Raised Beds

So the land my house happens to sit on is mostly clay. Clay, like thick, non-draining, even hard to dig with a shovel clay. And the clay starts approximately one inch under the grass. So the answer is raised beds. I did some research on the type of dirt to put int the beds, since I have the chance to put in exactly what I want. I went with the city of Plano's "bulk soil blend", which is a 50/50 blend of compost and topsoil. It has a very nice dark color, with plenty of good sized decomposed mulch that should make it drain ok. I was also careful to add only a few inches of dirt and then till it in with the clay before I added the rest of the dirt on top. This will hopefully stop the good soil from draining all the water 8 inches down and then creating a wet basin to rot my roots. And the baby plants seem to be liking it!

So this is what the whole set up looks like.  It can get windy around here, and it mostly blows from the north, so the teepee trellises have grapes planted under them to hopefully grow an edible wind break. 

I have a patch of onions, and I also planted them all around the edges of the bed, just to use up the space. 

To go with the onions, I have spinach that has sprouted: 

 And the radishes are coming up great. I started thinning them, and my husband asked me to try transplanting them instead. So we'll see if the transplants survive. I love their heart shaped leaves.

I planted a mixed bed of mesclun mix and Braveheart ( a roman variety) together here. They are coming up well. All their little leaves are so different. 

 I planted carrots at the same time as everything else, but they took almost a week longer to come up. They look very tiny and fragile. I've tried to grow carrots before, but I've never had success. Hopefully they like the dirt I got them. These carrots are a kaleidoscope blend, so they should come up in all kinds of cool colors.

In one bed I also planted some herbs that I bought as plants. My helpful local rabbits ate my cilantro and the parsley down to the ground before I got the floating row covers over them. They are coming back now, and they don't seem to mind the row covers, so I see that as something that I'll keep doing. 

Next time, I'll show you my new Brown Turkey Fig!