First raised bed finished...

first bed 2
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

...and I'm tired as hell. Did all the work myself. Heck, these last three days, I've done all the work myself.

That's OK, because I didn't really want help. Mostly because I was somewhat "winging it" on this...wasn't sure how it was going to go, wasn't sure how I was going to put it together. Was just kind of building as I went along, in a sense, and troubleshooting as I came upon an issue. Not many issues cropped up though.

The construction went as follows...
I got a leftover 50-lb. bag of sand, which I used as a base below the stones and bricks (especially given the unlevel ground situation). I laid the front stones first, then laid the bricks on the left.

I left a few inches between the bed and the garage, mostly because, when I decide to raise up the ground around the beds (once THEY'RE done), I'll want to obviously raise the little strip of ground back there, so water doesn't collect there either.

I then set the stones on the right side. As you can see, I staggered the stones only slightly. That's mostly because I didn't have the patience or tools to cut the blocks. This is sturdy as it is, even if it's not half-staggered or whatever they call it. I also used.

Finally, I got two of the fence pickets from the demolished hot tub wall structure and secured them together, side by side, with three pieces of wood (one longer in order to pound it into the ground. I took two stakes and pounded them into the ground at the ends, for added stability (just in case).

I then got the Sunday Trib and laid about three layers of newspaper directly on the grass (weeds). I wet it down really, really well. I got the big, 3-cubic-foot "bag" of Peat Moss I bought yesterday, and spread that around. Then, I spread three 40-lb. bags of humus/manure. I busted out my trusty Garden Weasel and mixed those two layers together a little bit.

Then I started laying bags of topsoil. 12 bags later, and here we are. I haven't planted anything in this bed yet, mostly because I was probably going to put the taller plants (tomatoes for sure) here. But now I'm not so sure. I have broccoli which does OK in less sun than some of the other veggies (I know this from experience, albeit limited, with growing broccoli in a part shade situation). So we'll see.

Anyway, I'm pretty darned tired...and I still have three more beds to build. Obviously, with rain on the way, this isn't happening tomorrow. But I'm happy to say that, aside from being one hell of a back-breaking three days, I got a decent amount of stuff done and took full advantage of the beautiful weather we had.