Wow I'm first. I didn't even read your post yet.

First?

No - not first :( It is just square watermelons? Or other square fruits and vegetables?

The FIRST and BEST tool I could ever use would be my Grandma, that was raised on a farm, and still has a little backyard garden. (82!) We get the best tomatoes and peppers, but, no square watermelons. I should ask her why. LOL

4 x 8 is a good size for raised beds. in your gardening endeavor, compost and mulch are your best friends!

i don't think i can grow okra here (zone 7/8). you're brave for taking on a garden. it's much cheaper than therapy.

Last spring, I had the ever so brilliant idea that I was going to plant myself a wee garden in planter boxes on my balcony. Something simple, like green onions and leaf lettuce and parsley so I could get home and make myself fresh salad every single day, ya' know...

So I trucked to my not-so local Home Depot (because I live downtown, and HELLO! we super urbanites do not need something so shamefully DIY as a Home Depot within miles and miles and miles) and bought the lovely little planters and went hog wild on buying the seeds for my little garden, and I carted it all home like a good little gardener.

'cept that in my enthusiasm to start growing my little garden, I forgot a key ingredient. Specifically, the dirtsoil. Thereby rendering my seeds a planters useless until I could get some. No problem. Surely to GOD I could find some time in the following THREE MONTHS! to get back to Home Depot to get some dirt. Right?

Um, not so much. So now I have empty planters sitting on my balcony which is perhaps the most pathetic looking thing I have ever seen. Maybe I'll get around to it this year???

So I am so jealous of the Back 40, your okra, and that pretty Cali sun! I have .06 acres, which recieves .06 hours of sunshine a day - doens't stop me from trying ot grow things, just makes me VERY unsuccessfull and wondering... "why little basil plant, are you so attached to the sun that you can't continue to grow with out it?"

And catching up from this weekend (cuz I love spending time at work catchin' up on the CAP action) I truly think that your break down in Paris was a good thing. I'm a big believer in the whole energy exchange... when we go through trauma and sad events (insert divorce) we build up a whole hell of a lot of energy just gettin' through it - and well, when we start to recover we slowly start to release said energy. Maybe your treadmill was losenin' it all up and then the excitement of PAris allowed you to expel some, in the form of ugly crying, noone likes to do it, everyone needs to do it every now and again! It's a sign of recovery - embrace it!

Lovin' your blog, keep 'em comin'!

Why does it have to be so far away from the house? Wouldn't it be better to have it closer to the house so you can WATCH the woodland creatures eating your watermelons? That's what we do at our house.. we plant vegtables so the rabbits and squirrels don't starve.

Well, I'm gonna plant a couple of tomato plants, some okra, peppers and some herbs. Last year I grew tomatoes and herbs in my container garden (I'm much better at container gardening than yard-gardening, so I figure raised beds are just big containers, I should be OK).

With the watermelons, I'm doing two plants per bed, each on a corner. Then I'm going to plant four hills -- one in each corner of the Back 40 -- as an experiment to see if the raised beds do better than the hills. Oh! I'm planting a pumpkin hill too, but it's closer to the front backyard.

You are patient enough for SEEDS????? I can't do seeds. I need instant gratification and I need it NOW. I buy the plants from Lowes that already have a little tomato on them!

I hope, for the sake of your square watermelons, that the back 40 gets more sunshine than that!

Nice job with the power tools! My husband once struggled to build our son a wooden swing set from a kit. It took him forever to assemble it. When I went out to check his progress he complained that the drill bit wasn't sharp enough to go through the wood. I looked. He had the drill on 'reverse'. *HA*

I look forward to the pix of square watermelon! Hey, are your pumpkins gonna be square, too? Think of the fun at halloween

hehehe... stacey, I do have a few things closer to the house... and this year my gardener has gone completely insane with the hedges and every now and then he just cuts down an entire shrub. One day I came home and the shrubs by the laundry room door were... gone. Missing. Nada. So tonight I'm going back to Home Depot to get small boards to create a three-sided box where the shrubs used to be, and that is right up against the house. I'm putting the okra there, with some marigolds, and one tomato plant.

I'm trying to use the cheapest materials and keep this whole experiment under $150. We'll see.

