I got me some raised beds

Me, in March, "Boy, keeping the paths in the garden cleared each summer is pretty back-breaking.  I wish we could lay stones or something to keep the weeds down."

Some internet searching... then, "I guess if we were going to do that, what would really look great is if we had raised beds too."

I had impossible material criteria, such as:
- Zero maintenance
- Recycled
- Pretty
- Cheap.  Ideally, free.

And I'll be damned if the internet didn't come through, with an idea to build walls and dig in paths made of "urbanite," or broken up hunks of concrete.

I posted a "wanted" ad on Craigslist for free, busted up concrete.  It took longer than I'd hoped, and we had a few false starts, but then a woman in Post Falls emailed me and said she had a 400 ft. wall made of cinder blocks that she wanted gone, and if we could come haul them away, they were ours.

 So we did (with, as usual, DIL and little brother's great assistance).  And the blocks were BEAUTIFUL.

 And a little while later, I got another email.  This time from a man who had a lot of concrete he wanted to get rid of.  Not only that, he was able to deliver it to us.  Not only THAT, but he also had some really nice dirt to unload, and he was happy to haul that to us as well, and we could use it to fill our new beds.

This has nothing to do with the garden, but aren't they cute?

 Here is where I'm super glad I was not in charge of this project.  It didn't occur to me that leveling and measuring and all that would be such a big deal.  But under DIL's advice, the hubs was meticulous about the whole thing.  And I cringe when I think of how sloppy it would look if I'd had my way and just slapped it all together.

We had a moose in our yard for a day.  It was exciting.

 Holy cow, did the hubs WORK on this thing this summer.  My job was to chip the old mortar off the cinder blocks, haul them to him, keep the weeds down, and bring him iced tea.  His job was everything else, and it was totally backbreaking and hot and TOOK FOREVER, and he's not much of a sun guy in the first place.  Total trouper.

Also, little brother was here pretty much every week, just to hang out, but really to help lots and lots and lots.
 

 And enjoy rainbows.

 We've got one more bed and a few more paths to do next spring, but it's over halfway done and it looks amazing.  The skill and strength of these guys impresses me to no end.

Love, J