Saturday was a good day to work out in the garden, albeit a bit cold and windy.
But Sunday was a much nicer day, and I spent a good part of the day working on yet another thing on my too-many projects list...the raised beds around the storm cellar.
I built the part of the raised bed on the west side of the cellar last winter, and finally bought some lumber to start on the east side. The dirt on that side wasn't piled out quite as far, so I've ended up making the entire bed only 48" wide, rather than having a lower section that was about 62" wide.
Unfortunately, I once again struggled with the "why didn't you make it square?" problem. I did get the corner where the two boards on the bottom layer joined together square. I even double-checked it! But what I failed to do was make sure the structure itself was square against the cellar! So while the front board for the second layer was cut at 48", the opening it was supposed to cover was more like 50". The third opening was probably 52". Sigh.
I was prepared to just leave it like that, and try to plant something there to cover the gaps. I just didn't feel like digging all of the dirt back out to try to move things around. I guess I will see if it can be done, but if not, I may just do what RAF suggested and cut new boards to the right length and use the 48" boards somewhere else.
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| My square but not square to the world raised bed. I ran out of boards, but the top layer will have one more row of boards around it. |
Regardless of whether or not the thing is square, I am pleased with how it's turning out. I have decided to put my lettuce, radishes, green onions, etc. in the east bed. I don't think the rabbits will climb up there to eat them!
And speaking of rabbits....
I found evidence in the yard yesterday where a rabbit met an untimely death: bits of hair; the contents of its intestine; a bit of blood on a leaf. And about 30' away, an owl feather. Probably not a coincidence, right? RAF and I did see a Great Horned Owl in the yard late one evening last June, I have seen a barn owl in the hay barn, and we've heard screech owls calling in the woods. So maybe the owls are going to help me solve my rabbit problem. While I feel somewhat sad for the rabbits, I know that's just nature's way, and I'm glad for the owl.