For the past few weekends, Rich has been planning and building two 5×8 foot raised planter boxes for our Mount Vernon house. This weekend, he dug holes in the ground and sunk them. In the middle is heavy plastic mesh to keep critters from burrowing up into the garden with a layer of landscape fabric on top. Around the edges and in the post holes is gravel to prevent the wood from rotting.

Next weekend, we’ll get top soil, which we’ll supplement with bags of steer manure, bone meal, and other soil amendments, which are currently in the back of Rich truck.

For the past month, I’ve been starting herb, lettuce, pea, and string bean seeds in the house. The lettuce sprouted very quickly so I had to move them into a larger pot where they’ll hopefully get stronger so they can be planted outside.

It’s still very early to start planting, but we wanted to get the boxes completely so we could pop in seeds or starts when the weather gets warmer.

While Rich was building planter boxes, I was busy tearing out sections of ivy to plant a xeriscape garden with lavenders, salvia, thyme, and other drought tolerant plants. We planted similar plants into Texas (in place of grass). Once they took hold, after watering them for two years, they required very little maintenance or water.