Spring is sneaking up on me, as it usually does, but this year I feel I am staying somewhat ahead of it in my garden preparation. I placed the remaining two garden boxes and filled them with a mixture of topsoil (with the help of our neighbour) and compost (from the dump). I had already placed the first box (the one on the left) in the fall, filled it with compost, and planted garlic. I was very surprised to see the garlic already peaking through. The box also seemed to stand up well to its first winter. I went with rough cut douglas fir with no other treatment, with the expectation of getting 5-7 years of use. The boxes are actually very simple to build and can be assembled in an hour or so. The one in the middle will have a removable greenhouse top made with a PVC frame and 3.5 mil plastic to cover it. The plan is to leave it on until the night temperatures are warm and put it back on in the fall as temperatures drop. Our hope is that we get at least harvest lettuce and other greens through the majority of winter. When the greenhouse top is off in the summer, I will place my tomato stakes in the brackets and use those to support the tomato plants.
| Garden boxes |
| Garlic |