." So we moved along with our project to construct a raised bed for a vegetable garden.

First Mike got some old – really old -- used railroad ties that Ken's neighbor was discarding. Weeks went by -- then we cut them so that we had a bed 8 ½ feet by 3 feet. Next we bought wire fencing to line the bottom, hopefully deterring rodents that would burrow up through the ground. Then we lined the sides with black plastic. It ain't pretty, but in this environment – with the deer, the rodents, the lack of rain – well, it just isn't worth a large cash expenditure, especially when we're experimenting. (Secretly, though, I'm dreaming of some of those pretty snap-together affairs with sides that are also benches and overhead framework.)

Yesterday was the day of hard work. We decided to fill the frame with dirt from an uprooted tree at the back of the grove. Mike moved ten wheelbarrow loads from there to the frame on the south side of the house. I suggested he could stop at nine, but he said his personal goal was for ten and he refused to be deterred. Meanwhile, when the bed was about half full, I lifted the barrel off my compost pile and moved many gallons of my special blend to the bed. Then Mike took the little electric tiller and worked over the top to crush up what dirt clods he could and mix the compost with the dirt. Finally I poured gallons of water over it, raking and smoothing. Overnight we had a welcome heavy rain shower.

So, we had a productive day. Not only did we finish the raised bed but we whittled down the unsightly root ball and prepared the composter for a new batch of "special blend."

Today I planted corn in the raised bed. I thought about it long and hard, researched, and in the end decided that should the corn mature, that would likely happen at a time when we would be available to eat it. It's all one grand experiment – every bit of it. And after all, this place just means corn, doesn't it? KW