My newest goal planned with Steemit is to save enough SBD in order to build ourselves some raised garden beds. This is the only way we will be able to garden here at all. The dang vermin eat everything. We're dealing with multitudes of ground squirrels, rabbits, pack rats, and other small pests. We're not even dealing with deer here. I tell you, I would much prefer to be battling deer...
The Backstory
I tried hard to garden this year, husband and roommate worked really hard and got the garden dug up. It looked great. The dirt was wonderful. Haha Weird to say that, but it's true. It was exciting. Even if I wanted to start out with raised beds to begin with... Husband did a great job. We got a fence up and it looked great! I made a mini bed and planted my peas...
I spent money on starts because I didn't get a chance to start seeds. I bought a bunch of lettuce, because LETTUCE. I planned to use it for myself and my animals. In one night, 20 lettuce plants were decimated. Completely. Pulled from the ground, gone. The peas started growing and once they were nice and a whole inch tall. Gone. Done. Sigh. I was so excited from some sweet peas.
So, I did some research, of course. I read that some ground dwelling creatures didn't enjoy mulch. So we mulched the garden beds. I then built a cover in hopes the critters just wouldn't think it was worth it. I also planted the perimeter with onion and garlic.
And this all worked for about... 20 hours. All that work, for nada. It was all gone. Except for the onions and garlic! Well, that was until last month when the last onion or garlic plant was pulled under the ground by some... heartless creature. That's right, everything was eaten! Haha.
The Goal
So here we are today no garden. So, raised beds have to be the answer right? I plant to make them tall and have the bottom covered with hardware cloth to prevent tiny little rodent critters from digging under. Hopefully the height will discourage critters from climbing up. They will be made of metal and wood... But mostly metal. The metal should reflect the heat from our hot summers, and that would be good here. I feel that the metal will last longer in our interesting climate as well.
So, they would be similar to these that I found a nice little how-to on eHow. However, mine would be as tall as the corrugated metal is wide, so about 26 inches tall. This will be beneficial for my back, in the long run! I was thinking about making them 4ft wide by 8ft long.
source
Having wood on top like it shows, creates a nice bench seat! Perfect for lazy bums like me who have bad knees and need to sit down to continue to work in an area. The design is still up in the air, but, this is really close. Though things can change.
What We Need
I would essentially like 4 of these beds, but 2 is a good start as well. For now I will talk about the price of just one. So I can wrap my head around it.
Materials Needed:
- 3 - Corrugated Roofing Panels - $36.81
- 3 - 10ft 2x6 Pressure Treated Lumber - $34.11
- 6 - 10ft 2x4 Pressure Treated Lumber - $43.02
- 1 - 10ft 4x4 Pressure Treated Lumber - $10.27
- Total: $124.21
I may be over estimating on the lumber (golly, I hope I am!). Thankfully, adjustments can ALWAYS be made. If I figure out a "cheaper" way to get something done and have it look like I want it to, I will usually do that. Decided to go with pressure treated lumber vs cedar due to cost.
I can tell you now that I am actually surprised at the cost of this! But I REALLY want to do things right THE FIRST TIME. And sometimes, that costs more. Other materials that have been suggested to me, just aren't resonating with me as the right way to go for the long haul.
So what? Why am I sharing this with you? Well, as I have said in the past, it is my goal to be genuine with you. Part of being genuine is being honest. So, because you lovely people support me by reading and commenting on my posts, I feel like you deserve to know what I plan to do with my earnings.
This will be the first purchase with anything from Steemit, and only with SBD! All Steem Power will stay as Steem Power so that I can upvote the community with higher and higher valued upvotes!
Hopefully it happens sooner rather than later. I would like to get these in this fall, that way I can start composting in there also!
Is there something that you're saving up for right now?
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