Little Boxes

Flashback to Spring. The raised boxes in the former vegetable garden needed refurbishing. The wood, although cedar planks, was starting to fall apart. The question was do we keep the boxes? Maybe we could level it, seed grass and have our own lawn bowling and lawn games area? Put in a pool? Putting green? Another garden border? Too many options... Craig removed the old wood (all but one box replaced last year), measured and headed off to purchase the lumber.

The new and improved boxes are a little bigger than before still leaving ample room between for walkways. Another decision was what material to use for the walkways. Having always used wood chips, I wanted something different. Maybe crushed stone? Or stone dust? I lost the debate and Craig got on the phone to order the wood chips. The load arrived that afternoon. Don't ask what kind of tree as we have no idea, all we know is it must have been taken down that day and the what got dumped in the driveway was steaming hot by evening. It was still green! Five hundred and fifty wheelbarrow loads later...

Dexter helped too.

So with new wood for the boxes and a ten inch layer of wood chips in between them, the soil amended with compost and peat moss, we started another growing season. The boxes are sturdy again and there hasn't been a single weed make it through the chips although we had random seedlings that sprouted from fallen bird seed.

Raised boxes are easy to maintain and add another element to the gardens. We've had many compliments on them. It's like adding a signature to the yard and garden.

This year the boxes were home to zinnias, glads, rudbekia, dahlias, purple coneflowers, lavender and cosmos. There is also an area for 'holding' plants.

Skip ahead to the future... these boxes will be home to my cutting beds. That's right... Craig doesn't want to grow veggies anymore so I will have flowers to cut and arrange. Hope there is enough space for them! Maybe our next house will include acreage! I can post whatever I want... Craig doesn't read my blog.