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« Greengirl: First-time gardener and jade plant killer
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Greengirl: Splendor in the grass

Posted on June 3rd, 2005 – 1:15 PM
By Jaime Chismar

In the dark and the drizzle, we pace the backyard with a rubber mallet, ball of twine and wooden stakes in our hands.

“Here? Should we do it here?”

“No, no, no! Go to the top of the hill!”

If we were on TV, Brian and I could be disorganized vampire hunters saving suburbia from a terrible evil. But here in St. Louis Park, we’re just disorganized gardeners staking out a location for our new raised beds.

“So I was thinking something like 3 feet by 3 feet,” Brian shuffles his feet through the grass, outlining a soggy, crooked square. “Is this big enough?”

“Only 3 feet by 3 feet? Where will I plant the corn?”

“Corn? Corn? You never said anything about corn.” He frowns, “I don’t want hungry crows attacking the cats. Can’t you plant a row along the retaining wall?”

I take a deep inhale and restrain myself from a smarty-pants retort about the pollination needs of corn. Obviously, he hadn’t read up on vegetable cultivation as I had.

While seasoned gardeners searched our cold, gray May for sunshine, I searched gardening books for the perfect garden bed. The arguments for raised beds were quite compelling. Under ideal conditions, they produce up two times the harvest of conventional garden plots. Plus their height offered greater protection from unwanted vermin. Though building techniques from one book often contradicted another, many Greengirl readers confirmed two things crucial to successful raised beds – good, healthy soil and chemical-free lumber.

It was time trip to Home depot and Mother Earth Gardens.

Four hundred dollars later, Brian and I had bought 72 feet of untreated cedar 2×6s and almost a ton – literally 2,000 pounds – of topsoil, composted manure and straw. I bribed my best friend Nikie with Thai food and PhotoShop lessons to help us haul our supplies. Lugging 40-pound bags of dirt uphill, the back yard suddenly felt like boot camp.

“Why do I let you talk me into these things?” Nikie laughed. “You better teach me how to sepia tone photos for this.”

Despite his initial apprehension, Brian could no longer hide his enthusiasm for our little project. I came home late one night and found him standing in the kitchen holding a flashlight. He smiled mischievously.

“Hey, I gotta show you something.”

From Brian’s odd behavior, I began to suspect a domestic disaster. Were bats were nesting in the attic? Was one of the cats trapped in the laundry chute?

Instead, he led me through the back yard and shined the flashlight at our garden site. My eyes widened. Then I felt my stomach fall into my knees.

While I was out drinking with the girls, Brian had assembled the frames for our raised beds. They were perfect.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 3rd, 2005 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

19 Responses to "Greengirl: Splendor in the grass"

Nikie says:

June 3rd, 2005 at 1:25 pm

Hey, look! That’s me!

Congrats on the new beds. Can’t wait to come over and admire them. Also, after consulting my master-gardening mom, I’ve learned that you have to plant your veggies two feet away from untreated lumber. Good thing y’all went with the untreated!

Nikie says:

June 3rd, 2005 at 1:26 pm

Oops! I meant “two feet away from treated lumber”…

Jody says:

June 3rd, 2005 at 2:17 pm

Hi Greengirl (and neighbor!) Thank you again for the assortment of herbs you planted for us - what a treat! Unfortunately, besides the herbs and a recent trek to Ikea for planters, my dream of having a wonderfully bountiful veggie garden is fading fast…much due to Ian, the puppy. However, I’m paying close attention and will keep reading your column, so that come next spring, I just might be ready to have a garden of my own!

Mark Sides says:

June 3rd, 2005 at 2:47 pm

Congrats on getting the beds in. Now, water is the key. Water every other day if you don’t get the rain.

Also, when are you going to get your own url?

Greengirl says:
Hey Mark, the direct link is http://www.startribune.com/greengirl. If my veggies can survive squirrels, bunnies, burrowing insects and possibly small fires this year, I may continue this little experiement next year. Greengirl.com is already taken.

Jamie says:

June 3rd, 2005 at 4:17 pm

Hi Greengirl! I’m also a new gardener in south Mpls, and just getting started on filling in my elevated beds. I have just learned that my most annoying pests are squirrels. So a little cayanne pepper on the soil keeps them away, but you have to sprinkle after every rain.

