Virginia Garden

Well I am starting the gardening process all over again, but this time in Virginia.  And I don't have to spend time helping Heather care for her chickens and turkeys, but I do try to help Pamela, when she needs me, take care of my two grandsons.


Since the soil in Virginia is CLAY, which is as hard as a brick when it is dry, I've decided to make raised garden boxes, similar to what we built in New Zealand.


So off the Home Depot to buy the wood and have it cut.

Here is the wood stacked up by the workshop/studio windows waiting for me to get my act together and build the boxes.

And here is the first finished box, ready to be moved to the garden area.

So after waiting through three days of off and on rain, I finally got into the garden area this morning and was able to level the ground enough to get the boxes into position - just two at this point.  

Two boxes in position on the right and the tomato bed is ready to go on the left, up against the south side of the garage.

The raised boxes are 3' x 6' and 12" deep.  After lining the bottom with mesh to keep weeds out but let water drain through, I dumped in a layer of wood chips to help with drainage, a layer of humus, and then started filling the boxes with top soil.  

Unfortunately it began raining around 3 pm this afternoon and we're supposed to have more rain through the night and all day tomorrow.  I guess more work on the garden will have to wait until next week.