Saturday, January 23, 2010

Movin' On Up - The High Rise Is Complete

For my birthday last year, the man agreed to let me build three more boxes in the other corner yard. They only got built in June, so I didn't get much use out of them, but I had high hopes for them for this year since the location gets a bit more sun than the main corner yard does. I built the boxes rather quickly and honestly thought that the six inches and eight inches I chose for the depth would be fine even though I knew from my first foray into raised beds from Fall of 2008 that it wouldn't be. Still, I chose to save the money on the wood and build them anyway.

Now I'm adding an addition to them and turning them into a high rise to be the depth they should have been all along.

The man, graciously as always, cut all of the boards for me. In the other corner yard, there's two 3x3 and one 8x4 bed that need additions.

I stacked the boxes.

The screws we had were too long, so I went out and got some two inch lengths and went outside to try my hand at screwing in the connecting blocks, myself. I could do it. Why couldn't I do it without help? It's a drill and screws; it practically works by itself.

I'm shamefully not as cool as I thought I was.

My Bert and Ernie arms couldn't hold the drill, press down on the drill and then hold the block in place while making sure not to shift the box on top. I got one side of one box done, practically stripping the screw bit to do so, and if you lean your head to the side, or have a stiff drink before viewing the picture, it doesn't look too bad. OK, so it looks bad. EG, I saw you cringe.

I gracefully conceded defeat, however the dog who witnessed my crushing failure wouldn't agree that graceful was the right word, but I packed it up and came to ask for help. The man's right. I'm "not qualified."

We went out to tackle the job together and I don't know if I feel better or worse. He struggled almost as much as I did. It turns out I couldn't have bought worse screws if I had tried. They had no bite whatsoever. So it wasn't all my shortcoming, but I was responsible in the long run. So, does that make me more or less qualified?

Here are the finished raised-raised beds. Next weekend looks cold, but sunny for both days, so I'm likely going to get the compost then to try to start filling these babies and top off my other beds as well.


The morning comes early. Sweet gardening dreams.

16 comments:

  1. The raised beds look great! I'm building a couple more of them myself this year. Can't have too many I always say!

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  2. You always make me smile...or laugh out loud. I love you! Please don't feel badly about your skill, or lack of, with a screwdriver. I have the wiggly-lops on my raspberry posts that you wouldn't believe! You should try holding an 8' 4"x4" upright with one hand, while screwing the bottom of it into the bed with the other. My son has promised he'll help me straighten them this spring.

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  3. HA! Granny, I had on there, "Granny, I saw you sneer," but I deleted it. I KNOW you're the master and even have your own tools. I want to be you when I grow up.

    Your weather made our news this week. I saw your foray into Mexico post, so I assume you guys are okay. Stay dry.

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  4. Thanks, Villager! I saw you had faved me on Blotanical. Thanks!!

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  5. I'm the last to say a word! My hubby always says "wait 'til I get back, I'll do it"... right. He's deployed so often I get impatient and build stuff that just makes him laugh when he gets home. "Whatevah", I say!

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  6. The added depth should really help with your veggie production. The big task will be filling, that is such a workout!

    Are you renovating? That room looks like my hall. Well kind of, it is drywalled but I have yet to sand or trim or paint or put the new floor in. I had plans of finishing it this winter but it seems ambition is hard to find this time of year :-)

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  7. Dan, I bought a wheel barrow this year to help me fill them. I filled the rest of them by the shovel full last year. This should be a piece of cake.

    No, not renovating. That's our unfinished basement. One day, hopefully, we'll finish it.

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  8. I'd love a couple more raised beds, but it's not in the budget this time around. Maybe next time? I was suprised at how much it costs to buy the lumber, screws, and "filling" for the boxes in the end! A lot more than I'd anticipated...

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  9. Filling will be my major expense. I've got some peat and vermiculite left over and I can get compost by the cubic yard from the local landscape supply, but two cubic yards will still cost me about 80$

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  10. They came out nicely. I'm too impatient to wait for help most times as well. I just built 5 raised beds this fall, but used cinder blocks so that I wouldn't have to mess with the wood and waiting. Filling them is a big job.

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  11. HI! I've heard a lot of people go the cinder block way. Do you paint yours or leave them as is?

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  12. High quality screws with a protective coating will go much easier, and drilling a pilot hole for them will help even more. No cringing here - just wished I could transport myself around the country and help people sometimes. Our deeper beds are gonna do so much better this year!

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  13. You're right, EG. The screws we had for the sides of the boxes went in like butter. They were just too long for the brackets for the addition and I bought sucky ones.

    You're right. The deeper beds are going to be fantastic!!

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  14. I can't wait to see how these beds perform for you this year. I'm considering adding on to my beds as well.

    I have to get a couple cubic yards of loam/compost this year as well. Cost aside, I'm not looking forward to the shoveling! Hopefully "the man" will help you out with that as well!

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  15. Actually, Thomas, whereas I know he'd help if I asked, the shoveling is my gig. It's actually something I can do myself and I actually enjoy the quiet time to myself. I'm horribly sore afterwards, but it's a good, "I accomplished something" sore.

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  16. Next time brace 'em on the inside and no one will see them. You'll enjoy the tall beds.

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