WOW! Sunshine, grass, hedges and whacked bluejays. I love spring. It's snowing here. Have some spring fun for me.

Oh! Sqyare pumpkins! Maybe ;)

The Back 40 is scorching sunny. This is the valley. We scorch a lot here. I think I took that picture at 7 a.m., pre big-sun ;)

your Back 40 will be beautiful! now you're got ME motivated! :-)

my question is how are you going to carry your "box" to the "back40"?? might you wait for your hunky gardener??

Hmmm. Love the theory, chickie. My big thing is growing flowers. Cuz .. with no man to bring me flowers I decided I can just grow my own then make myself a bouquet any damn time I please (bastards!!) [sorry. Just spent the last THREE DAYS at a wedding celebration so excuse me if my Single Bitterness is showing! (damn happy couples! BAH!)].

Shit ... where was I? Oh right. Gardening. My question ... what's your plan on keeping that there Blue Jay from eating your seeds?

BTW, I finished the Brangelina hat in the baby alpaca. I'll send you a pic. May actually get one posted later today or tomorrow too once my camera battery gets recharged enough for me to offload the pics.

AND I may actually lay off the coffee for the rest of the day. I'm pretty sure this non-stop babbling at you is a very clear indicator that I've caffeinated enough already. ;)

Are you planning to grow the okra square, too? Just askin'. Cause, you know, square gumbo.

I know! A whole jarfull of square pickled okra!

I love how you decide to do something, and then just do it. I spend hours and days and weeks mulling over the pros and cons of freakin' everything. No doubt you'll learn a lot and your garden will be lovely! I am determined to grow herbs in containers on my porch this summer. My neighbor is a big gardener and he'll likely donate a few containers to the cause if I share the bounty. Yeah for a new season!!

You are so brave to garden. Each time I try it backfires because Nature just hates me! I know it!

Oh my gosh, Lauren, think of it: A SQUARE MEAL !!!

Kat! You know, ok, this is maybe one of the cheesier things I have ever admitted on this website, but my mom used to quote me a line from some "pome" she read: you got to plant your own garden, and decorate your own soul. I think that is part of the reason I'm doing this, and I do plan to mix flowers in there. Mostly marigolds because in theory they keep out bugs.

My hunka-hunka-burnin' gardener will have to help me move this thing for sure. I hope he if sufficiently AWED by my mad carpentry skillz. yo yo.

Hi! Can I be OCD too? I think the bluejay is actually a Mexican Jay. Even though it's blue.

See? Totally obsessive over irrelevant issues. Please excuse me. It's just that the baseball season has started, and the word "Bluejays" means alot to a fan from Toronto!

I am totally looking forward to seeing the garden progress. The square watermelons in particular!

Hmmm. Square meal, huh? Well, the tomatoes could be grown square. And the wine could be the boxed kind...

For future reference if you need it raised beds shouldn't be wider than 4 or 5 feet so that you can reach the middle without climbing in. It can be as long as you want it to be.

Um... I've never grown square watermelons but don't you need actual watermelon plants/seeds for that?

I'm impressed! Nice work on the carpentry.

When my husband and I went to Disneyworld we toured a garden where they were growing Mickey Mouse head shaped watermelon. Wouldn't that be fun! "Here kids, eat Mickey's head!"

Laurie, you inspire me. I planted some bulbs about 8 years ago. Plus a chive plant that is constantly menaced by evil crawly thorny things. I know what I need! I need to build me some dirtboxes! I cannot wait to hear what DH will say. (Actually I can wait: he will say "Maybe you should clean the bedroom first, honey.")

don't forget to pick the okra while it is tender...it gets so "woody"

OMG how cute!
Don't forget the black plastic garbage-bag-style stuff to line your box with...you'll save yourself from weed hell that way!

Everytime I try to garden, it becomes an offering to The Ants.

Just from experience, that okra will get scorched if not watered enough (Louisiana sun and humidity + lazy person = scorched okra).
I love fried okra. I put some up last year (you know...froze some in the freezer) with the meal already on it and it was awesome.
Anyway, I'm rambling...good luck on the garden.

longtime lurker - first time commenter. I ****ing love you. I just need you to know that. Come to Philadelphia! You can grow things in the sad little planter languishing on my balcony. :)

God lord, a square watermelon? I am amazed and excited!

