Wednesday, May 29, 2013

I'M Back

I feel like this should be the first post of a new Blog!  It's been so long and I have been thinking about all I could have posted about, But the health issues and long working hours (not to mention the weather!) have not allowed me much time to get anything done. Just last week we had a frost warning and I was glad I had not gotten the garden started!
But today Terri helped me to do just that. And my other friend Mike used his big road grader to get the new garden area level and scraped clean.

As you can see, It is a big area and I should be able to place a lot of raised beds here. It will take some time to get it just the way I want it!

First raised bed in place and planted. 10 "Roma" tomatoes plants in the 4 X 8 ft. bed.
And the tires set up for potatoes, Not sure what type they are going to be yet. Still need to see what seed potatoes I can get.

It took Terri and I all one day to just get this done. But we will work on the rest of the beds as time and the JOB allow. As each bed is constructed and set into place, It will be planted. I know it's late, But hope we get something out of all this.

Another project that I was able to get done is this planting box I put together for Terri. I set it up on her deck out back and she has some herbs and flowers planted in this one. I plan to build another one for her. That way all she has to do is walk out the back door and harvest what she wants!

Made from recycled wood and stained "Oxford Brown". It turned out pretty nice!


And this is Marks new shed. He had it built and set up out back of his place. We now have a place to store all the outside tools. And it's better then what we could have built ourselves!
 Cool!
So. There you have it. Some of the projects that have been completed and others that we just started!
I will be 60 years old in a few week and I  wanted to get myself something off my wish list as a Birthday Present. It should be delivered by the end of the week! I will have pictures of when it arrives and that will be my next post.

It feels good to get back to posting again and I will try to keep you updated on what's going on here on the "Homestead" For now, it's back to working on the garden!
Have a great rest of the week!
Tom

5 comments:

  1. Tom,

    Good to see you back, I hope all is okay with your health.

    I love what you and Terry have done with the garden. Did you know, you could just take the peels from potatoes you've peeled for cooking and plant just the eyes upside down in the dirt for your potato seeds? It works, I've done it.

    The wood boxes you made for Terry's porch are beautiful. I bet she enjoys them totally :-)

    The shed is fabulous too!!!

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    1. Hey Sandy,
      I was wondering if anybody was still waiting for this post.
      I used the tractor and scraped the garden area this morning and will get another box built tomorrow. I did get a tire stack planted with 1 sweet potato in and I want to get a couple flowering plants in for color.

      Thanks for the comment.
      Tom

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  2. Hey Tom,

    Sandy wasn't the only one that missed hearing from you guys. I love those planting boxes. When you get a chance can you describe how they are put together?

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  3. Hey, DFW

    Sure, The wood was recycled from a deck that was taken down and I picked it up....Free!
    The boards are 2 X 6 and I cut them 8 ft long for the sides and 4 ft long for the ends. I also cut 1 ft long corner posts that are 2 X 2.
    After I cut them to size, I screw the corner post to the ends with 3" construction screws and attach the sides with 2 4" 5/8 threaded bolts that go through the sides and into the corner posts. The corner posts are 1 ft long so that if I want, I can add another board to make the bed deeper.
    Then I fill the box with a mixture of top soil, potting soil, compost and worm casts! Couldn't be simpler. I hope to have this whole area covered with raised beds some day!
    Hope this helps!
    Tom

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Tom. I'll see if my husband can do something similar. We have some 2x6 boards given to us recently. they had been stored under a shed for who knows how long.

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