I was outside at 6:00 AM, putting the last two beds together. The temperature was in the mid-40s, a departure from the 80- and 90-degree weather of a few days ago. I finished one bed by about 7:00 and realized that my measurements were off and the layout I had planned would not work. I switched the fourth tomato bin with one of the bigger bins with rounded ends. I called Noah around 7:30 and he said that they were almost ready to leave but needed to do some work on the machine they were going to use to move the soil as it hadn’t been run in a couple of years. That gave me a little breathing room. They arrived around 8:00 and I explained the game plan to Noah. They would do any necessary leveling of the beds.
These are the four planted beds. There are also three planted tomatillo beds along the fence, but hidden from view.
They started loading the soil and I continued work on the last bin. As they progressed, it became obvious that I was way off in my calculation of the amount of soil needed. We’ll need another 6 or seven yards at least! They wrapped up around noon and will be back on Memorial Day, weather permitting. That will give me time to rebuild the two wooden beds.
After they left, I headed up to Countryside in Crystal Lake. They had no Mortgage Lifter tomatoes or Mexican Tarragon. I did grab some okra even though I am not ready to plant it. I drove home and grabbed some lunch and then took a nap as I was exhausted. More exhausted than I’ve been in a long time.
I headed over to Goebbert’s around 3:30 and they were out of Mortgage Lifter tomatoes also and the pepper plants were small. There was only one large Jalapeno plant left, and it looked half dead. Then I realized that Monday is probably a terrible day to go to a Nursery as they are cleaned out from the weekend and haven’t re-stocked yet.
I drove home and started planting everything that I could. My stated goal was to have the garden in my May 19th and I think I would call this a win. The essential plants are planted and the rest will only be a week late if we can avoid rain on Memorial Day. Considering the massiveness of this revision, I am happy.
I took a little time from my construction to pick some Bok Choi and red (Due to Goebbert’s labeling error) Green Onions for dinner. These were planted about a month ago. Natalie made a wonderful dinner with this and some carrots, broccoli, pasta, and chicken-pineapple meatballs.
The goal this year was to convert the garden to tall, raised beds to minimize animal damage to the crops. Another advantage will be less bending and easier weed control. This has been a larger project than I originally imagined and began a month ago with the acquisition and planting of six raised planters and the installation of a new watering system.
Now I am constructing and installing steel beds that I purchased on Amazon. Thirteen in total. I will keep two of the new wooden beds that were installed in October of 2019.
May 12. I went out and finished tightening the screws on the bed for the zucchini, and I moved it out into the garden. I ripped out the boards from the south end of the first bed near the fire pit so that I could position the zucchini bed. I went to water the raised planters and the peas and saw that what looked like the spigot had a large leak. I thought that maybe the hose connection might not have been tightened sufficiently. However, upon closer examination, I discovered that the new hose had developed a massive leak. It had hardly been used. I finished watering, turned it off, went into the house, and started a ticket with Amazon. I found three bad reviews with the same problem. They will replace the hose, and I will send the old one back. (That will be interesting as it will be impossible to drain completely.) I hope they all don’t start leaking.
May 14. Went to work on tomato bed. Removing plastic takes at least an hour. Building is an hour or so. I fabbed the pieces at the table then assembled on the lower deck.
May 15. I talked to RT’s son Noah. RT is undergoing treatment for cancer and Noah will be doing the lawncutting and other work. He will be able to come on Monday, the 19th to fill the beds with soil. I called Down-to-Earth landscaping in Barrington and ordered 6 yards of Garden Mix which is 50% compost and 50% topsoil. The bill, with delivery and tax was $326.
May 16. I filled up the yard waste bin with the trimmings from the spruce and the pile over the fire pit, and then took it to the curb. I unpacked the next two bins and knelt down and gave thanks when I realized they were not coated with plastic film. This design also uses wing nuts, which should make assembly easier. A queen yellow-jacket was surveying the area around the deck, but she didn’t sit still long enough for me to dispatch her with spray. I will get her. I continued c building until almost 5:00. I got one bed together and will tighten the screws in the morning.
