Needless to say, this was a rather unsightly view out the back doors of the house. The leaves, dirt piles, and rubble are piled over layers of cardboard and newspaper to kill the lawn. Elka, for her part in all this, definitely enjoyed laying in the dirt piles.
The grass is gone! Underneath, earthworms the size of our fingers were tending the soil.
We struggled on deciding what materials to use for the beds. We wanted something substantial, but didn't want to use pressure treated lumber. We ended up with recycled cedar fence planks from the Rebuilding Center in Portland.
We removed the brick patio and filled in with a more level concrete slab.This is the stage at which I (Molly) had a total meltdown. The yard looked like this for at least a month.
By midsummer, the project was moving along, but so far, weeds were the only things thriving in our fertile soil.
The drip irrigation helped us keep these fragile starts well-watered during the very hot days of August.
It was August before we finished the raised beds and put in the irrigation, and we hadn't started any seeds. So we purchased veggies starts at the Portland Farmers Market.
Our cabbage had a unique flattened quality to it. But it was sweet and succulent - delicious!
The "finished" garden. Of course, it's never finished. Since this photo, we've cloched the lettuces and radishes in the front right box, harvested the cabbages and cauliflower from the right center, and the cover crop (crimson clover) in the back left box has grown about a foot.
