My straw bale raised beds turned out to be, exactly and accidentally, 100 sq ft. (I had to measure it to know how much to put in when I was adding some E.B. Stone Organics Tomato & Vegetable Fertilizer.) It looks very nice in the yard, but in hindsight, that is kind of huge. The soil is very light and airy, which is perfect for drainage and developing roots, but horrible for walking on. So while coming up with a way to plant the plants in rows without walking on it, I remembered I had some leftover cedar fence rails from the fence project …

Yes, it’s just as you are picturing it—I walked along the rails and squatted down to plant each plant in the row. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds, as I got a great workout and the cedar rails helped me line up things to get them equally spaced. I started in the middle of the beds, and then worked the beams outwards until I had planted nearly all the bed.

I now have a neatly planted garden with:

• several varieties of tomatoes
• broccoli
• celery
• corn
• 3 kinds of cucumbers, one from starts and 2 from seeds
• sweet, lemon and lime basil
• sweet potatoes
• strawberries (I’m not even sure what kind, as I started out with 5 varieties and they are planted all over the house, some were given away, etc)
• blue lake bush green beans (planted from seed with a bit of legume innoculent)

This week I will also be adding carrots, radishes and beets from seed; eventually the peppers will also go in.

I can’t wait until the first harvest!