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<h5>PHOTO BY HEIDI HUNT</h5>
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<p>Starting garden beds from scratch, as I am doing at my new digs, can be challenging – grass roots, clay soil and deep weed taproots all conspire to make the process time consuming and back breaking. Sure, you can rent a heavy-duty rototiller, but you still have to deal with the clods of grass roots and unyielding clay clumps. So, I decided to go the raised bed route – four 4-foot by 8-foot beds, each a foot deep.</p>
<p>You’re thinking – sure, but you still have to make the bed frames and haul yards of dirt. True, but I am using some wonderful <a href=”https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/instant-garden-zmaz08jjzmcc” target=”_self”>raised bed</a> corners, suggested by our garden writer, Barbara Pleasant, and available from <a href=”http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=2&p=44674&cat=2″ target=”_self”>Lee Valley Tools</a>. What a marvelous invention these corners are. As you can see from the photo, the 2-by-6 lumber just slips into sleeves on the stakes. AND, you can add a second (or third) stake and sleeves to the top of the first one, to make the bed 12 inches (or more) high. It is suggested you strengthen the unit by putting a screw into each sleeve/board team, which we have done. This should help keep the boards from bowing outwards due to the pressure from the dirt.</p>
<p>Speaking of dirt – I would love to start planting this weekend, but have four plus cubic yards of the brown stuff to move from the driveway to the new beds. Soooooooooooo – it’s party time! We’ve invited a bunch of friends to a barbecue on Saturday – we’ll provide the food and we hope our guests will provide a bit of muscle power and help us to move the dirt!! I’ll let you know next week how successful this venture turns out to be.</p>
<p>I did mow the yard last weekend and used some of the lovely, aromatic clippings in the garden box where some garlic is happily growing. This week I’ll save the clippings to use as mulch in the new raised beds. We have had four neighbors ask about the beds and jokingly put in their order for fresh veggies this summer. I do hope to produce enough to share.</p>
<p>If you have had success with unique urban food production, share your experiences in the comments section below.</p>