Good luck with your garden!

patg says:

June 4th, 2005 at 5:37 am

You also might want to look at the Toro drip line for watering. Around $50 depending on how much line is needed.
I put it in a couple of years ago.
It’s a 1/2″ line that goes on top of the grass. No digging!
Home Depot has it.
Plant onions and garlic to keep the squirrels away.
On and another thing, cut the flowers off those chives or they will spread like wildfire. I cut mine right back to the soil line every few weeks.
Well it’s 5:30am and I’ve got tomatoes to plant.
Good Luck!
patg

Greengirl says:
Thanks for the tips on chives! I told people that I wanted to plant some this year. They just laughed and shook their heads. Now, I know why.

Drew Osborne says:

June 4th, 2005 at 8:41 am

Hello again Greengirl..
Sounds like the beds are in order.
There are alot of good tips in the entries…
I don’t know how big you made your raised beds, but you can always extend your growing spaces by going vertical as mentioned in one of the entries with cucumbers. Muskmelon, watermelon, squash, pumpkins all do well growing up…there is less chance of produce rotting on the ground. I’ve read that the stems to the muskmelon, etc, will actually grow thicker and stronger knowing it has to support itself. You can help them by using old nylons, or other types of netting. Just slip them around the melon or squash, and tie them to the verticle frame they are climbing up.
When planting transplants, it’s best to do so on a cloudy day, or in the evening. There is alot less chance of the plant being stressed out, especially if it is a hot, sunny day. Make sure your transplants have been hardened off, that will also reduce the shock to the newly transplanted veggies.
Mulch is good for a garden, but it depends on what plants you plan to mulch around. If you mulch before the soil has had time to warm up, the tomatoes and peppers won’t like it. They need warm soil, and the mulch will keep the soil cool, stunting the plants. It’s good to mulch plants like broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage, early before the soil warms too much, as they prefer the cooler soil temps. Onions do well when mulched as the weeds tend to compete for the nutrients in the soil. Carrots should be planted very shallow. I, then, cover the seeds with a thin layer of potting soil as it is alot lighter for the delicate carrot seedlings to get through. On top of the potting soil, I cover it with a light layer of grass clipping (non-fertilized grass of course) and then water. This will prevent the seeds from getting washed away when watering, but it will also keep the soil moist until they germinate. Carrots are very slow to germinate, and need to be checked at least daily to make sure the soil is staying moist. Carrots can take 10 to 14 days to germinate at times.
Well, guess that’s all for now.

Al says:

June 4th, 2005 at 12:15 pm

Hi GG,

Thanks for the link. The sentiment is now mutual.:-)

Raised beds can be anything. My backyard http://tinyurl.com/8lgbx has four leaf piles that are about to be planted.

We’ll see how it goes.

Al

Folkgirl says:

June 5th, 2005 at 10:35 pm

This is sounding more like a love story :)
I think our planting is a week ahead of this blog - Drew has some pointers above that we could have used. Oh, well - come on little carrots!!!

We (The Husband and I) bought a house 3 springs ago. A baby, kitten and puppy later, this is the first year we have actually tried hard on our garden. It was the husbands priority that first spring, but neither of us had the energy to try. The cucumbers were bitter due to lack of water (who knew you had to water the darn thing?!) but we did get some tomatoes out of it.

So this year it’s beautiful: a nice fence, mulch around the plants, marked rows of seeds getting ready to pop through the soil. Except for the freaking mole that has destroyed 2 tomato plants, 2 hot pepper plants, has begun to destroy the basil and has a run making a beeline for the cucumber plant!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone got any ideas? We have a trap set that he or she seems to avoid without problems, we can’t use poison due to the dog and we’ve sprayed with the castor oil repellant. The little creep keeps coming!

Greengirl says:
I did a quick search on organic gardening and mole control. Perhaps you could plant something smelly to keep it out of your garden? If you are into traps, the Moleman may have some useful tips for you.

Paisley says:

June 5th, 2005 at 10:45 pm

You could try going to a garden/farm store and getting a ‘whirligig’ for your garden. Kinda like a pin-wheel made with wood. The spinning of the propellers sets up vibrations that scare the moles away. Supposedly. Good luck!

