HouseNJ

We wanted to use our backyard more...  It's not big. The soil is hard and poor. Even the grass does not grow well - it's mostly weeds and maple shoots. Kiddo has a waddling pool full of purple sand. We have a small grill and a table. That's it.... We thought and thought and thought... When we had an urge to grow things. When we were growing up our families had a "dacha" - a summer house with a garden (700-1500 sq. yards). Both of us have some painful memories of grown-ups doing hard work over there every year.  With a short Siberian summer, my grandma started preparing to the season in February by roasting (I'm kidding you not) the soil for the seedlings. We also collected dried potato peel (it weights less this way and it can be easily brought to the compost pile later), egg shells, tea, etc. It could be proudly called an organic garden. Even the house itself was built from reclaimed wood, with old toys inside the walls for insulation (again, I'm kidding you not). And what a pretty house it was! Sky blue with yellow hand-sawn ornamental trim! Anything and everything grew there: veggies, fruits, berries, flowers - you name it, we had it. We have some fond memories tending our "little garden" - a row of pansies or some other small flowers along the side of the greenhouse; memories of a perfect summer drink made from freshly squeezed berries; or how exciting it was to finally find that hiding cucumber... And every year on the first day of school we would bring a big bouquet for the teachers. Yes, we had an urge to grow things, and a desire to let the kiddo experience growing her own food. But we could not commit ourselves to as much work as gardening was in our memory. Then we saw an article in the "ReadyMade" magazine, which made us go and find a book "All New Square Foot Gardening". Our parents' gardens were NOT the row gardens, they were very close to the idea of SFG, BUT something was different. And as we learned from the book, the catch was in the soil.  Most of the [labor intense] work you do in your garden is aimed at improving the soil condition, and dealing with the weeds. When the book showed us that it's possible to have a better gardening experience - we were hooked! It also provided simple step-by-step instructions on building the raised beds, mixing the "perfect soil-less soil", and all the other things you need to know before getting started. Here are some photographs of us setting up our garden. We have 2 boxes, 16 sq. ft. each.
	First we scraped the top layer of soil off to get rid of the weeds. Then, the boxes were lined with the Weed blocker and a piece of cardboard to prevent the weeds from growing.
	Here are the "ingredients" for the perfect pliable soil that you'll love working with: equal parts of peat moss, vermiculite and mixed compost (we used: humus, manure, mushroom compost).
	Here we are mixing it all together before transferring the soil into the box. The mix should be misted over sometimes to help minimize the dust. Once the soil is in the box, water it lightly and plant your seeds or transplants.
To be continued...