Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Fall Garden Construction...


This break in the weather has me thinking about "fall" gardening - even though I KNOW we still have some 100 degree days ahead of us. This year we're officially starting our vegetable garden project. It was suppose to be a spring garden but things just never got off the ground. So if I let this fall get by without a vegetable garden I'll really feel like a slacker.

I'm sure some of you may be wondering - so what's the big deal. Just through a few plants in the ground and bingo - you've got a veggie garden. In our case it's a little more complicated. We're using a vacant lot as the garden site and there's some "preliminary" work that is required. Let me explain further. 

The lot was previously occupied by a raised house, until hurricane Ike knocked it down. It took a little over a year for the owners to haul off the debris - leaving behind the vacant lot. While inspecting the future garden site, I noticed several pieces of concrete and some structural supports left behind. After some unsuccessful attempts at removing these materials by hand, I hired Jim Abrahams to dig them up with his Bobcat. Holy crap!!! He dug up several GIGANTIC junks of concrete that were part of the original foundation. Now, piled up in what is suppose to be the garden, is a mountain of cement.


The way it looks right now it will cost me a whole lot more to have this stuff hauled off than it did to dig it up. But - I guess it's the cost of doing business. Next - we'll start on a fence and some soil modifications using raised beds. I'll keep you posted on our progress.