Garden Update

I've been itching to get the garden beds together and get my plant starts in the ground.  Three things have been holding me back: time, illness, and fear.  I'm still interning at my field placement so I haven't had the lounge-like summer I had envisioned.  Also, the whole house has had a cold for a little over a week now, bringing everyone's energy and motivation down.  Finally, I've never really built anything before and the lumber section of the hardware store is intimidating.  It isn't rocket-science but its completely foreign to me and there is so much I don't even know I don't know.

In order to mitigate my fear I sought apprenticeship from my stepfather, Fred, who knows about this kind of stuff.  He proved to be quite difficult.  Even though he's a wonderful man, I don't think he fully understands that I'm not afraid of manual labor.  As I was explaining my plan to him and sheepishly showing him my electronic image of said plan, he just kept asking why I wanted to do this.  I'll paraphrase:

Stepdad: Why are you doing this?  You're moving soon.

Me: I already dug up the fence.  I have to do something.

Stepdad: This is a lot of work, why not just throw the plants in the ground.

Me: Well, you see, I already dug up the fence; I have to do something with it.

Stepdad, after thinking for some time: Do you have a chainsaw?...This is going to be a lot of work - I don't think you want to do this.

Me: What? No, of course I don't have a chainsaw and can we just operate under the assumption that there will be beds in there by the end of the week.  How should I do about doing this and are you always going to be such a Debbie Downer?

We compromised.  I make the plan more simple and he took me to the store and sorted through the landscaping timbers to find 24 of the straightest boards there.  He was even patient when the half of those 24 boards fell onto the cement floor, twice, before we could pay and get them in the car.

Today I bought a box of 3 inch outdoor screws and a handsaw - both of which are much better than the 2 inch drywall screws and hacksaw I tried to start the project with yesterday.  (I'm impatient).  I've been measuring and sawing away, stacking timbers and drilling holes.  Tonight when my lovely assistant gets home from work he's going to help me screw everything together.  I'll make sure to post the project when I'm done, but until then - here's a progress picture:

Before

During

I'll work on my before/after photo skills.