More beds

Added another bed today along with some soil enhancements.


My friend gave me some lettuce starts. I'll add these to my beds in a few days.





Carrots and beans in the big garden.

New garden bed

I decided to increase the size of my garden this year and plan to construct additional beds. I am also reseeding my lawn this year, so I ordered some extra dirt for the garden. I am experimenting with a 30 inch wide bed this year, which will make it easier to reach my plants, than my 5 foot wide bed. I got some 12" x 8" x 16 foot boards at Home Depot for $7.50 each and will be using them for the frame. Here is the empty bed, with my newly seeded lawn behind it.


I filled the bed with loam and raked in a bag of peat moss to add some organic matter.


Planting new bed

Low tunnel

As I mentioned previously, I made a low tunnel to extend my gardening season. The following is how I built my tunnel.
There are many methods to secure the low tunnel to the garden. Since my bed is surrounded by wooden boards, I was able to screw the holders directly to the bed. Some people use rebar driven into the ground and put the end of the hoops over the rebar to secure them.

Here is the plastic pipe used to secure the hoops. I cut 1 inch pvc pipe into 6 inch lengths and then drilled 2 sets of holes in each one, to attach to the garden bed frame. The pipes are secured to the frame with wood screws.


This picture shows the hoops secured in their supporting tubes. The tie down lines are attached to one side of the frame with eye screws.



This picture shows the plastic cover partially open and how the tie down lines work. Each tie down line is attached through screw eyes on each side of the bed and is one continuous loop. The line runs on either side of the hoop, to hold the plastic cover down. Put the plastic cover on first and then adjust the length of the line to get the proper tension. The nice thing about this design is that the plastic can be raised on one or both sides to provide cooling during the day.