Building a Bed - Tomatoes

Continuing with the tomato theme (and perhaps demonstrating the amount of work involved in growing the goods), let's talk a little bit about building a raised bed for the plants.

I decided to use an existing frame (formerly dedicated to flowers for cutting), and began using its dirt for other projects. Once that soil was mostly elsewhere, I moved the frame in line with other beds, which also freed up the patio area near the lavender walk.

Since I placed the frame over grass, I started with a layer of shredded paper to help kill off the grass. The paper comes from my home shredder. Good-bye and thank you junk mail.

Then comes a layer of twigs and dry leaves. These provide drainage and will release nutrients into the soil as they decay.

Next I added dirt mixed with my compost and mushroom compost. The soil level is deliberately low for two reasons. One, when I plant the tomato starts next weekend, I'll be adding much more dirt because they like to be buried, so I'll need room to do that.

Two, when the paper and leaves decay by the end of the summer, the soil will sink again, leaving me room to add a fresh layer of dirt & compost next year. Tomatoes need fresh soil each year. The Wooga plans ahead.

The soil needs to warm up a bit before the starts go in. The plastic will help with that (the 90 degrees predicted for Saturday will too!). The screens will deter cats from bathroom activities, though I caught the teeny Boo (this cat weighs maybe 3 lbs wet) sneaking under the screen.