A couple of weeks ago Sue and I were talking about our back yard and an idea came up…. Why not make two raised beds, one for flowers for Sue and the other for veggies for me? Now, we have what’s called a “Maintenance Free” (Not!) garden– mulch with shrubs and trees so there’s lots of room to install these beds.
Next stage was the design. First port of call was talking to our Rotarian friends Chris and Kirsten. They have a couple of excellent raised beds which gave us some ideas. Next, I googled “Building a raised bed” and You-Tuber “Gardener Stan” gave me all the dos and don’ts of building one of these boxes. Time to hit the road. Saturday morning, we headed off to Spray Lake Centre pool and after a session of the warm water therapy we left the building and met Janet working on a huge raised garden. There are two of these in the fore-court of the centre and they are magnificent. Janet is not only the Centre’s gardener but she is also a fitness instructor….what a great combination job. She gave us lots of excellent advice and suggested we head over to “Anything Grows”, where the Centre gets their plants.
In “Anything Grows,” we met Aaron. He was a great help and shared with us ideas on what flowers and veggies to plant and when, the correct soil mix and how to prevent weeds. All this talking was thirsty work so Sue and I decided it was time for a coffee. We headed over to Good Earth and as we made our way to the coffee shop we couldn’t help noticing the beautiful flower boxes all along the sidewalk. These are throughout Cochrane and are maintained by the Town of Cochrane maintenance staff.
Next time you’re walking around downtown check them out.
The final stop was Home Hardware. My design was for two boxes that were four feet long by two feet wide and two feet high. This would require 12 lengths of six inches by one inch by eight foot planks, and two lengths of four inch by four inch of pressure treated lumber. The yard guys loaded the timber into the jeep and home we went.
The next morning the power tools came out and construction commenced. It didn't take long to cut everything to size (measure twice…cut once!) and put them together. And that’s where we are today. Aaron from “Anything Grows” suggested waiting until spring before we plant; so there’s no rush to add the soil. So now I have the fall and winter to decide what to plant. Any thoughts?
© 2023 Martin Parnell