May 17, The Ryobi impact driver worked well for tightening the screws. However, installing the four braces was a real pain, and that took well over half an hour. I finally got everything tightened and braced and moved the bed to the garden area. I am working on removing the old wooden beds and knocking out a few more pieces. Then I removed the wire fencing from the back half of the second bed and pulled out the posts. That took some effort. I removed a deciduous tree sprouting up in the blackberries. That took me to about 11:30, and I sat on the deck with some iced tea to rest a bit. The soil was delivered to my driveway mid-afternoon. It doesn’t look like as much as I expected. I hope we have enough.
Inside of large, finished container. There are about 170 sets of wing nuts and screws required for each container.
I am now going to take about 15 minutes to see if I can figure out when the original raised beds were installed. They were present in the 1988 film “Catch a Wave” of Kevin and Wendy. That makes them at least 37 years old! Likely I installed them the year after we moved in in 1987. I will say that they are 38 years old. They served me well. I built another bed, so the two 3X8 beds with rounded ends are done.
Here is the classic “before” picture showing the old, raised beds and spring overgrowth of weeds.
I rested a little and then went to work on the 3X8 rectangular beds. There have been the easiest to build so far, even though they are the largest. I got the first one done in less than two hours. I finished around 7:00. and will do the last two tomorrow.
May 18. I was on for streaming mass on Sunday, so I started working early afternoon. I am panicking as I was running out of time since the bins and garden area need to be prepped by tomorrow. I finished ripping out the old raised beds.
The old raised beds are gone along with the fencing and fenceposts.
I tried to add more wood to the five-year old wooden beds, but the blocks had shifted and things didn’t fit well. I will likely need to reconstruct those beds. I’ll build wooden angles to secure the corners and dispense with the grooved cinder blocks. They moved around way too much. I’ll fill those last.
I unpacked the last two raised beds and I pre-fabbed the end pieces. I worked until about 11:00 and was exhausetd.
Last night, I took out the trash to the curb and used the drop cloths I bought to cover the tomatoes and peppers as there were warnings out for chance of a frost.
I was up at 6:30 and slept well. The nighttime temperature never got below 36°, so my covering of the plants was unnecessary, but better safe than sorry. The next week will be warm, so we should be past all frost danger for the year.
I did some research as to why there are sometimes frost warnings when the predicted low temperature is several degrees above freezing. I discovered that the high and low temperatures are measured at four feet above the ground. On cold nights with little wind, the colder air sinks to the ground and can cause frost at that level, even though the temperature at four feet is several degrees higher.
Last Saturday, May 3, I started by drilling the drainage holes in the bottom of my four new containers. Then, I cleaned up the dead plants in the current containers, a bunch of dead leaves, and other rubble. Then, I determined which containers I was going to keep. The four new containers will be for tomatoes and in the back row. The two large black containers I bought last year will be for the Serrano and Jalapeno peppers. The two remaining large blue containers will be for cilantro, and the two green containers from the lower deck will be for Basil. There were five or six extra, smaller containers, and I emptied the soil into the four new containers. Then I hauled the four bags of potting soil into the back yard and dumped each bag into one of the new containers. Then I got out the leaf blower and cleaned up the dirt I spilled, and I was done for the day.
On Monday, May 5, I went to Menard’s and got the two Obelisk tomato cages I needed, as well as a couple more bags of soil and bean seeds.
Today, I went out and planted the plants in the container garden, then a pot of basil and cilantro from seed. I have two other pots that I will plant in 3 to 4 weeks, and I’ll rotate crops between the two sets of pots. I need to get a large pot of basil next time I go to Goebbert’s.
I watered the container garden, cleaned up a bit, and came in for dinner. I made tea and heated up some of the chicken parm and spaghetti. We were able to eat on the back porch for the first time this year. Yay!
Goebbert’s didn’t have the large Jalapeno plants out yet so, I will plant those when they are available.
This week I finished the front yard plantings, putting geraniums into the pot in front of the lilacs. I went to Jewel a couple of days ago and bought another 30 geraniums and 8 Broccoli plants of the variety “Destiny.” The deck plantings are complete. I bought two hanging baskets at Goebbert’s for $39.99 each. Ouch! But they are the purple and white petunias that I love. I also put geraniums in the pot by the cooking deck.
I bought three more Shishito peppers and six Gypsy peppers to complete the raised planters. The arugula and radish seeds are up at least 1/2-inch and it’s been less than a week since planting.
