Michael & Liz are Bloggable

A few weeks ago I (Liz, yes I'm blogging) was reading an article that interviewed Michael Pollan and had an inspiring moment to start a vegetable garden. Yes, me...the one that can't keep most plants alive. I don't know why I got this crazy idea in my head, but it just seemed to make sense. We have an area in our backyard that is just screaming to be turned into a garden, so we decided to just go for it. 2010 is the year that I will start growing my own vegetables. Planting season in NC starts in April, so we have a little time to get the backyard ready for seeds. Today was a gorgeous 60 degree day and it would have been a shame to stay inside...so we got out the shovels and got to work!

This is the before picture. Since moving in 3 years ago, it's been the corner where piles of leftover dirt were tossed and has been known as Mt. Daisy, since she is always running around up there. Looking at this picture now, it's sad that this area of the yard has been neglected for so long.
The first step was to clear out the leaves, and Michael started to dig along the fence. The plan is to build a wooden frame around the fence walls, and then put a stone wall around the front. These next pictures show the digging around the wall and how Mt. Daisy kept getting taller and taller!
Then we were able to outline where the stone wall would go with stakes and twine and Michael started digging around the outline.


Once we knew where the stones would be placed, the dirt was moved around enough so it wasn't a huge pile.
The next step is to level out the ground enough to put the stones down, and the wood along the fence. Then we'll need to till the soil so it isn't completely hard clay and put the top soil down.

In our house, Michael is the lawn guy...it's his territory. Since thinking of this crazy idea a few weeks ago, I've made it very clear that I will do the planting, watering, weeding, etc...I just need help with the actual building of the garden bed, which is really hard work! So thank you to my helper!
I've never gardened before, so I plan to blog along the way asking for any advice you can give me. For the next few weeks I'll keep you updated on the progress of the garden bed...from now on being called Daisy's Garden...don't worry, we have a plan to incorporate Gryffin into it too!