Tons of Fun... and Dirt... and Cement... and Work

So the material to build my garden beds arrived today, on a pallet, on a flatbed truck. It's amazing but when you think about 80 cement blocks and 30 bags of topsoil being well over a metric tonne but it is, trust me. If the groaning of the forklift didn't tip me off, unpacking it certainly did.

I decided on cement blocks for a couple reasons. First off they're cheap, cheaper than wood or stone certainly. Secondly they last a lot longer than wood in New England where the weather is freaky and hard on materials. Finally, carpenter ants, my husband is obsessed with them and the tree next door got infested with them and then came down in a storm. Without some fairly toxic treatment wood wasn't going to be ant-proof.

As an added bonus we can plant in the holes. Some of the companion plants we're putting out can be a tad invasive and the holes will keep them contained but close. We almost finished the first bed today, it's the small one we're calling salad central. It's for spinach, lettuce and in the holes a few radishes (if they can go inna pot they can go inna hole) and some herbs. The other beds on the side of the house will be about four times as long.

Tomorrow the frost tolerant stuff starts going into the ground. I'm going to start some of the lettuces but not all and some of the radishes. Since it can, and has, snowed here in mid-may I'm still going to play it pretty safe. On the bright side seeds are cheap.

Don't forget to enter my give away under my April 19th post. Less than a week before I pick someone at random for the drop spindle.