Having an 8 person jacuzzi when your kids are in high school is definitely the way to go. For several years there was always a weekend gathering at our house. Yes, that giant vat did serve a purpose...keeping the kiddos and their associates close to home and out of any involvement in unsavory shenanigans (that we know of anyway.)
However, what with a now empty nest (most of the time) and no desire to keep an extra 500 gallons of hot water on hand, the hubby and I actually wondered , "what would we like to do with the newly available space?" My idea of turning it into a grape stomping venue was nixed immediately--dang! Once we
Due to the lack of space we decided to go with the Mel Bartholomew's "square foot" gardening method. His book is fantastic and we've been employing his method for decades, always with great success. The odd shaped 11 x 12 foot area gave us room for two 7 x 3 foot raised planter beds. That's a whopping 42 squares for planting--just perfect for the two of us. Thankfully my man is handy, and my son (home for the summer) was willing to help with the
If you're not great with tools and a bit of math, there are numerous sites where you can purchase a pre-made raised bed kit. We used 2 x 6 treated redwood, stacked to have 12 inch deep beds, since we basically live on a sand dune. Having extra room for root development is a must in our area, but with normal soil, a 6-8 inch depth is just fine.
Our local landscape supply company delivered the planting mix after we calculated how many square yards we needed here's for the formula. We used 2/3 planting mix and 1/3 organic matter--mixed and dumped on the driveway. The boys worked while I cheered them on (darn hand surgery.)
We're already enjoying the
Make it a great day...or not. The choice is yours!
