Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Garden Success!

I knew that I wanted raised garden beds, but I wasn't sure how I was going to get them. I'd build them myself, but my current selection of space and tools are lacking. I could build them in the condo, but transporting them to the house could be an issue. And the sawdust in a confined space is never fun.

So, I had resigned myself to finding some nearby (Craigslist has a decent assortment!), or building very basic ones this year and fancying them up next year.

After pulling up half a yard full of blackberries (90 gallons worth - seriously- land ownership is FUN, isn't it? My hands are shredded!) and calling up waste management, we found out that we needed large paper bags to toss out our yard waste. So we ran to Home Depot, picked up some bags, lustfully looked at BBQs, and discovered this in the process:
Simple, cute, relatively cheap. Greene's Cedar 4x4 Raised Bed: $34.97. Requires an electric drill and a screwdriver. I've already got one of those! Awesome!

So we chat with the clerk, tell him about how we just got the keys to our house today and we're looking forward to having a garden for the first time in ages. He picks up a notepad, jots down something quick and hands it to me. "Consider this a housewarming gift."

Score!!

So we load up, pay for our loot (only spent $125 more than we anticipated... hah, whoops..), and proceed to head out. Forgetting in the process that we're driving Jinx, my teeny tiny Mazda2.


Turns out, that little car can fit more than we expected. We were able to fold the seats down and remove the trunk concealer. Plenty of room, even with the lawn gnome.

And thus, I can concern myself with more exciting things than the acquisition of my raised gardens.. like where on earth should I put my chicken coop?

6 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness! You got your house! WOW! Congratulations!!!

    What a great find at Home Depot! I love being equal distance between Lowes and Home Depot, with a well-stocked True Value down the street!

    As for the garden beds, I would have been more than happy to help buid them. That is what I call fun!

    And oooh chickens! Yay!!!!!

    Congrats again!!!

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  2. Thanks, guys!!

    Oh, wow, we are equidistant from both places, huh?? We've been going to the one in Bothell. It's going to take us a while to get used to our future new location!

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  3. The Lowes closest to our houses is on 196th in Lynnwood, which is likely a bit closer than the Home Depot on 205th in the Costco parking lot.

    And I'm serious about the offer to help if needed... Just let me know,

    Rich

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  4. Thanks for the offer! :D

    Which one would you consider the best place to pick up Mel's mix ingredients?

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  5. Ah for Mel's Mix ingredients, I recommend buying in bulk. Though it was 5 years ago, I expect Steuber's Distributing in Snohomish likely still has the best prices on huge bags of vermiculite and full bales of peat moss. I paid like $14 and $12.50 each for them way back when I built my beds.

    For compost, I had 5 yards delivered. You won't need that much at all, but maybe check with them or let your fingers do the walking on Cedar Grove compost. If you're not aware, Cedar Grove takes all our yard waste and composts it, then sells it back to us either in bulk or bags.

    We just dumped it all on a huge tarp and mixed it with shovels and rakes, then wheelbarrowed it to the beds. I still recall it was hard work yet satisfying.

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