Bed Number Four

Concrete to build up the low end. This is the area where,
the following weekend, I dug a post hole through a
cowboy concrete foundation.

I had forgotten how much work went into the three raised beds in our garden. I remembered over Memorial Day weekend. A lot.

We now have a fourth bed. It's just like the other three: parallel with them, but staggered a bit to the south.

It took a day and two runs in Smoke Ganesha, our Ford Explorer, to collect some seventy concrete blocks, thirty concrete caps, six sacks of concrete and four sacks of gravel. I was exhausted just loading them in the car, then unloading and piling them up in the garden next to the chosen location. A total of about a ton and a quarter, but Ganesha's tires held up.

It took all of the long weekend to build the bed. A day to lay the lines and dig the trench. (Can you spell, c-a-l-i-c-h-e?) That included sifting the dirt for small rocks which I treasure because they make great material for the paths in the gully.

Day Two was spent figuring out what was level, building up the lower end with concrete, then laying the blocks. Liquid Nails is good stuff. Then off to the local dump cum garden dirt place to stock up on twenty-five bags of, well, garden soil. 

Memorial Day we dug inside the bed to sift more dirt, then turn it over and mix it with the bagged soil. We needed more soil. Off to the mega hardware store for another fifteen bags. Mixed them in with the sifted dirt from the original trench dig. Of all the stuff we bought to make this fourth bed, the garden soil was the biggest expense — by far.

Of course, writing about a day's work merits a little explanation. It means no more than six hours in the early morning. For one, it gets hot. For another, I'm no spring chicken. I get tired to the point where I can't think too straight. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out how I had the stamina to build the first three beds, except it was easier to have a truck deliver two yards of garden soil than buying forty bags worth.

Shari planted tomatoes, draping shade cloth over them to afford some protection from the relentless afternoon sun and hundred degree plus heat.

New, fourth bed canopy frame completed,
with two connections to the existing
three-bed canopy frame.

We had to build shade. That was this last weekend. Another trip to the mega hardware store to stock up on twenty foot long boards, treated 4x4 posts, angle brackets, curtain hooks, shade fabric, rope, and screws. I had enough energy left to paint all the boards and cut the smaller ones to size in anticipation of the great erection.

Next day I had to dig two post holes, one on each end of the bed. First was an easy sixteen inches through relatively soft dirt. I was about to plant the post in concrete when it occurred to me that I'd better dig the second post hole before I committed to anything.

Smart move. It turned out the south end was centered over cowboy concrete. There's an old, barely buried foundation that runs from the neighbor's driveway into our garden space. It has branches. I've dug into it in several places. It is old concrete. That means it has had decades to cure and get harder and harder. It means that when I hit it with my iron pike, it chipped off just enough to create a little cement dust and the iron bounced back — a rather jarring experience. It's thick enough that even a sledge hammer will not crack it.

Saturday was spent chipping away and pulverizing old concrete, alternating sledge hammer on chisel with the iron pike. The original design for a twelve inch hole was modified. I got eight inches out of that cowboy concrete and never reached its bottom. Enough for me. Bring on the posts, the level, the concrete mix, and the garden hose.

Another day was spent measuring levels and erecting the boards. Looked nice, I thought, until the neighbor complimented and made an observation. He's a retired builder who is engaged in adding a two-level guest house overlooking our property (another story) and with whom, along with his loyal worker Jesus (not the Christ; he's Mexican), I just recently helped build a 18,000 pound, almost sixty foot long, concrete block privacy wall on our property line (yet another forthcoming story). Howard said I needed to attach the new canopy frame to the existing one. Otherwise, one or the other new 4x4 post would snap in a good wind.

We get lots of good wind in Tucson. Years ago a gust snapped a mature palo verde tree trunk. A few months ago, a good gust snapped the fig tree we had planted in the very same place we constructed the fourth bed. Snapped not just the fig tree trunk, but the stakes holding it up.

Bed number four.

Testing Howard's advice, I pushed each of the two new posts. The whole structure wobbled. Then I pushed one of the six 4x4 posts holding up the canopy over the first three beds. Nothing moved. Howard had a good idea.

The next day I attached the fourth bed structure to the big one. Lot less wobble.

Then Shari went to work measuring, sewing, reinforcing and grommetting (is that a verb?) the landscape fabric. We put it up a couple of days ago.

Looks nice. I can hardly wait for the tomatoes. Thank God we are running out of space inside the Great Fence of San Simeon.