I can’t believe it’s been THREE weeks since I built my raised beds. After many rainy days and a 10-day hiatus with my mom visiting from Alaska – we took advantage of it this beautiful weekend to fill ’em with dirt! I had FOUR yards of dirt garden mix delivered from Great Western Supply here in Lacey and it showed up Friday afternoon. We spent the day today wheeling it into the backyard and filling the raised beds and also filling in all the areas in our yard that we want to do planting!
Never been so excited before about dirt.
Let me tell you four yards of dirt is A LOT. I naively put a tarp down for the delivery guy – but as seen by the pictured above – it’s nowhere to be seen! We only used a small portion of it for the raised beds, but we had to fill in a lot of other areas in our yard that needed it. We still have more work to do and if we are able to move tomorrow (I have a feeling we’re going to be sorer than sore) – than we might take on the other areas and get the pile of dirt out of our driveway completely.
I’m feeling a little behind – not having anything actually planted yet and I don’t have any seeds that I’m nursing indoors. But plants are the next step, how exciting! I’m currently reading Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening
I also have these books on my nightstand, which in my “free” time I hope to get through soon:
- Backyard Bounty: The Complete Guide to Year-Round Organic Gardening in the Pacific Northwest
- Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades, 6th Edition: The Complete Guide to Organic Gardening
I’m learning as a I “grow” here – so this is where I’m at right now. I wanted to give you an update – so you could see it’s a step-by-step process setting up your raised beds. Doesn’t have to happen overnight and you certainly don’t have to be a garden expert – I’m not! I’m working on it, though and I’ll let you know as soon as I get some vegetables to plant. 🙂 I think Mother’s Day morning we are going to make a trip down to the Olympia Farmer’s Market and that’s always full of treasures!
Here are a few other resources:
- Great Western Supply – yardage calculator to figure out how much dirt you need.
- And so we grow. . . building raised beds for the first time (about $35 each) – our tutorial for when we built our raised beds.
- WSU – Gardening in Western Washington site – WSU is known for their awesome Master Gardener program and has a lot of online resources.
- One Hundred Dollars a Month – Mavis is working to grow 2,000 pounds of food this year, in suburbia! She also shares her recipes and couponing adventures. Be prepared to salivate and have garden envy.
- Northwest Edible Life – Chickens, kids, recipes, gardens (and more gardens). You’ll love this blog, too.
I’d love to hear your comments about what you’re currently growing, what you’re planning to plant or what your favorite resources might be!
I have learned over the years of gardening in western Washington, to buy plants already established in our short growing season. Tomatoes, cukes, zucchini, peppers, squash, pumpkins I will buy at the farmers market or mclendons. I will plant seeds of peas,beans, carrots, lettuce, radish, corn and spinach. When planting lettuce, radish or spinach that tend to bolt before using all I will plant seeds in a foot to 2 ft section, then when this section is just about ready to harvest I will plant another small section of seeds. This way I continuously have something to harvest and don’t have to wait to harvest or waste because of bolting.
We had 10 yards delivered from Great Western and are down to about 2 yards left in our driveway! We have also built our first raised beds and are growing spinach and corn so far!!
good ole fred meyer has a lot of good sales on plants and starts. You aren’t too late starting earlier than mid may is a crap shoot in the PNW, later May plants just have less issues. Back to Freddies, I am all for organic gardening I just don’t see it necissary to buy organic starts or young plants. What really makes the difference is what you plant them in and then spray or not on them when they are developing fruit. I also love to check out the clearance plants at various stores. You can find great deals on plants they forgot to water. Just trim them up and most will thrive. Have Fun!!!
Next to Great Western Supply, the Barn has a great supply of plants for the garden. They seemed to have good prices if you check out the edibles section. I got 6-packs of lettuce and cauliflower for $1.99. ((And if you have the Living Social Deal they did, even better).
The blueberry bushes and currants I got from them last year are still thriving, so they seem to sell great plants. Well worth the drive down Old 99.