My Next Project

I should change the title to My Next BIG Project because I have a feeling this is going to turn into a big project.  When Vince and I bought our house it had a nice big garden in the back.  Vince loved that about the place.  I thought I would love that about the place too.  As it turns out, I was not the avid gardener that I thought I might be and without any help from me or the girls (they adopted my lazy attitude toward gardening) Vince quickly lost the zeal that he first felt when tending the garden.  He kept the garden for a few years, mostly because every spring I would be very optimistic about my role in the caretaking of the thing.  And I'd zealously help with the planting and the first few waterings, then as soon as the weeds started growing and I realized that the future work would involve bending, squatting and working in dirt, I'd turn it over to Vince again.  God bless his soul.........Vince went through this ritual every year with me and ended up doing all the work while my only role would be some harvesting and of course, using the yield in my culinary creations.  Vince had tried to turn the garden into lawn for several years but I kept insisting that we would make it work "this year". Then it happened!  It was fall and we had a bumper crop of acorn squash that needed harvesting.  Kelsey was in grade school and eager to help out so he was asked to go out and pick the squash and bring them in the house.  We gave her a couple of large rubbermaid containers and in no time she had them filled.  Vince brought them in the house where I was going to wash them off before storing them for the winter.  I hadn't more than began when I saw it.......a huge black spider crawling from the tubs onto my counter.  I am not a fan of spiders and this one was a black widow......I just knew it!  Turns out I was right.  That red hour glass couldn't have been more clear!  That was the night I gave Vince the go ahead to turn that garden into lawn!
It wasn't until after the next spring, after Vince had planted the plot with grass, that he told me that we'd had black widows for years.  My dad had given Vince an old homemade trailer that was filled with lumber scraps and it was parked beside the garden........beside the squash patch to be more specific.  He had seen the widows in there nearly every summer since we moved the trailer there.  I couldn't get upset with him not telling me.....it would have kept me from being in that part of the yard all together if I'd have known!
So now we jump to 2012.  I'm feeling much more spry at my current fighting weight, and I no longer dread the hot days of summer.  I actually look forward to being outside in the heat and I'm letting myself think about gardening again.  You need to know........my best friend in an avid gardener and spends her winters just waiting for spring so she can get out and start playing in the mud again.  I love her garden and I'm jealous that I don't have that passion.  But I'm not fool enough to think that I can just jump right in there and instantly be a gardener like her.  I do think, however, that it's okay for me to give it a go on a small scale.
So I'm happy to announce that I'm going to give raised bed gardening a try.  I asked Vince if he would help me with the endeavor and he has agreed.  Well, his exact words were "By HELP, do you mean build the raised beds and get them installed and ready to plant?"  Oh, he knows me so well. 
I have been researching the raised bed technique and I think I have a good idea of what we need.  Tomorrow I am bringing the pickup to Great Falls with me so I can get my supplies.  I'm hoping to start out with 2 or 3 beds.  I'd like more, but as hard as it is, I am trying to keep my enthusiasm in check to keep from overdoing it.  That will increase my odds of success greatly!
So once I have the supplies for the actual bed I'll start looking for topsoil.  When we had the garden back there it was terribly weedy.  Seemed like it had been planted with a crop of weeds at one time and they just kept coming back.  I'm going to throw some landscaping fabric down to keep some of those weeds that are in the grass now out of my beds, so I am hoping to find some topsoil without too any weeds too.
And then I'll get to pick my crops..... feel free to give your suggestions.  With all the fresh produce we eat at this house, I can't think of one crop that we wouldn't love to have!
Here's how I picture it.  I'll be sharing pictures as we move along with this new endeavor.  And crossing my fingers that mine will look half as great as this!