The Elephant in the Garage

Sometimes there are just those projects that get away from you... come on, admit it.
Well, this was mine: the raised garden beds

I was really excited about finally having a yard, and getting to build a raised bed garden. I was so excited I went out and bought the materials... last March. Yes, that is right. I have had all the materials sitting around for over two months.The people at Lowe's were amazed I was able to fit it all in my tiny Honda Civic. (Thanks Dad for teaching me how to pack a car!)

I fit all of that material in one car load...





"Two months? That's not too long for a project to sit," you may say... But it has been taking up my parking spot in the garage. Oh yes, I have been parking outside and walking by this beautiful lumber every single day for the past two months. It was my own personal "Elephant in the Room" that I turned a blind eye to.
I used a variety of excuses: it's too cold out, I don't have enough time, I will get to it eventually, I have other gardening tasks that need to be done first, we need to deal with the sprinkler system first, etc.
So what was really keeping me from building them? Two pieces of lumber. That's right, I had all the wood but I just needed to cut up two 4"x4" posts into shorter pieces. The problem? It meant I had to use the scary circular saw...

Don't get me wrong, I have a healthy respect for very dangerous power tools. I know how to use them safely, what to do, what not to do, etc. But this isn't one of those nice table radial arm saws... this is my dad's 30+ year old, heavy, "hand held", circular saw. Oh, and the cord was frayed at one point and has been taped up. The blade is old and dull too... probably not the safest tool in the shed. This thing is a monster that you have to be really careful of.

I finally bit the bullet. I set up my sawhorses, got the heavy duty extension cord, got my safety glasses/gloves on... and made the first cut. It didn't go all the way through. The post is 4" thick and the blade only cuts down about 2". So for every one piece that I wanted to cut off, I had to make 3 passes with the "monster" saw. (Cut, quarter turn, cut, quarter turn, cut.) Needless to say, the cuts were far from perfect but they worked for what I needed.

After that was done, I was no longer "stuck" with my project and the very next day Dear Husband (DH) and I assembled the first raised bed. Thank goodness I borrowed Dad's super-duper drill, we never would have gotten through it with my wimpy battery powered one!

So here they are, in all their glory. I never would have gotten them in without the help of DH, MIL and FIL (mother-in-law and father-in-law) who came to visit over the long weekend. Thanks guys!

The black stuff is a plastic weed barrier as I am trying to kill the grass and eventually install pavers around the beds. That way it won't get muddy and DH can mow more easily.

The next step was to put cardboard inside, once again to kill the grass. This will eventually decompose so the roots can reach down farther if they need to.
Then I put down some chicken wire since we have little bunnies who will probably like to burrow under the beds. I stapled the wire down to the first bed but half-way through the second bed, my brand new staple gun jammed... bad. I had to take it apart to clear the jam, but I couldn't assemble it back together correctly. I spent at least a few hours trying to, and I found where all the parts went, but it still wouldn't work. Finally I gave up and will have to buy another one to finish the job. Grrrr. One of the things I hate the most is a broken tool so you can't finish a job.

Next up is trying to fill these giant beds with some good dirt! But that will have to be for another post... stay tuned!