Hhmmm. . . I think there’s a definite theme running here. Notice how many of the blog posts talk about re-doing things? Yep, lots and lots of mistakes lead to lots and lots of changes and do-overs.
You remember the post a few months ago about the children’s riddle “This is the House that Jack Built?” It goes something like, “this is the dog that worried the cat, this is the cat that chased the rat, this is the rat that ate the malt . . .” Well, this is another one of those domino projects that all started from a simple lack of compost to make a strawberry bed wide enough. Seriously? Yep, for real.
If I could just talk someone into giving me a million dollars so I have enough money to do things the right way the first time around that would be great! Of course, that would also mean that this blog would be over and out as of now. The thing about this blog is – most folks are just like us – not a lot of funds, a huge desire to live off the land and rather limited experience. So, on the bright side, every time we re-do and sometimes “re-re-do,” we’re giving hope to everyone else out there who’s trying to change their lives without a rich uncle to hand over a cool million.
So back to the strawberry bed and all the following changes. What started out as a simple plan to have a strawberry bed next to the rock wall out the back door and terraced beds going up the slope from the strawberries to the main netted garden bed at the top turned into something else. The “something” was a project reworked several times. First, there wasn’t enough compost so it ended up being a too narrow strawberry bed. Then, the three terraced beds above the strawberries were going to be made from young trees we had cut down when we first moved here a year ago. I loved the concept of re-purposing the tree trunks as well not having to shell out a bunch of money for lumber.
You probably remember all this from a previous post where I was in the process of moving those tree terraces a bit further up the hill to make room for the strawberries. But guess what? Uneven tree trunks tend not to stay in place, no matter how much Rebar you use to hold them up.
Okay, so nix the logs. Hey, they can be used as firewood so it’s still all good . . . except for certain new expenses! Like lots and lots of lumber. And the fact that this will be the THIRD time the danged beds will have been built, torn down, moved, built, torn down and moved and then built – oh yes indeedy! – one more time. Third time’s the charm???
Here’s the new terrace bed at the top end of the slope. As soon as the Innocent Bystander has time, we’ll start constructing the second terrace just below the new one. And not a moment too soon — I nearly impaled myself on the rebar a few days ago! The IB put some little plastic tips on the rebar but I kept knocking them off and then followed that up with tripping and falling toward the spike of rebar sticking up. Yikes!
The back of the second terrace will be made from 1″ x 12″ x two pieces of 10′ board. The finished bed will be 32″ wide and 20 feet long but the best part is that the 12″ tall back will allow me to dump enough wood chips between the two terraces to level the space so no more close calls with rebar! A simple inch or two of wood chips on the high side and ten inches of wood chips on the lower side will give me a nice even pathway. Hope I have enough wood chips!
After we complete the second bed, I may squeeze another narrow terrace in below the middle one. We’ll have to see how much room there is once we allow the strawberry bed to double in width. I know, I know, not allowing enough space for the strawberries is what started this whole mess! Maybe we’ll just leave it as is — we certainly don’t want to do this over a fourth time!
