Help in the Garden - Time with Friends!
When my buddy, Joseph, sent me a text asking if there was anything he could help with I wasn't sure exactly how to answer that. It sounded really cool to hang out with good people on the Daddykirbs Farm, but I'm not great at assigning tasks to people.
Well, I came up with a short list of projects that needed done and asked if he would be willing to help with those things. His response was funny "Yeah, what time and how many helpers can I bring?". Haha, I replied by saying "Bring the fam" and he did!
This event took place on a Saturday. Joe was aware of my Saturday Morning Live Show so he wanted to come after that time frame. He did not really want to be on camera, but little did he know that I would be doing some video in the garden while we worked! That video will be up on the channel soon (I hope).
What did we get done?
The work was mostly centered on cleaning up the garden just a bit and rebuilding some of the raised beds. 5 years ago I put in all non-treated wooden raised beds. You can see that process in this video:
Now, after 5 years, I can confidently say that the non-treated wood in our climate has a life of about 5 years. MAYBE... maybe I could have gotten another year out of them but they looked pretty bad and came apart very easily. When this garden work video is ready you'll be able to see how degraded that lumber was.
So, that weekend work is not finished, but we made some great headway. I really think you are going to like these new raised beds! More coming soon :)
Don't forget to visit the "Cool Curator Contest" for your chance to win some SBD!
A Big Thank You To Last Week's Entries!
@katedansyng
@ponyvet
@christir
@weetreebonsai
@countryheart
@andysantics48
@thenectarbar
It is always awesome to have available hands when working on projects! Sharing!
We could all use a little help from time to time. That is where a good set of friends can step in. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. Helping one another created a great community.
I agree. If I were a good manager of people I could use a lot of help here on the farm, but it's tough for me to know how to keep people busy and happy LOL
Crackin the whip isn’t hard but the result is unhappy people. More productivity comes from people who are happy with what they are doin. I too am not a good manager of people. I just tell them, you know what you need to do. Lol
I am going to be building a few raised beds this year and I was planning on using untreated lumber. Now I am in IL and the weather is a little different but overall would you say that going with the untreated wood was a good decision? I know something like cedar will last longer, just not sure I want to invest that much just for lumber!
A challenge with Cedar fence boards is how thin they are. The wood itself is rot resistant but they can become brittle due to being so thin. If you buy 2x Cedar the price can go up fast. I'm not against recommending normal treated lumber to people since the "toxins" are mostly copper these days. It's considered garden safe. If there is information that refutes this I'd like to see it. My new beds will not be wood at all.
I probably will just avoid anything pressure treated but what I do need is strength. Would you suggest 2 inch wide boards? Also how tall, I was thinking 12 inches maximum...what is your suggestion?
Just how expensive is cedar fence boards? Join a couple together and you have something that will last a long time...
Blake, I just wanted to say it was such a joy to see Luke get all excited about the gardens! I can see a huge difference when Luke is doing things that he loves and cares about! Great job on the raised beds and I'll be looking forward to your garden this year!
Cheers,
Robert
@underthekiltfarm
Thank you. Yes Luke does like having something to do. His ability to do some of these things has diminished but his desire hasn't.