scrawlings & scratchings, murmurings and mumblings

This weekend saw me start on the backyard. As I mentioned in a previous post, I decided to do my veggie raised beds in a way that had wood at the bottom as a water renetion system & eventually, as it rots down, a source of nutrients. Unfortunately this meant digging down into the "top soil" (more on that later) to give an area in which the wood could go & water be retained. So Friday afternoon saw me digging out one 12'x4' bed & loosening up the soil in two others, another 12'x'4' and a 12'x'3'. I still have two more 12'x'3' beds to go, oh boy!

Now I say "top soil" because really it's nothing more than black clay (rather than the beige clay that's underneath), it doesn't have any drainage capabilities & it turns to sticky goo when wet. The only way I've heard of to improve that kind of soil is to add organics (adding sandy soil just turns it into concrete). Luckily I have a hay processing machine & I figure I ought to get something out of all the hay I've been feeding her over the years!

Saturday morning I rented a truck from U-haul & headed off to the barn. The owner of said barn filled the back up with 3 big scoops from the bobcat & we tarped it down. Yes it just happened to be the windiest day of the year, typical! Now before you all go EWW... this was from the 3-4 year old pile, it was well composed down & doesn't look or smell the same as when it's freshly "processed", it looks like good compost you'd buy at the garden centre. Once I finally unloaded it at my house... it takes a person a LOT longer to unload than it takes a bobcat to load I can tell you... I headed back to the barn to collect some dead fall from the wooded area in one of the pastures. On the way home I stopped at the garden centre to see if they had any plum trees but no luck... so I bought a 3-in-1 blueberry container instead. :)

Once I unloaded the wood I was just about ready to collapse so it was off to a hot shower for me. Unfortunately I missed out on movie night with K and gravy_grrl :( but I needed to finish the "truck chores" before taking it back Sunday morning.

Sunday I had to go pick up my beekeeping equipment. The hive needed to be assembled but with the help of K it was done fairly quickly. We still need to attach legs to it, despite K saying that if we leave it legless it wont run away! I also got a bee jacket that comes with a hood/veil and a bee hat that comes with a veil. That way if I anyone wants to come & take a look at the hive once the bees are in they can wear the extra protective equipment. :) I bought some eco friendly wood stain that'll be safe to use on the hive, so if I get time (HAHAHAHAHA!) I'll paint the outside.

Once that was done it was back outside to dig out the other 12'x4' bed. I added some of the wood to each & then dumped the soil back on. The traditional way of doing these beds is when you're building them where there's grass currently in place. You cut out the sod/turf, lay the wood in the hole & then lay the sod/turf, grass side down on top of the wood. As I just have dirt, dirt is what I added back on top! :D The next step is to add a layer of the compost. My attempts to do so were foiled by a missing bolt on my wheelbarrow as well as it having a flat tire... by then is was dinner time anyway!

What with riding, bootcamp & now yard work, I don't think there's any part of me that doesn't hurt!

I will post pictures later.