Garden Expansion Planning

Part of planning a garden is knowing what you have, so I went and measured the area that I am wanting to expand into. The area is located between my well and a washout on my property. This area also has a rather steep grade so stair stepping is needed.

The total measure area is 18feet wide and 25 feet long

Now that I know this information it is time to figure out what I can do over there. My first drawing had 6 beds that measured 8 feet by 4 feet with 4 foot spacing in between. 

The only problem with that is maintaining the ground between the beds and having room to turn the lawn mower, so back to the drawing board.

The end result is 3 beds measuring 12 feet by 4 feet with 4 foot spacing between each bed and 6 feet from the wash out. This should give me ample turning space for the lawn mower.

Now to calculate the costs. As I am using a soft bottom solution and already have weed barrier materials those costs are not being included.

For one 12 foot by 4 foot by 1 foot deep bed

12 ft x 1ft x 2in PT x 2 = 68.00

8 ft x 1 ft x 2 in PT x 1 piece = 25.00

This results in 48 cu. ft of soil needed x 4.5 = 216.00

So for one of my planned beds it will cost about $309.00 or roughly $1,000.00 for the whole expansion. I am including taxes, gas or delivery cost guesses. For the amount of material that I am needing, I am giving serious consideration to putting it on a credit card and having it all delivered. 

Fun side note this expansion will allow for an increase of growing space to 144 square feet ... which is the rough equivalent of what I had in Port St Lucie

Random House updates

Yes, I have central heating, I like it warm. No this will not convince me to move further south. For all it is warmer further south I regularly encounter via work those that remind me why I moved out of South Florida.

Big Thank You to Daddy for building me a gutter on my back porch! Now maybe the water will stop trying to destroy my foundation for the random spec back porch I have.

Tomatoes in Winter?!? appears so ....

The onions and garlic are goin strong. A very promising harvest this coming fall. Again Thank You Mommy and Daddy for taking away the extra collard greens ... I am so tired of eating collard green....

Sweet potato is making progress and showing quite a bit of promise for this year. P.S. it is a grocery store sweet potato that I just stuck a stick in and then placed in water. The other veggies are leeks that I am seeing if they will grow. My understanding is that they like cold weather, but I could be wrong and end up with some leeks. We shall see.