circle garden

[rainbowgardener]

So some of you may remember that last year (along with five square and rectangular veggie garden beds) I built the first quarter of what will be a 24 ft in diameter circle garden with a path around the outside and paths through the middle.

I'm working on the next quarter now and we just bought the bricks. This is actually the bricks for two quarters, because they had a sale on bulk quantities and I saved $150 by buying it all at once

four thousand pounds (two tons) of bricks! We had to bring it in two truck loads, because it was too heavy for one.

It looked like we had built a wall along both sides of our driveway!

[applestar]

Ooh! Lots of work ahead! No need for membership at the gym

[imafan26]

Keep the Ben Gay handy.

[rainbowgardener]

Yes, we are still working on moving them from the driveway to the backyard.... Got most of them but a few more wagon loads to go.

[rainbowgardener]

So here's the current state. In the background next to our yellow shed is the chicken coop and run, still empty.

Behind that, the large brown shed is the tack shop at the horse ranch behind us.

[rainbowgardener]

more pictures of progress

the tough part is getting everything lined up and leveled!

[applestar]

Looking great! Smart to start using the ground, and when it's all completed, your circle garden will be fabulous!

[rainbowgardener]

Progress got slowed down-- we had a bunch of days that were too cold and/or rainy to work on it and I've been spending a lot of time working with the dogs and the chickens (chicken desensitization I am calling it). But some progress has been made.

Now I just have the outside arc to do, which is of course the longest wall and the hardest to get all the measurements right.


I'm not sure I would have started this if I had really been able to imagine better how much work it would be. But I love how it looks and how I think it will look. Once I get this quarter done, I will just garden the ground in the other half and then build one more quarter in the fall. Next spring the final quarter and it will have taken two years to complete! (But of course in the meantime I built six other raised beds, gardened them and did a lot of other stuff.)

I should take a close up of the level, showing "on the bubble." I'm proud of that!

[applestar]

Your hard work is definitely going to pay off

...I have been curious -- what are you cutting with the extra long handled ...loppers?

[rainbowgardener]

Big tree roots that get exposed. Sometimes they have to be cut because they interfere with the leveling. If you click on the third picture from the top, you can see one near the bottom edge, left of center.

That is from the big tree behind the fence, about 40 feet away!

[rainbowgardener]

Finally! I still have to fix the corners, which involves splitting some bricks and finish filling it.

The hardest part is always getting the bottom layer set in and level. Harder this time because the ground there slopes down. AND then really tricky to get the outer curve right so that it matches up with the other one and looks like they are all part of the same circle. I think we did a pretty good job!

[imafan26]

Good Job.

[wisconsindead]

Very cool.

[applestar]

Halfway there and DOUBLE the planting space! What will you grow in this one?

[rainbowgardener]

since we are well into warm weather, this one will be planted mostly with corn and squash for now....

No more building now until fall. Not work you want to be doing in summer heat anyway and I'm very ready to be a gardener for awhile instead of a builder! In fall I will build the third section and next year (two years after I started!) the fourth one. A bit more of a project than I bargained for and has slowed down progress in other areas. But it will be very cool and a lot of gardening space when it is done.

[bri80]

Looking good!

[rainbowgardener]

So almost finished! Still need to finish the last corner, clean everything up, and fix the path outside with the black edging.

But in the meantime it is as filled as it is going to get for now. If I had more stuff, I'd fill it a bit deeper, but oh well! It was about half full just with native dirt, including some that was dug out of the path and in the leveling process. Then there's a layer of used straw from the chicken coop, fall leaves and grass clippings, compost, the last of the truck load of premium topsoil I bought last year, a couple bags of purchased garden soil and a bag of potting soil, just to plant seeds in.

It is planted with a 4' diameter spiral of corn with winter squash plants around the outside, where they can trail out into the yard.

Other than finishing the last details, no more building until fall!

[applestar]

Yay! With this much done, it's easy to envision the other half. Looking forward to seeing your garden grow.