Heather G says:

June 6th, 2005 at 8:26 am

Hey Greengirl!
We’re also gardening for the first time ever in our “new” home (we’ve been there a year now), it’s a lot harder than I remember it being in my childhood! Good luck on the raised garden! I hope it brings you much bounty and joy this fall! One thing I learned last year starting with just a few herb plants is that basil will grow to be gigantic! And little herbs like rosemary and thyme don’t really get very big, but at least a little bit goes a long way.

Andrew James Riemer says:

June 6th, 2005 at 12:04 pm

You know yourselves better than I, but be cautious about overextending during your first year. Planting will seem like a minor chore once you get into regular weeding, watering, and insect control.

A tip for protecting cabbages from insects:
We lost 95% of our first-year cabbages to the ravenous progeny of some beautiful white butterflies (I don’t know the scientific name). This happened even after spending countless hours picking the little munchers off the cabbages, and after spraying the plants with a mild soap solutions on what felt like a daily basis. I was quite annoyed, as I had plans for much cole slaw over the summer, so I researched some ways to keep the nasty little munchers off my cabbages. Create a small frame around your cabbage bed or row and enclose it with cheesecloth. The cheesecloth will keep the butterflies out without impeding air or water penetration. Sunlight will be mildly filtered by the cloth, but it will not impede the growth of the cabbages. This works well for the cabbages, and it may work for some other veggies as well.

Greengirl says:
This is a great tip! I am sorry so many cabbages were sacrificed in this quest for knowledge. If you are growing cabbages this year, could you send me a snapshot of your frames?

Kay says:

June 6th, 2005 at 4:49 pm

Looks great! Have fun planting :)

Andrew James Riemer says:

June 7th, 2005 at 11:40 am

This has not been a good year for my garden. I just got our tomatoes in last week. I’ll talk to my better half…if we plant cabbages, I’ll send the snapshot to you.

AJR

Sally says:

June 7th, 2005 at 12:40 pm

3 feet by 3 feet is just right for us short-arm people. you can always make more beds if you want to plant more. we made the mistake of making ours about six feet square, and now I can’t reach the middle! I hate when that happens!

Greengirl says:
I am so glad you mentioned this, Sally! We almost made our beds 6 feet by 8 feet before a coworker talked some sense into me. For us long armed people, 4 feet x 8 feet is perfect.

Karen SF says:

June 8th, 2005 at 10:52 am

looks great! and in answer to the question on soaker hoses, I don’t bury them, I “staple” them. in the same section of the store you found the soaker hose in, look for some U shaped metal anchors. they will keep the hose where you want it, if you bury it, you run the risk of it clogging up (and cutting it with the weeder!) If you are mulching, you can put mulch on top of the hose without any problem just remember where it is (destruction by hoe!)

Oh yeah, I agree about the stirrup hoe. great toy… I mean tool, really I do.

Green Girl's Mummy says:

June 10th, 2005 at 9:56 pm

Hello Green Daughter,

Did I tell you on Memorial Day I planted 6 different herbs in pots on the deck and bought an already containerized tomatoe plant that has close to 8 tiny tomatoes growing? It looks very promising as everything is still alive and thriving. Well, almost everything except the chives which Opal continues to chew down to the roots. (You remember Opal, she’s the cat, YOUR CAT which you refused to take with you when you left home.) I don’t know why you needed to get another cat when there was a purrfectly good cat to take with you. Sorry, I digress. Anyway, after chomping all the chives she then of course coughs them up (in the house) and has onion breath for the next day.

I also planted a few flowers in the pots in the ground in the front of the house. WARNING: Do not sit in the grass and plant unless you have very thick pants on because spiders, ticks, scorpions, etc. can chew through knit shorts. I developed a very nasty set of bites which made it difficult to sit down and required a trip to the doctor for antibiotics. Beware of the flesh-eating bugs in garden!

Loved the pics - only time I get to see you!

xxoo

Mummy

Georgia Totten says:

June 12th, 2005 at 2:29 pm

Hey Green Girl,

Next time you do raised beds, save yourself some labor and expense. Two years ago I read an article in Organic Gardening Magazine that really paid off. It suggested the following for creating new reaised beds: Build your walls, then put down a good layer of newsprint (about five pages thick) over the exisitng sod. This will keep the sod from further development (it will kill it, actually) and will eventually break down to allow roots to work right through it. Fill the plot with a good mixture of garden soil and plant.

I’ve been working it these last two seasons with outstanding yields.

Great column!

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