I think it is very cool that you have two backyards! And I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to hearing more about the gardening adventures over the next few months. This could be big. HUGE!

I don't have a back 40 but I do have a side yard bigger than most backyards. And it's kind of hidden. Like if you were to walk outside and turn, surprise! A side yard. Someday raised beds with tomatoes, zuccinni & potatoes will live there. Someday.

A square garden for square watermelon, how appropriate. Unless you are planning on growing a square watermelon 5' x 5', in which case, WOW!

Oh poetry and gardens...how I love summer! Renting a greenspace-less apt, however, I must live vicariously through the internets. Here's some inspiration to stare at while your seeds are growing:

http://www.ljcfyi.com/ljcsProjects/garden/2005garden.html

I built one of these at my old condo. It ended up turning into a litterbox for my dogs. Their decision, not mine. Good luck!! Be sure you have good drainage, otherwise the soil-dirt will spoil.

Heather, we don't get any rain here from about May to Decemnber, so mostly I'm worried about getting it enough water. But I had not considered the litterbox thing. I should probably bury some orange peels or something to keep the alley cats away.

My husband has constructed 8 raised beds. And a large dirt patch in which he attempts to grow record-sized giant pumpkins. I point out how to make things more aesthetic & I am the "financier" as we call it. I am missing a deck and a shotgun for the overseeing. And a mint julep. Good luck to you and all who are growing-inclined.

Planting seeds and watching the wonder they create is so rewarding and something I must do every spring. And sometimes you get something to eat too! After a couple of brutal fights with the squash bugs (and losing) I mostly plant flowers, herbs and perhaps a cherry tomato plant. My apricot tree died so perhaps I will plant another fruit tree. Thanks for getting my farmer genes a flowing. You have a great yard and I can hardly wait to see the progress and what harvest season brings.

Planting seeds and watching the wonder they create is so rewarding and something I must do every spring. And sometimes you get something to eat too! After a couple of brutal fights with the squash bugs (and losing) I mostly plant flowers, herbs and perhaps a cherry tomato plant. My apricot tree died so perhaps I will plant another fruit tree. Thanks for getting my farmer genes a flowing. You have a great yard and I can hardly wait to see the progress and what harvest season brings.

arrrhhh double post, bad double post

Hey Laurie, I was at the acupuncturist on Friday and heard a commercial on Muzak for "organic" soil--yes, Virginia, there IS such as thing as organic dirt--take that to your gardener who told you there was no such thing! I'll bet he eats his hat!

Ooooh, pretty blue jay! I've never seen one before!

Oooohhh - I bought the most wonderful bag of organic seed starting soildirt on Satuday after a horrible experience with 2 whole seed trays (72 EACH) growing horrible mold from BAD BAD soildirt (Never trust Miracle Grow Organic Dirt - Miracle Grow and Organic just don't go together - I should have known!!). So now I'm a bit behind starting from scratch with my little seeds. But I'll be enjoying tomatoes and eggplants 2 weeks after everyone elses have just stopped producing - SO THERE! All is well!

"Honey, you are my guiding light. Don't chu go awaaaay. Eh baby."

Thanks for the inspiration... We had our yard cleaned today of all the fall leaves that didn't give us a chance to clear then up before the snow (here in Connecticut). Anyway, "I'm so excited and I just can't hide it!"

Seriously, though (poor lyric use aside), I'm going to put down some seeds and see what happens. But I do actually have planned garden beds.

Don't worry about pulling weeds. Just throw down some cardboard or six layers of newspaper to smother them. This is called "sheet mulching" and Craigslist has lots of good postings on it.

Mmmm...garden...almost time to start mine, too. I only grow petunias and food. :) Tomatoes, English peas, and green beans this year, and maybe cucumbers and jalapeno peppers. I'd grow zucchini too, except: 1) one plant will supply zucchini for an entire Ohio town for the whole summer, and 2) I am the only member of my family who will eat zucchini. So I'm thinking farmer's market for my minimal zuke needs. My kids would probably love to grow square melons, though!

Oooo I know the best way to get rid of native ants. I'll send you a box o' fire ants. They'll have the other ants cleared out in no time.

