“It’s your vision!” Pedro said just now, as we laid the second raised garden bed frame into place. I was grinning like the Cheshire Cat, and actually clapped my dirty gloved hands together in pleasure.
In 2024, I looked unhappily at our rotting raised garden beds and knew they were destined to be replaced eventually. I also tore down the Wisteria Monster that year, which allowed me to see the cool brick pattern it had been obscuring. The bricks are in a circle on one side.
Old plans for the landscaping that we found in the house showed that originally the circle of bricks had been ringed with multiple raised garden beds that fanned around the circle. A sun dial was apparently placed at the center. I began calling it the Sundial Garden.
This part of the back yard is prime garden territory because it is the only place that receives sun all day long. We have these beautiful trees on multiple sides and it casts a lot of shade. Our designated “garden area,” a place I call the Sunflower Garden, or the Greenhouse Garden, is not only adjacent to the west-facing fence, but there are extremely tall trees on the other side of that fence. For the non-cardinally-inclined, that means from about 1pm, the Greenhouse Garden is in shade.
Another project I completed was to remove those round concrete discs you can see in the photo above. The beautiful flagstone pathway stopped abruptly about 8 feet back, and became round stepping stones for some reason. I found leftover flagstones piled on the property, and dug up the concrete and replaced them. It’s much more beautiful now, and consistent.
The very first step is shown above, where I dismantled the bed closest to the fence, the one in the shade, and piled dirt onto a tarpaulin. Jupyter, our cat, supervised. She insisted she would have done a better job, and then asked me to finish and pay more attention to her.
There is a building materials place nearby that re-sells building materials. I gather the lumber is discarded from other sources, so you never know what will be there, or the condition. We found 12×6 boards and found the quantity we needed, and bought them for about 1/2 the cost at Lowe’s. We managed to cram them into the Jeep – eek.
Note: My license plates. I had DRAGNZ in California, because the S was taken. Now in Oregon I have the vanity plates I wanted. Also note: how close we are to the very busy street, and the car you see is waiting at the intersection of another very busy street. Between the two streets, there is chaos out front. That is why you rarely see photos of the front of the house – I don’t like being out there for all the noise and activity and exposure.
My brother Ian asked if we were building coffins. That is hilarious. Also funny is that despite Pedro having grown up in a mortuary (his father owned one and he had to work in the family business from much too early an age), and Pedro never even made the connection. As long as they sat out there, I kept thinking coffins. Also, by coincidence, I am reading Interview With A Vampire right now.
We realized the ground slopes here. Funny what you don’t notice when it’s not important. Since we want to use all that gravel there, I raked and shoveled all the gravel out of the way. Then as you see above, I began pulling the earth down to form the next terrace. For four days, most of my effort has been earth moving. Leveling, raking, watering, shoveling. Over and over till it looks good. We set the first bed as you see above, then I had to do it again.
Now I can start shoveling the gravel into the pathway between the beds. I need to clear and rake and level a spot for the third bed still. We will split the dirt from the tarpaulin between the three, then purchase new good soil to put on top of all three. They aren’t done in time for this year’s garden, but that’s ok. They are now prime sunshine real estate for next years’ tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos.
There is more real estate too, so maybe I can put a pumpkin over here. They are narrower than the old beds, and that will make it easier for me to reach them. I am so, so, so excited to see this coming together. I’ll put up a new post when it’s all done.
Conscious Engagement 
Wow! Crystal, you’ve been busy! It’s a great garden improvement.
Thanks, Lou. I owe our country’s anniversary to that. Pedro got Friday off for the holiday, then he also took Monday, to make it four days. When we both work, it makes the job so much better. He is back at work, but I’m on a roll, and I’ll keep at it till I’m done. I am so sick of looking at the blue tarp covered in dirt – you have no idea. ha ha! It will be cause for celebration when I pick up the tarp, fold it and put it away, then sweep off the bricks!
That is a huge project, Crystal when you finish you will feel great!
You are working well to bring your vision to fruition. May you enjoy it in later life.
Thank you, I am sure I will. I know you will remember how hard I worked on the Greenhouse Garden. This year I have barely touched it. It looks great. All I have to do is pull weeds. I am hoping for that kind of assist with these new beds – especially the part about no voles. We could actually plant root crops there and not have them eaten underground. Still will battle slugs and powdery mildew…but it’s one less annoyance.
