Installing the New Raised Beds
It might have been a chilly weekend in northern Indiana, but that didn't stop me from diving into some garden work! The Vego 10 in 1 raised bed kits I ordered online finally arrived, and I was stoked to clear out space for them in the backyard.
Last week I quickly gave up on trying to remove sod from the yard… I made a point to do better this week. First things first, I measured out the area where the new beds would go and marked it with turf paint. Pulling up the sod was quite the challenge, to be honest. It required a lot of effort and sweat, but I knew it was a necessary step to make room for the new beds and the flowers I plan to plant around them. While it wasn't exactly satisfying in the moment, the result was worth the hard work. It was a work out that I am still feeling three days later.
I ordered my first Vego 17” 10 in 1 garden bed last year and loved how simple it was to set up. This year I caught them while they were on sale and couldn’t say no. I chose the 9.5X2.5’ configuration, it fits best against my fence line. Setting up the Vego garden beds was a breeze. It only took around 45 minutes to assemble each bed, and let me tell you, they are worth every cent. No more lugging heavy materials from the store or spending hours on DIY projects. With Vego, it's as simple as measuring, waiting for delivery, and assembling. After installing the beds also found it helpful to line the bottom of each bed with a double-layer of cardboard, is helps guard against weeds.
PRO TIP: Save the nursery pots from your garden center visits over the summer and recycle them year after year to grow your seedlings.
Our tomatoes have been thriving in the basement for a month and were ready to be up-potted. After snipping off their seed leaves, I buried each plant as deep as possible in its pot, this helps encourage root growth. Tomato plants have adventitious roots, which means they can grow roots from other parts of the plant. When we bury the tomato plant deep, this will cause it to grow additional roots all along its stem These babies will need one more up-potting session before they're ready to be moved outside later this spring.
As for my cabbage plants, I'm eagerly waiting for slightly warmer weather to plant them outside. Fingers crossed that next week brings us the perfect planting weather.