Jason and Julie's Garden: Garden Area Tilled

I stopped by Jason and Julie's garden this week in Loveland, CO, and they took on the project of tilling the soil to get it ready for irrigation over the past weekend.  While it could be argued that they only needed to dig trenches for the irrigation, the existing soil was uneven, hard-packed, and full of weeds.  By tilling the entire area, it's a "fresh start" that will make it easier to get the irrigation tubing in place, as well as to level the ground for the planters.

While taking this photo, Julie asked me about the succession of planters.  They want to get some done this year, and expand in upcoming years as they have the time, finances, and strength to pull it off.  While I had a preference for starting from the fence this year, and moving forward in coming years, there is also logic to starting on the near edge, and working back - it will be more visible to the rest of the yard immediately, and then expansion area will be in the background.  The only advice I gave was to ensure that they don't box themselves in, and give plenty of room to get to the back area.

I believe the planter size they are going to build will be 4' x 8', but we also discussed making sure that the length on the long sides is not so long that the wood bows (as we saw in Courtney & Dean's initial design).  It's important to factor the building materials, as Jason and Julie have not yet committed to the 4x4 and 2x12 wood we use in our own garden.  If a thinner material is used, it most certainly will need mid-length support, particularly on any 2-board high planters.

They took additional pictures of the tilling process (action photos!), so looking forward to getting copies and posting.