Raised Strawberry Bed.

Everyone's garden here looks so pristine. So here's a quick project in our still very messy one. Her Indoors' strawberry patch is just not turning out enough strawberries like it used to, to satisfy the needs of a hungry family's ice cream puddings in the summer. We complain. She says 'nutrient depletion'.

So, she wants to move her plants into a fresh, bigger patch and her sister's filled her head with no-digging propaganda. Dump compost on the Earth; cardboard on top of that, then soil, seedlings and Bob's your uncle. A big mound. I can just imagine it.

I've actually been doing something else difficult in the garden, not much time outside work, children moving things and being told not to hammer because I'll wake Tiny Cacadore up. I'd like to finish that. I'd also like to mow the lawn. Sigh. But at least strawberries and the good weather this week have enticed H.I. outside.

Reckons they have to be planted NOW or we're doomed. So, er, 'now' it is.

This is the remains of her beans and sunflower bed.



I'm not happy with that turning into a big, messy mound. She'd like it over 12 foot long, thank you. I reckon it'll look better, er, contained. No time to buy anything, let alone make a path.

So, a frame, I reckon. And snappy or she'll go ahead with the messy mound idea.



4 metre-long planks. Saw off 2 metre side planks. Make stakes - these are hardwood stakes. Using a hand-axe was the quickest way. Paint everything with preservative. Mark out and drill holes in stakes.





Getting stakes exactly 90 degrees to the planks. Only got long screws. No matter: screwing them in.



I'll come back tomorrow.

 

That is going to make a fantastic raised strawberry bed!

I notice on the bottom picture the screws are protruding outwards from the stake (you did say they were too long ). Might need to do something about those if you have children running around the garden - but, I'm sure you've already thought of that

 

It's a man thing then

 

Thank you. Let's hope. H.I. had a go at the ends with a metal file. At least they won't cut people brushing past now. I just wanted the screw heads to be inside the frame because I thought they'd be more likely to resist the moisture getting in the hole to weaken the screws.

Wary in case I want to take it apart in a few years. I thought perhaps drilling a hole in matchbox-sized blocks of wood (got some left after sawing joists) and screwing each one by hand onto each screw. Or maybe sawing the ends off with a hack saw? H.I. suggests plasticine over them.

 

Didn't do as much today as I'd wanted. Measuring, measuring and measuring. I want it aligned with the terrace and our wall so I'm marking out string. H.I. says 'it doesn't matter' if it's squiffy. Bought up in the country, that's her trouble. So, me, the townie is mainly on his own with this. But time to work is limited what with Tiny C. needing feeding, Little Cacadore with a temperature and Tiny C.'s cot being in the room above the proposed patch and, er, breadwinning.

Next to impossible to measure 12+ foot lengths on your own. The books say 'measure the diagonals to make sure the frame is at 90 degrees?' Ha! Who holds the other end of the tape measure? A lumpen hammer normally works but not on wobbly ground. Using string? Over 12 feet, my string stretches quite some considerable distance. Tiny C. tries to help by falling over the string just as I've spent 15 minutes getting it into position. I've found the only way is mark a long stick and use multiples of that alongside the string. As for bamboo canes to hold the string markers, how do you get them in the ground when there's been no rain? It's a job. Metal tent pegs is the answer. In the attic somewhere. They should sell them in gardening centres.

Oh, and the ground is very uneven. Measure the level with a plank and a spirit level? Where's my spirit level? That's half a day gone hunting round for that. It was in the car when I took it to have new tyres put on. Asked H.I. to ring the mechanic. Luckily she couldn't get through. Found it in my tool box. Hidden.

So, frame made, dug trench on what seemed to be the higher side. Brain can't cope levelling with no reference point.

Best to try it in place.



Old strawberry patch on the right. Neighbours come out to have a laugh.
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So, more work than I anticipated: the highest side turned out to be the other side!



Digging trench to get the bottom edge of it level.

H.I. plans to take all that soil out, take out the weeds, mix it with compost and then put it all back in. Trying to convince her her back would prefer it if she does the mixing within the frame. We'll see.
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Getting it level.


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Pegs went in on a particularly wet and muddy day. Screwed to frame. Neighbour reckons the pegs should be inside the frame, to make it easier to mow the grass around it.



I reckon they'll dry out, avoid rot better and thus last longer outside.
What's best?
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Anyway, done my bit. Time for a sit-down and a cup of tea.



Team 2 takes over. Breaking up the clumps. I think I'll have an ice cream.
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Think I'll see how it's going. Something's happened.

Ah. She's cleared a patch and put garden compost down. The white stuff is added wood ash. With my cardboard on top. I was using that to protect the floor while I was painting.



Oh well. Now, on top, she's mixing potting-on compost in with soil.

More tea I think. Tiring watching people work.
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Mixing.


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One third done and strawberry plants in! Look, I even managed to cut the grass.




Mainly newly bought seedlings. Some darker plants from the old bed are to the back. Herbs to the front put in as seeds in those marked-out boxes. From right: parsley, dill and space for basil. The left-hand box will have marigolds and something else to control the pests.
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Looking good! Im hoping to do something very similar myself soon!