Seriously, good luck with the gardening and be glad they ain't the bitin' stingin' kind o' ants.

With all that talk about food, I forgot to say I agree with Pearl; forget weeding! Smother the weeds under your lovely raised bed with some newspapers and pile the dirt on top. I judge from your pictures that you'll still have plenty of room for roots in that lovely raised bed. We're building raised beds in our yard too; it rains a lot here, and our yard, she floods. My husband keeps announcing that our shed is going to burn down, fall over, then sink into the swamp. (He won my heart with his Monty Python quotes.) :)

What Pearl and Yvonne said- put down black plastic, newspaper or commercial black anti-weed sheeting under the box before you fill it with the dirtsoil so the weeds don't come up. And if you are planning to do any hoe-ing in rock hard packed claydirt, you might want to consider renting a tiller for a half-day or so to break up the claydirt for you (save the wine for later when you are whining about your aching muscles or you might till off a toe or two!!). Hoe-ing claydirt that has been packed since the 40's is not for the faint of heart or the John Deere-less. And if you want instant (sort-of) gratification, plant a zucchini plant (warning- just plant ONE!!!) or a little patty pan squash. Come July, people will start running the other way to avoid being gifted with squash. Throw down some marigold seeds too. They are bright and perky, grow well from seed (and reseed themselves), and the scent discourages some pests that might otherwise eat the okra and tomatoes. Oh- and you'll probably need a huge straw hat and garish gardening gloves to really complete the look.

OMG, I had totally forgotten about wearing a giant hat. I am so excited! Gardening accessories!!

And ya'll apparently already know me pretty well, because uh? The newspaper idea? PERFECT. Thank you!!

Welcome to the dark side - where power tools, gardeningand a big cab sav reign supreme!

Greeting from a fellow Cancer garderner. First of all, logistics are only useful for people who understand them - this is kinda not our specialty. You eye the pool, you ask yourself if you could stand the water then you just jump in. that's how you get the box built with no plan but forgo the option of building it in the place you want it. no matter. you'll be great. It is my unsolicited opinion that uptight gardeners kinda miss the point. Oh, on the ants, since I left Texas i have thoroughly enjoyed the absence of fire ants but we do have those horrid large black ants in Maine. An old farmer i once asked about organic ant deterrents advised that you start peeing on the ground around the box as the scent of urine puts ants off. Now, there's a creative excuse for the hedge!

Oh, if you do the newspaper thing spay the papers with water before you put the soildirt on top - cuz the wind will blow it away and drive you crazy otherwise! :) And they'll be tougher on the weeds then too!

Forgive me if I'm being repetitive - I'm meant to be working at the moment but isntead, posting and not reading other comments first! Anyway, before you put the dirt in the box that will be poised in the back garden, put some wet newspaper down over the weeds. This will make sure those weeds don't magically grow up through the dirt (soil, oops) in your raised bed. :-)

Works very well and is biodegradable (provided the ink is soy ink).

I love this newspaper idea. Muy Bueno. I'm not sure about peeing to get rid of the ants though. My neighbors already think I am a touch unusual, not too sure how well that would go over. "Hi ya'll! Just enjoying my morning pee in the fresh air! Hello!"

Uh oh, someone's handy with a drill!

Had to tell you, my neighbors tried to grow watermelons last year, well ants got into the fruit. It was as gross as it sounds. North West Florida aka the Redneck Riviera has become the fire ant capital of the world, and I don't want them in my fruit, so I found out that to keep the bugs out of the fruit you should plant some marigolds in with the watermelons because for some reason the bugs don't like the marigolds.

Ummmm ... isn't it a wee bit dangerous to mix wine and power tools? Just sayin'.

Melissa, I am totally going marigold crazy in my garden, and garlic crazy too, that's supposed to ward off some other pest...? Or something. I'm completely against using chemicals... heh... for now ;) Lord knows what I will do when I see a bug.

Luckily we do not have fire ants out here, I grew up with those suckers and do NOT miss them. We just have billions of little black ants. And some other gross bugs. Like spiders.

I hate bugs.

Dagny: I am a cautionary tale.

Laurie, check out Smith & Hawken for good ideas (and then try to find them cheaper somewhere else...they're pretty pricey). Their website is http://www.smithandhawken.com/home.jhtml.

