Thickair Blog

Maximo has dug by hand 20 inch depth of soil by a 4′ wide by 37′-0″ length. He is amazing, this is incredibly hard work. The original idea was that we were going to dig in 8-10″ of river rocks, sand and big chunks of old concrete to create a drain-tile effect under the garden beds for rainy season. However simultaneously we were going down the path of creating a temporary roof system to cover the plants during the rainy season. We asked ourselves, if we are covering it, why do we need to go to such herculean effort with the soil? We have revised our planning on the roof structure from a pvc-plastic temporary solution to a metal post and polycarbonate roofing permanent-solution. The bean trellis structure is going to be horizontal rails of copper wire attached to screws in the galvanized posts. The other raised beds are going to just be a mixture of tierra negra, existing soil, rice husks (the tropical solution for peat moss) and compost. Some of the seedlings have sprouted and are growing well. My rescued tomatoes have fruit and the arugula is almost ready for harvest!

We are going to have an herb garden along the path that winds to the side entrance as you access the garden from the house. I have basil, lemongrass and parsley growing well, and just purchased a funny little oregano plant from the market. We have seeds started for fennel, dill, cilantro, shiso, and purple basil. To see the progress on the vegetable garden see the new flickr set : Vegetales

This entry was posted Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 9:54 am and is filed under Construction, Gardens & Nature. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.