Building Some New Raised Garden Beds

raised beds

We’ve been working on building some new raised garden beds this fall. It’s an ongoing project, I’m sure we’ll still be working on them in the spring.

The first couple are going to be for perennials, you can see some strawberries peeking out of one above. I also have some asparagus, horseradish, red raspberries (maybe), and rhubarb to be relocated into the beds from other places on our property.

I already have a couple raised beds next to the house for my kitchen herb garden. Since they’ve worked out so well I’ve decided to add more for vegetables and edible perennials.

I’ve been adding compost, a partially composted mixture of cow, pig and horse manure, fall leaves and some top soil someone gave us. I plan to layer in more through the winter.

I’ll be back with progress updates as we go.

Tomato and Basil Caprese Salad

tomato stacks

One of my favorite late summer treats is a fresh tomato right out of the garden. Add in a little fresh mozzarella cheese, and some fresh basil, and you have the ultimate combination. I think the formal name for it is a Caprese Salad, but I call them tomato stacks.

I like to stack them all together for a mid to late summer version of an appetizer or salad. It can even be a mid afternoon snack. I simply slice up a tomato or two, layer in some fresh mozzarella, and and add a few basil leaves to top it all off.

The combination is fabulous!

I can’t get enough fresh tomatoes this time of year. They taste like sunshine straight from the garden. My tomatoes are dwindling down to the last few, so I’m enjoying them while I can!

Image (c) L Gerlach

Make a Recycled Toad House From An Old Clay Pot

toad house clay pot

Earth Day is coming up April 22nd, so I wanted to do a project that reuses something I already have. Since my old toad house rejoined the earth last year when it fell apart, I thought I’d make a new one.

I had an old clay pot that’s seen better days sitting out in my herb garden, I thought I’d re-purpose it for this year as my new toad house. The pot was perfect, it had a large triangle broken out of the top rim which will be the perfect toad entrance when I turn the pot over.

The pot had a few other cracks, but I sealed them up and painted the pot. You wouldn’t even have to paint the pot if you didn’t want to, but I thought it might be fun to paint the toad house and add a little interest to my garden.

So I wiped it down with a damp cloth, and gave the toad house a fresh coat of paint. I also painted on some spring flowers, and a welcome message for the toads (just in case they can read). I kept it simple since I’m not a fabulous painter.

Then we found a nice shady spot in the garden, tucked between a couple Boxwood bushes to give the toad house a permanent spot. Now we’ll have to wait and see if any toads take us up on the offer this summer.