I'm sure that the Mart of Wal will have big floppy straw hats. Be sure to apply plenty of sunscreen...get yourself one of those soft foam kneeling pads, it's a big help when you're working in the soildirt.

Maybe your local Ace Hardware has those little bags of ladybugs, and tubs of worms....if you can get 'em, I would buy some. Ladybugs eat aphids and other critters, and worms aerate your soil plus they eat garbage. They make your soildirt more fertile.

Ooh, here's a good website link with info about using coffee grounds (you can get big bags of them for free @ Starbucks!) as fertilizer etc.: http://www.sustainableenterprises.com/Business/coffeefert.htm

:)

I am so jealous. I actually tried my hand at gardening last year in spite of the fact that any indoor plant I have ever had has died. After a couple of hundred bucks of new tools and potting soil and carefully-selected shade-tolerant (trees in front, not much light) perennial (so I only have to do it once) zone 5 plants I found that I was supposed to be watering the living crap out of them for the first few whatever. This of course was after my rose and some other plants were sent while there was snow on the still-frozen ground. When it slightly warmed up I was so dumb I thought there was a thin layer of topsoil on top of a buried cement patio (bastards!). I figured all the rain we get would do cover any watering needs but no. I may just say the hell with it but there are a very few new leaves trying to peep through last fall's dead leaves. And the daffodils are coming along swimmingly for their second year but since the trees aren't remotely near leafed out they still get sunlight. Mmmm. Sunlight. Warmth.

Your raised plant bed rocks. Power tools are the best.

Go get some weed plastic sheeting stuff!
Around mid summer it's hard to feel like weeding even for your beloved veggies.
I like okra too. I hope to grow the big cowhorn one this year.
Good Luck!

Laurie,
Forgive me if this is a repeat of what someone else has already mentioned, but be sure and pick a nice sunny spot, AWAY from that hedge. A garden needs some sun, especially melons.
Ann

Definitely get a bag of ladybugs (the friendliest of the bugs, you know...). Aside from eating the nasty teeny tiny crawly aphids, they might even bring you some luck.

And I'm jealous - you have two whole yards and I don't even have one.

A good book for anal-retentive gardeners: Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. Keeps everything nice and neat. And discourages the cats from using it as a litter box.

First of all, I am jealous of your back 40. I built a raised bed garden a few years ago, right after we bought our house. I had much sucess veggie gardening in my little appartment, and was stoked to have space. Bigger, more... canning.. the whole bit.

However, after 4 summers of trying, I am throwing in the towel. My garden doesn't get enough sun to grow veggies. I think I'm going to resort to pots this year, that I can move with the sun. We'll see how it goes.

we got the little jiffy greenhouses and we have plants!!! we may even get around to planting them this year instead of neglecting them and letting them dry up like they did last year :( have fun and take lots of pics!!!

Hello Laurie! Love the bird--I believe what ya got there is an inland Scrub Jay. He's beautiful--hope he sticks around!

Everytime I just love you more & more!

I can't wait to see your garden progress, and I too love your divided yard. Thank you loopy 40's era people!

You've helped to solidify my decision to attempt some amateur gardening on my delightful patio!

Laurie, I love your stories, they make me smile and laugh. I laughed out loud over this one, first time since I have laughed like that for a long time, probably since my husband was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. Bless you for being so funny and being such a great writer! Liz

love it- it makes me wish i was in the valley again.sometimes it sucks living in downtown. I had a garden for awail. your box looks great you are well on your way!! good luck!

my mother in law (in the deep south) has two backyards... and yes, the hedge within the other hedge is to keep the neighbors from seeing the (gasp!) laundry hanging on the line!! becuase obviously in the deep south wet & hanging laundry is something embarrassing... and what's even weirder is nobody hangs their wet laundry anymore.

just so ya know.

Have you figured out how to get that lovely square shape? I recommend plexiglass. Cheap.Durable.Workable.

Lurv your melons...heh...

Hey Purl! Do you have your required crazy-Southern-lady hat for gardening and protecting of the complex-shun? I love mine, and never go to my herb bed without it. Cuz ya know, it's all about the outfit.

p.s. I know your name is Laurie, but it's just too much danged fun to type "hay Purl!" I love it.

