The VeggieSmith Blog

Today didn’t see a whole lot in terms of garden progress.  There are a lot of other things to be done in a yard in the Spring - including finally anchoring our swingset after living here for 2.5 years.  But who’s counting, right?

One of the “problems” of building a wooden frame, is that it will eventually rot.  Therefore, it is suggested that one protects the wood in the garden boxes.  It is especially important to protect the inside walls of the boxes, as they will be in constant contact with the yummy assortment of vegetable food (and worms, should they grace us with their presence).  Mike was a bit puzzled as to how to protect the wood, as whatever is in the wood can, and will, leach into the “soil” and then into our food.

A couple of weeks back, after much contemplation, Mike arrived at  the perfect solution: shellac!  “After all,” said Mike, “we eat shellac all the time.”

Here’s hoping it gives our veggies a long lasting lustrous sheen.  Mmmmmmm, shellac.

You’ll note that while we’re adding to the flora in out backyard, we also strive to at least entertain the fauna.  This little buggy was so focused on Mike’s progress he took no notice of me nearly knocking him off his post whilst photographing him.

Foreman Bug

The last endeavor of today is laying the weed block/landscaping fabric (should I be alarmed that I nearly always write landscraping initially?).

Mike simply stapled a single layer of weed block to the base of each box, as the weight of the plant food will keep them firmly in place.  Our sons were quite eager to be helpful.  Or at least present…

Apparently I took too many photos today.

Can you feel the love?

And…we’re off.

It does seem counterintuitive, somehow, to rip up happily growing lawn, toss it on a heap and then build a box around the scar on the lawn.  However, unless you are our Guinea Pig, Binky, lawns are not food.  Nonetheless, it does seem odd to me to totally eschew our backyard’s soil in favour of a rather pricey mix of stuff.  But there you have it.

Binky

Square foot gardening is meant to be the garden one can place anywhere.  I’m pretty sure I could plant a square foot garden on the roof of the car my father started to build back in the early 80s.  You just don’t need the dirt under the box.  In fact, we’re putting down weed block stuff to prevent the stuff that would like to grow in our lawn from poking up through and competing with what we would like to grow.

Mike spent many an hour between yesterday and today cutting, hauling, and assembling these boxes.  I helped rip up the aforementioned lawn bits.  If he hadn’t had to make 3 trips to the hardware store (on account of his poor estimating skills…at least when it comes to screws) we would have been done much earlier.  That, and the fact that the car died in a parking lot and I had to go rescue him.  It’s all good.

Tomorrow we’ll install weed block stuff (I’m sure there is a real name for it - landscaping fabric???) and rub our hands together with glee, envisioning the steaming heaps of compost, fluffy piles of peat moss, and dusty mounds of vermiculite.  Munch on that, plants!

ready for fun