Cheap and (Not Very) Good Lookin'

The front yard is for the deer, the back yard is for people where I live. The back yard is fenced, so the deer don't bother it, and we like to spend a lot of time out there. But it desparately needs a landscape plan. Little by little over the 10+ years we've lived here, I've been sticking plants I like around the perimeter of the yard. There's not a lot of rhyme or reason to it, but I still enjoy it. I tried veggie gardens in a couple of different places, but the soil's bad and when I tried to amend it, the good soil would wash away down the hill. I want to put in raised beds, but don't yet know where I want to put them permanently. One of these days I'll have a landscaper draw up a plan. But in the mean time, I decided to do something temporary and inexpensive: a cinder block raised bed. It doesn't look great, but it's practical.

One picture above was taken in May -- right after we built the bed. First I put down lots of layers of newspaper. Then we put the blocks down. We filled the "holes" with pea gravel to half way up on the top block, then filled the main area and the top of the holes with a mixture of my own compost, a garden mix, and some planting mix we had delivered from a local place. I put block caps on a few of the blocks on one side to create a seat as well as a step for harvesting.

The other picture was taken the end of July. By that time I had harvested broccoli, hot peppers, tomatillos, and a few Japanese eggplant. The nasturtiums and marigolds I planted in the holes reallly filled in.

Now it's August. Tomatoes are large and green. I'm still harvesting tomatillos and eggplant. The peppers have slowed down but there are still a couple coming. I am harvesting oodles and oodles of lemon cucumbers. Where the broccoli was I have planted pole beans, bush beans and some snow peas for fall harvesting, along with brussel sprouts. I don't even like brussel sprouts, really, but I didn't think I liked eggplant, either, and we've eaten it. I planted them because they are supposed to be very resistant to cold. I figure ... put some garlic and olive oil on them and roast them in the oven. Just about any veggie tastes good done that way.

Anyway...the ugly cinder block garden isn't so ugly to me anymore. It's really worked out well. Next year I might just add a couple more.