You must let us know if your voles mesh works
Lookin’ good! Fresh veggies are on your horizon. My hubby just built a very similar box for my sister a few days ago. We were moochdocking at her house and we were happy to help with that project. I miss my garden while we’re traveling, but I’ll get to it again someday. Have a terrific day, Crystal.
Moochdocking is a great word!! Of course you are willing to trade goods and services. :o) I hope your sister gets some great veggies in her future too. I will eat some veg and think of you, then. ❤
Thank you for sharing. I learnt so much today. And what your brother said is right 🙂
Like you, I have learned an immense amount through reading other peoples’ blogs. The fun thing is that they write about what is on their mind, and then it opens up new worlds to me of things I would never have thought about. Blogging brings us close to each other! Thank you for reading and commenting, Lakshmi.
I love how it’s shaping up even better than before. I imaging the chickens were happy to have you both working out there so they had some company. You have a great back yard. I didn’t get a chance to notice if there was anyway you could put in a half circle driveway because backing in is very hard on that street. Looking forward to the next update. I’ve been struggling with massive fatigue lately but will catch up soon here.
Hi Marlene, I’m so glad that this time when you read my post, you can visualize the back yard that you actually walked through! It is a reasonable thought about the front driveway, as many people along this street have put in a curved driveway. We would have the space if we could bulldoze the front yard. We have actually considered it!! But that is an expensive idea, and we will put it off for later. What we REALLY want to do, is remove the garage, bulldoze the area in front of it, then rebuild the garage so that you can pull in flat, instead of up that short, steep hill. That is so stressful.
For now, the front is tolerable because there is room to turn our vehicles around, which we always do before pulling out. Many visitors back out into that crazy street, or there are other vehicles in the driveway, forcing them to back out. No one has had an incident yet with oncoming traffic (and blind corners both ways – gah!), but it gives us anxiety every single time.
I hope you allow yourself the grace to rest each time you want it. As I age, I find that sleeping is getting harder to rely on. I think you should take your chances for rest when you get them. I hope your care providers have considered other causes of your fatigue, and are checking just in case there are medical approaches that might help. I send you my love.
I had the same thoughts as you about the driveway. I like your ideas about the garage. Time and money are always a factor. Sleep comes in chunks these days and I just go with the flow. Health care is sketchy up here so I rely on my own intuition as to what’s going on. The way they see it is I’m in absolutely wonderful condition for someone who should no longer be living. I’m an anomaly. 🙂
You are a beautiful anomaly. ❤
I love this! Those beds are pure art! I’ve never been a gardener but oddly enough I seem to gravitate towards those who are. Or maybe it’s not so odd at all … gardens + art = life. The perfect equation!
I have not thought of gardening as art, Bonnie, but I love that idea. Now that you have placed it, I agree. The wedge-shaped beds, fanning around the circle were artistic. I asked for Pedro’s help creating them because he is so happy for excuses to do math. He calculated the angles to cut the boards to make the shapes I had in my head. That, I think, is also an art. And culling vegetables from plants is an art, as well. Battling the elements and the animals, and the insects, and the diseases…it’s all a complicated ballet.
Math relies on intuition, creativity, and the pursuit of elegance. As does gardening. I love this for both of you.
I know just how exciting it is to finally get to projects that had to wait. There is so much satisfaction in realizing one’s vision, and I hope that you manage to finish this project soon, so that you can fold up that blue tarp, Crystal. I’m looking forward to seeing the final product, and best of all, next year it will be such a joy to just fill them with seedlings at the start of the growing season. SO exciting!!
I know you share my excitement, Jolandi, because you go through this kind of project creation over and over at the quinta. A balance must be struck to create amidst all the obstacles. I am grateful we don’t NEED this food, or it would be stressful. We grow the food because it makes us happy, so when some critter destroys it, we don’t go hungry. I believe I recall you saying the same thing.
Visible progress slowed, because Pedro reminded me that we are using untreated wood. I stopped placing things and moved on to treating the wood with sealant. You can’t see the work of it, but I think we will appreciate it in the future. That is almost complete, and I’ll go back to placing the beds. Then I’ll put up pictures.
I indeed did. Having a garden in which I can grow my own food is pure joy, but the fact that I am not reliant on it to survive takes away the stress when things go wrong. I hope your mesh works to keep those pesky voles out.
The unseen work is the worst, Crystal. Essential and time consuming, and although part of the reward in the long run, it is only those of us who are engaged in this kind of labour who can truly appreciate it. Most of my work on the quinta is either invisible or gets buried. 😆 Enjoy the process.
ha!! Gets buried! So true.