Looking Ahead

Yesterday we woke up to the first hard frost (yes, we've had snow, but not a frost like this). All of the critters' water buckets were frozen. I guess it is time to plug in all the heated buckets. The leaves have finally turned, so the countryside has the look of Autumn, but the weather has moved on to winter....at least at night.

Frost on our young blueberry bushes....

By afternoon, though the high reached into the 50's and I was able to do a little work in the garden.

So here is the big reveal.....next year's vegetable garden will be in elevated beds. Hubbs built me cedar boxes. Each is 2 foot high. There is a row of 6 boxes that are 4' by 4', a row of 6 boxes that are 4' by 8', and a row of 3 boxes that are 4' by 12'. This should give me enough space to plant all of the vegetables except corn. We reserved an area at the top of the garden for rows of corn, sunflowers, and pumpkins.

Having raised beds will make weeding much easier. Between the beds are layers of landscaping fabric and tarps. This area will be covered with untreated oak bark mulch.

Hubbs did his research. Cedar lasts for many years and is not harmful to the environment. Our older boxes were constructed from pressure treated pine and can only be used for non-edibles. Pressure treated lumber can leach small amounts of arsenic into the soil within them. These cedar boxes, however, are perfectly safe.

I am looking forward to a much more manageable garden next summer...not another "Garden of Weedin". Of course I will have to make a new scarecrow for this garden....Minerva Mae Honeycut has seen better days!