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![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/half_filled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe last time we were in Maine, that would be the weekend of May 12, I put in a raised bed of vegetable garden.<\/p>\n
I had bought the wood, three eight foot 2x6s, a couple of weekends before and nailed it all together. The next weekend I dug out enough ground (and rocks!) for the frame to sit down flat. I phoned Mark, who does our plowing and mows the lawn, and asked him if he could deliver some soil to fill the frame. He recommended a mixture of compost and screened loam, and we decided that three cubic yards would fill that frame (half a yard would just about do that), leave lots more for other gardening, and be enough to be worth the delivery charge. I mean, dirt is dirt cheap, so I might as well get enough to do some good while I’m at it.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Matt had found a wheelbarrow left out on the curb for trash somewhere in Cambridge. The wheel had fallen off a bushing, but I was able to hammer it back on enough to roll smoothly.
\nArlene got some landscape fabric, heavy black plastic perforated to let water out, in the meantime. We stapled it to the inside of the frame to form a weed barrier on the bottom, and set out to fill it.<\/p>\n
So, here I am doing some manual labor. Arlene didn’t get out her camera until the frame was half filled:
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The wheelbarrow could hold lots more than this, but could I push it uphill on that bumpy ground? I’d rather make twice as many trips with smaller loads.<\/p>\n
I thought I had more hair than that. Looking at it in the mirror, from the front, I don’t get the whole story.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/earth_mover.jpg\")
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Into the frame — hmm, I could have rotated the picture a little so the trees would be appropriately vertical.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/dumping.jpg\")
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— and with a little raking (and another wheelbarrow load after this picture was taken) the raised bed is ready for seeding.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/leveled.jpg\")
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I put in, I think, lettuce, beets, radishes, and pumpkins. What will it take to keep the rabbits and deer away? People have recommended basil for that; gotta get some seeds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The last time we were in Maine, that would be the weekend of May 12, I put in a raised bed of vegetable garden. I had bought the wood, three eight foot 2x6s, a couple of weekends before and nailed it all together. The next weekend I dug out enough ground (and rocks!) for the … <\/p>\n