All of this warm weather has been bugging me because I feel like I should be out prepping my garden, but I just know that we are going to get a late cold snap that will kill anything I have planted. So instead of getting things ready outside, I'm working on prep projects and other fun things inside.
My lettuce boxes were a miserable failure last year. They grew everything perfectly well, but the design was flawed. The side warped because of the moisture and the ends cracked because I didn't pre-drill for the screws. I also didn't plan the boxes properly to make sure they drained well. I drilled holes, but the ends were constantly dumping water. The other major issue I had was the fact that I never bothered to get the 2x4s hung on my posts so that the boxes could be elevated away from the garden. Basically, I never finished the garden plan.
This season, I'm building new boxes, reclaiming some of the lumber from the old ones and using some new. I plan to line the insides with 4 mil clear plastic to prevent warping and I'm redesigning the rest of the boxes so that there will be no structural failure. I'm also thinking about building 4-two foot boxes instead of 2-four foot ones. I still have to determine which would work better.
This season I also plan to expand from 2-4'x6' raised beds:
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| From Stuff I Made |
to include 2 more 4'x5' raised beds that will lie perpendicular to the existing ones on each end. The 4x4 post in the picture is one of two that serve as the structure to hold up the lettuce boxes.
Wow, this update is already getting long and I have so much more to say. Maybe I'll split it into 2 entries for organizational purposes. See part two for the indoor projects I'm working on currently.
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