"One hoe, still unpimped"

I am looking forward to the pimping entry.

Hi Laurie,

I've been reading your blog for a couple of months, but this is my first time posting. Next time you're at the library, look and see if they have a copy of "Lasagna Gardening" by Patricia Lanza. It might be a little late in the season to implement most of her ideas, but it's a great book to have on hand.

I love okra!!! It reminds me of my grandmother's garden in Knoxville, TN. She always had okra.

Good luck with your garden!

Kneepads! Well, every other advice has been given, but you will totally kill you knees if you don't wear 'em, and the little foam kneeler will always be on the wrong side of the hedge when you need it. Also gardening gloves, unless you like the natural dirt manicure look, plus I'm a bit worried about migratory swans cr*pping in my garden with their avian flu. Plus, when you come across a mystery cat poo you only have to chuck a glove, not cut off your whole hand. I like gardeneing, but I am also veeery attatched to my OCD.

Ok, I just had to explain that whole post to my husband so he wouldn't think I was nuts for randomly bursting out laughing... over and over. You are too hilarious. :)

Just wait....you will never want to eat a vegetable from the supermarket again!

Number one, I grew up with a back-backyard too. Weird but cool. Number two, there is a restaurant in rural Utah called the Garden of Eatin'. Did you know this? That is what your title made me think of, and I was distracted for the duration of my reading of your post. Also weird. Less cool.

good luck!! let us know how it goes... no such luck for gardening here in nyc flats!

You lost me at Okra.
But I'm with you on seeds... and cool you got help to make the raised bed box. I grew up with some on our patio in Pasadena as a child.... Sometimes it was onions, sometimes succulents, sometimes wildflowers... California Poppies!

Funny. I thought we were the only ones who had that. Except that ours has a man-made brick grill in the back and tons of poison ivy, as I have learned through many days and nights of itching and scratching.

Okra is the perfect thing to grow ... I kill everything, but not okra, I can grow the heck out of okra ...

one tip. The first time I tried, I was so excited by my success that I let it grow and grow and grow ... it got huge. And it became inedible.

You have to pick the pods when they're small ... otherwise, you're just growing gourds.

I have this weird feeling that that is a fake bird under the tree.

Come on, you can tell me.....

LOL shari, it is a real bird! Although I was reprimanded by Bob and John, two readers who via email accused me of sullying the good name of blue jays everywhere with a picture of a "scrub jay" as Shari1 pointed out earlier LOL.

I have a whole family of those blue-scrub-jays living in the yard. Blue birds!

Woman, you are crazy! I love you, you remind me of, well..... Me! I do the same kind of crazy things.

So how come soba wasn't helping? you should plant some catnip.

Being a girl from the South, you simply MUST have a wide-brimmed hat to garden!!

Here in Minnesota, we stick with whatever we can find at the mother of all stores, Cabella's, which in my case is a kind of safari-meets-baseball cap with a huge brim and flap in the back.

The best gardening trick of all time? Buy the RED sheets of plastic to put under your tomato plants. It supposedly tricks your plants into thinking that there are other tomatoes around, and makes the plant rush to produce fruit--kind of a survival of the fittest thing. We used it two years ago, but not last year. You could absolutely see the difference.

I think what you need is a gardening party (as opposed to a garden party). Shovels, wheelbarrow, dirt, compost, bunch of bloggers and of course plenty of alcoholic refreshments.

What is the name for a group of bloggers? Bunch, bevy, a blog of bloggers?

Garden on gir! You MUST read "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Something-or-Other. Chock full of useful raised bed info.
I must second the put-it-where-you-can-see-it suggestion - it will make your little heart glad every time you peek out the back window.
We have our first two tomatoes on the vine and our first (ever!) little pink strawberry. So exciting!

OK since you have a bazillion comments and i am 2 margaritas (ok 3) to the wind...i am not going to read them all, but i WILL say...if u plant okra seeds, watermelon wont grow...lol..watermelon seeds=watermelon! hee,heee,hee...im sucha smartass!

The last post had a kitty in a box, and now you're building a box for your garden...hmmm...boxes. There has to be subtext here somewhere.