Raised Beds, Square Feet

I made a raised bed planter this year. Trying some square foot gardening.  Some of the plants I want will take multiple square feet.  I decided that was ok since I could put a lot of the smaller things, in containers.  Plans are below.

Images courtesy of www.groveg.com's Garden Planning software's free trial

The Misadventures Begin Again

It is time for the annual State of the Garden address:

My plan(t)s for the coming year:

I cleared out an area about 3ft x 6ft to try to make a raised bed.  I plan on having a Roma tomato, a zucchini, a melon of some sort, and some eggplant.  I'd like to have red bell peppers, but I fear those must be confined to a pot to prevent the deer from preying upon them.

In the container states

I will have suhyo again.  It's the only one that consistently does well for me.
I already have 3 heads of lettuce and 2 stalks of arugula going well.
I will try my teapot again.  This year I will learn to properly harvest my herbs.
The lavender may bounce back but it will need some help.
I will do genovese and purple basil again.
I really want red and green shiso.  Does anyone know a reliable seed seller that has them?
I would like to grow bunching onions, but they never sprout for me.
I need deep buckets in which to grow daikon and kuroda carrots.
I fear many of my containers are, in fact, too small and I'm not sure I have space for bigger ones.
I have run out of thyme.  I will endeavor to make more thyme. 

Thank you for your support.

What I Have Learned from Making My Bookshelves

Wood is uncompromising.

It is a reflection of how much time and care you choose to put into the work.

If you choose to take shortcuts, they will be clearly visible in the finished piece.

Every step takes the amount of time its going to take, and if you try to rush, it just leads to mistakes.

Mistakes are not easy to fix.  Often the only thing you can do is to go back and start from the beginning.

At a certain point you have to decide it's "good enough" and accept what you've done, flaws and all.

If you are patient and work carefully and lovingly in the end the entire piece will glow.

Sorry for the hiatus

No Excuses.  But in apology I have pictures!!

Potting Bench part deaux

So the bench is almost finished!  Here are some pics!

Happy Plants!

 

 

Herbs and Veggies and Mystery plants!

Lettuce and Lavender

Spearmint and Bergamont

Rosemary, Thyme, and Spearmint

Paul's Plants!

Reconditioning Old Tools

I spent a good portion of yesterday reconditioning an old miter saw, with my husband's help.

Wait!  What does that have to do with gardening?

Well I don't want to leave all the cutting for the potting bench  to my husband, so I thought I could try doing some of the smaller cuts.  A couple years ago I bought a Millers Falls Langdon 1124 miter box and saw at a yard sale for Tim.  Well, I've appropriated the box. Iit's probably the safest way for me to cut wood, since there are guides and no electricity involved.

The saw was covered in rust, and Tim was kind enough to buff it out.  He showed me how to do it, and I tried, but my angle was not ideal, so he did it for me, and it only took him a few minutes.  Then he buffed in a penetrating wax to help prevent future rust.

The saw handle was also in pretty bad shape.  I spent some time sanding off the first layer of gunk last night.  More sanding will be done today and tomorrow.  I should have taken before pictures, but I'm not that clever.

The miter box itself also needed a good bit of TLC.  I scraped the glue off the surface, and sanded everything lightly.  I also disassembled the guides and cleaned them out.  It's amazing how much gunk there is when sawdust and grease get together.  Then, I waxed all the surfaces I cleaned.  The box really needs to be fully disassembled cleaned and rebuilt, but it's good enough for now.  I found a .pdf of the manual for the box earlier today, so when the potting bench is done, it may get the full treatment, since I have instructions now on how to reassemble it correctly.