Preparing & Planning the Raised Beds

Here is the 4 x 8 bed. I'm planning to lay down either newspaper or cardboard in the bottom since there is some dried grass that could probably be resuscitated with some water, though you can't tell by this picture. Then I will be adding my garden soil/compost mix. This bed is going to hold all my brassicas and a few other things that were recommended in the companion planting book, I've been reading. It works out that all the transplants I will be buying next weekend will go into this bed as well as some seeds.

The planting list is: some varieties of Broccoli underplanted with Sweet Allyssum, Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts also underplanted with Sweet Allyssum, some varieties of Cabbage, Collards, some varieties of Kale, Mustard Greens, Kohlrabi, Beets, Marigolds, Dill, Fennel, Calendulas, Zinnias, upright Rosemary & Thyme, Aster,  Garlic, Parsley, and Cilantro. 

Here is the 4 x 4 raised bed. Isn't it gorgeous. The rough wood after the linseed oil application changed colors. Any new boxes the "Man" makes will hopefully look like this, though I'm going to wait until next year to see if I need anymore. I'm think I would like 1 more 4 x 4 box and the man may be making two 3 x 5 boxes to try growing tobacco (he likes cigars). This bed will hold peas,  veggies, herbs, and flowers. I'm going to put in some metal stakes and chicken wire for the peas to grow on.

The planting list is: some varieties of Spinach, Mustard Greens, Cool Season Salad Greens, maybe some Lettuce,Chard, Turnips, Sweet Alyssum, Sweet Annie, Radish, Nasturtium, Fennel, Parsley, Cilantro, Dill.

I'm going for variety and will probably be putting a lot of leftover seeds in the fridge for next year or seeing if Tara wants to go halfsies on some of the seed packets. I'm combining info I got from both square foot gardening and companion planting. I will be interplanting and underplanting, and succession planting. I'm hoping it will look quite pretty, if all of it grows.

The other thing I am planning on doing is using ollas to water. I kept thinking I remembered reading somewhere of some traditional practices that would help me not have to water everyday. I also would water Tara's African Violets when she was out-of-town and saw that she had pots where the water was on the outside of a claypot, a double potted design. I was confused when I first saw it, but she gave me a couple and I managed to kill two houseplants that where not suppose to get so much water. I finally saw reference to watering this way in the Grow Organic Book though they only mentioned that one could use terracotta pots to water with since terracotta is porous. The light turned on and I started searching for mentions of it and found another blogger in Austin who was using ollas and they had made their own. I, of course, wanted to buy the pretty already made ollas, but soon found just like her that they were too expensive. I read about how to make your own here using two standard terracotta pots as well as here. I also read this neat study. Thank you other fabulous blogger.

Before reading this other bloggers post the only thing I could find is wetpots which of course I totally wanted to buy, but they are in Australia. Now eventually, I would like to hook up each of the little 12 inch pots to a larger water barrel to use gravity to keep them full. I figured the "Man" would help me with it because I got the idea by him rigging our washing machine to drain slower by using smaller tubes and seeing the wetpots, a few days later, I saw that the Santa Fe Gardening association already had a similar system to what I imagined doing. I feel like I am using all kinds of science principles: osmosis, tension, gravity, equilibrium. I loved teaching science when I was an elementary school teacher. It is so cool to feel like I am doing all these science experiments.

Here are the ollas, I made. I used black silicone to attach them. I was totally out-of-it when I made them and switched the order of when to close the hole at the bottom which basically means I was suppose to do it before I closed up the pots. I kept thinking what am I going to do now when I came across some old wine corks that we have been saving for no apparent reason. Cork lasts 15 to 20 years, so I closed the holes with old wine corks. I'm testing to see how their watersealing capabilities right now. So far, I have only lost a teaspoon or less of water in the first few seconds after filling my homemade ollas with water from the corked bottom hole.  

I am going to leave my olla water test up all day to see if I lose anymore water.

It is starting to get light outside. Off to fill the raised beds with happy dirt.