I drilled drainage holes in two of the large pots I bought at Costco and transferred the soil from last year’s hanging baskets and the old deck rail basket into them. Then I emptied the soil into them from the two cherry tomato pots by the deck. That got them only a little over half full – they are enormous. I put the remaining half-bags of potting soil into one and almost a whole bag into the other. I planted two large cherry tomato plants in one and two grape tomato plants into the other and put the decorative cages into the new pots. I topped off the other pots and cleaned up the lower deck.
New containers with Cherry & Grape tomatoes and new water spigot
Today I weeded the enclosed trellised area where I plant peas. It was loaded with Dandelions and thistle. I got peas planted as well as the eight “Destiny” Broccoli plants. That was as far as I got today as the rain was starting.
Broccoli plants & Peas.
Thursday and Friday will be rainy, and then warm and dry for the weekend and into next week. This will be the push to rebuild the wood beds and assemble and install the steel beds. I need to purchase four more of the steel planters. If the weather holds, I can get the bins installed next week and have RT move the compost/topsoil mix in the following weekend.
This weekend, I’ll get the container garden planted and also rebuild the herb garden to prevent soil loss.
I took a risk as the weather ahead looks warm and bought 9 Shishito Peppers at Home Depot yesterday. I planted them today and need to get three more. I’ll need 4 more pepper plants to fill the second center bed. I think I’ll get either Melrose or Gypsy peppers.
Nine Shishito Peppers planted in the center planters.
I also planted Heirloom Arugula (Roquette) in the other half of the planter nearest the cucumbers. The other half of that planter has Pak Choi. In the middle bed, I planted two 2-foot rows of Burpee Cherry Giant Radishes and a single 2-foot row of Burpee Heirloom Crimson Giant radishes. If they won’t grow in the great soil in these planters, I give up.
I turned on the front spigot and tested the new watering system in the front. My life is simpler. There is a cloud of paper wasps surveying the front porch already. Time to break out the WD-40.
Since I was trying to get at least one project completely finished, I decided to go to the Jewel on Palatine Rd. and see if they had seed geraniums. They did and I was ecstatic, and I bought 40 at $1.98 each, which is the same price that they have been for the past couple of years. I managed to get all of the containers in the front yard planted and the porch cleaned. It is now ready for summer nights. Geraniums didn’t go in until mid-May last year and May 7, in 2023.
Today we celebrate Earth Day, and we mourn and honor Pope Francis who died yesterday on Easter Monday. In the book of Genesis God plants a garden in the East and charges the first humans, Adam and Eve, to care for the garden. Caring for this “garden” is not optional and is essential for our continued existence on this planet.
Pope Francis’s second encyclical is named Laudato Si’, and opens in these words:
“LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs”
This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.
The message of Laudato Si’ is simple. In the words of Pope Francis:
A great challenge: stop ruining the garden which God has entrusted to us so that all may enjoy it.
One of my noted problems with the garden the past few years is that I am not very good at watering when needed. This is a problem with my front yard planters, also. The root of the problem is that it is a royal pain. To turn the water on in the front yard, I have to crawl between the porch post and wall and then step down to reach the spigot. The hose is a pain to unreel. For the back garden, I had to drag out the heavy rubber hose into the garden, do my watering and then drag it back to the house. Not a quick process. And my hands would be black from the oxidized rubber coming off the hose.
This year I bought three hose racks with spigots. In the front I’ll install the rack directly opposite the front door at the end of the lilacs. I’ll run a heavy rubber hose to the front spigot. I have a 25-foot light flexible hose on the rack, and I’ll leave the spigot on the house on and turn the water on and off at the rack.
This is the front spigot and rack right of the front porch. The blue hose will be buried under the mulch.
In the back, I’ll have one rack in the garden, and the otherwhere the existing hose rack is. I have a splitter at the outside spigot and have rubber hoses going to each rack. There will be a 50-foot light flexible hose on each rack. Again, as in the front, I’ll leave the house spigot on and control the water at the new racks.
Here is the spigot for the garden. I might move this somewhere else nearby as might make the path too tight for a wheelbarrow. I’ll bury the hose once I have the location set.
