Another Raised Bed Created

For about 2 years I’ve been planning to use the little 3 foot x 20 foot patch of grassy area adjacent to the patio for a flower bed of some sort, but never built up enough wanto to get it done. Since I had a 4 day weekend, I figured I could get this done and more! I might have overestimated my speed again. I choose these skinny edgers from Home Depot. They are 18″ long each. I originally wanted to use the same edgers I used in the front yard, but I reconsidered, since these will take up less room and give me more room for growing food. A drawback is that I had to follow the slope of the land instead of leveling it up with the house. They were easy to put down, since I already had a good base from the patio pave stones.


Digging down about 12″, removing construction debris and unused irrigation sprinkler and pipe as I go. I thought using the tarp would keep mud off the patio, not sure that worked out as good as planned.

A very time-consuming process! Screening all that dirt by hand makes me think of all the monster equipment we help clients put in… that equipment’s output is measured in tons per hour. I’ll be lucky to process 1 ton in 4 days! I also wonder how farmers around here deal with this soil. It is mostly clay, and has a huge number of rocks. How does anything grow in this stuff?

This is what it looked like at 9pm when I quit tonight. I’ve got about 4″ to 6″ of compost lining the bottom, then the screened dirt on top. I’ll mix in some amendments after I get though all the soil screening. I also need to relocate that rose bush.