Like I promised- More about our garden! I say ” Mama’s Garden, but this has really been a joint effort in getting setup! Jason for Christmas fixed up the garden area for me!! First we cleaned out all the weeds- boy was that a chore!! There were some weeds taller than us! Then we laid rock (Granite pea gravel from Kennedy’s Yard Material down the street). They did a great job with laying the black material down to protect against unwanted weed growth, there were also a few spots we needed more rock that they filled after we cleaned up the Crepe Myrtles (or should we say Crepe Murders we committed- lesson learned LOL! Wish us luck they grow back the right way) He also bought a glider and a picnic table as part of this amazing gift! I was so excited getting those in there, so many fun things went through my head- picnic lunches, garden tables, sitting in the garden to just enjoy the out doors- can’t wait!-
The Before, NOV 2021 
So. Many. Weeds 
Santa Came! 
Leveling out the ground 
Laying the weed barrier 
Pouring the rock 
Our Supervisor
So now the part where we decided to do the metal raised bed style- We found these amazing raised garden beds from Vego Garden; a company known for their modular metal garden bed systems. Y’all know I love the color green so I went with the Olive beds, but they had a few color choices. Jason surprised me with five of them!! He chose four of the 17″ tall 9 in 1s and one of the 17″ tall round beds- with four beds we built two 6.5×3.5 ft beds (32cu sqft) and two 8x2ft beds (22cu sqft).
They talk about a method of building the raised beds called the Hügelkultur Method. It’s a horticultural technique where a mound constructed from decaying wood debris and other compostable biomass plant materials is later (or immediately) planted as a raised bed; it is suggested the technique helps to improve soil fertility, water retention, and soil warming, thus benefiting plants grown on or near such mounds Pretty neat huh! Can you imagine how much dirt you would need to fill all those beds!? Speaking of dirt- We originally thought 14 2cuft bags would be what we needed, but we only used 9! We bought the dirt we went to Walmart; which wouldn’t have been my first choice, but it was calling for rain and I didn’t want the compost to get rained on and just fall straight to the bottom. With this being our first go round using the Hügelkultur Method I’m not sure what to expect. The compost we bought from a local farm about 15 mins away, we thought we were going to have a buttload left over but it was just the right amount to fill the beds 10% and add some to our compost bin! It wasn’t as smelly as I would have thought knowing it was horse poo, guess that’s what happens when it goes through the composting process. It was a blend of horse manure, pine shavings and whatever else they put in it.
Ready to see what we can grow!
I bought seeds from Botanical Interests, a small family owned business in Colorado. I will start planting them within the next two weeks. I just hope I can keep the kitties out the beds long enough until I can get some lemon balm/ lemon grass, or something else to deter them! Besides the seeds, I have pepper plants, onions, potatoes and rosemary to transfer. Wish me luck!! I’ll update after I plant to let you know how it went.
