Raised Beds: Part 2

    I finally have an update to show you on our raised beds!  If you missed Part 1, you can find that here.

    After building the frames of the beds, Colton added the sides.  We decided to go with horizontal boards, which we stained and sealed. 

    The insides were reinforced with another layer of wood to keep them from bowing under the weight of the dirt once they were filled.  We then put hardware cloth (wire) in the bottom to prevent gophers from digging up into the beds.

    We lined the beds with more of our free, heavy-duty plastic and added logs and branches to the bottom to help take up space, resulting in less dirt we would have to buy.  The logs will decompose over time and enrich the soil.

    Then, just last week:

    We got dirt!  We had actually called to get this dirt several months ago, but our local supplier is a one man band and his dump truck was broken down.  Some time passed and we thought maybe he had forgotten about us, so Colton called again.  He had his truck fixed and then it broke down again!  So still no dirt for several weeks.  Colton called again last week, and finally we were able to get the dirt.  His truck had only been fixed for two days by the time we got it! 

    The boys were so excited to watch the truck dump the load.  Of course, the dirt was like a magnet and they ran to play in it as soon as the truck drove off.  They have been having fun digging, climbing, and playing in it every day.  Thankfully, children are washable, and playing in the bathtub afterwards is just as fun for them.

    I did not get any photos of the process, but Colton used the tractor to scoop the dirt into the beds.  This saved us hours of work and hard labor.  We did have to do some spreading by hand, but the shovel work was minimal.  This was a tremendous blessing.

    This is our progress up to now.  It feels good to finally be making some headway on this project again!  Next we will be mixing in some compost and raised bed soil, but that will be another post for another time...