We often refer to our house as Ellis Orchard, because of our two prolific fruit trees in the backyard. Now, however, we will have to start refering to it as Ellis Farms. This weekend we built and planted two 8' x 4' raised vegetable beds. (By we, I mean Cliff.) It was a project, but fun to do and the finished product is awesome! So in a few months we will harvest: tomatoes, sugar snap peas, brussel sprouts, yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli, celery, onions, bell peppers, 2 varieties of lettuce, blueberries, strawberries, rasberries, and blackberries.
Of course in order to grow veggies, you need soil. We were surprised to learn how expensive dirt is to have delivered to your house, so being the deal seekers we are, I got on CraigsList and found free dirt. Not only was the dirt free, but the guy was also willing to deliver it to us. Now that is a deal! So, Thursday afternoon, we came home to a very large pile of dirt. Emphasis on VERY!
The next morning we laid out our boards, and then Cliff made the raised beds. Gunner was a huge help as you can only imagine. :)
After the bed frames were constructed, we staked and leveled the beds, and then made them very sturdy by screwing the frame to the stakes. Then we filled the beds with dirt, compost, and finally with the veggies! We can't wait to harvest our crops.
