# 2013 Garden - The "Lazarus" project.....



## dward51 (Mar 9, 2013)

Well it's 2013.   As I sit here looking out the window, I think I may try and bring our neglected vegetable garden back from the dead so to speak.  First a little background...

*Flashback..... Ah, the good old days!*

In 2004 our daughter had to choose a project for her Agra-science class in high school.  One of the options was to make a new garden, and this is what she choose.  We had a friend with a fairly large farm tractor and a plethora of implements who offered to help.  He sent his son over with the tractor and a PTO hydraulic tiller and in about 10 minutes the section of yard where the garden was to go was light and fluffy to a depth of about 10".  This would have taken us forever by hand.  If any of you have ever dealt with Georgia red clay, you will fully understand what I mean.

Next, I made 4 raised beds with 2x10" framing material, each 3' wide by 24' long.  Bolted it all together and even installed a drip irrigation soaker hose system as we often have hot dry summers.  Well, it's sort of a pseudo-install as I have to run the garden hose to the connection point at the beds where it transitions to PVC which is run under ground to each bed, each with it's own cut off valve (I found running all 4 soakers at once gave low pressure at the upper beds due to the slope of the land, the valves let me balance the output or just do a single bed).

So that spring she planted her garden and got an A+ in Agra-science.  That year the entire family had a great time in the garden and harvested quite a bit of food. 

Here are a few photos from 2004













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Even had a watermelon vine climb up the trellis for the pole beans!  Used an old pair of pantie hose to keep it from breaking off the vine.  We eventually did harvest and eat this one too.













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This fellow took up residence between two of the trellis rows. I've always heard these were a good sign of a healthy garden.  The kids used to love to catch bugs and watch her snack down on them.  My take was any time you can have the kids volunteer to patrol the garden for bugs that's a good thing (less work for us)!













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And so it went for the next couple of years.  We would rotate the contents of the beds around, augment the soil every spring and had good harvests.

*And now flash forward from 2004 to 2013.......*

After a few years of hot dry drought conditions, and at least one winter of unusually killing low temps we had lost the yearn for gardening.  Last year I was working a ton of overtime and had little time to prep or work in the garden and we just planted a few tomatoes.  Even the 4 blueberry bushes we had planted in 2010 succumbed to the uber hard freeze (single digits) one winter.  So the ground lay fallow and neglected.

Today it's a sad site compared to it's former bounty.  It is a dead space covered in grass and weeds and only a miracle can save it.  Hence the title the "Lazarus Project".....

At least the centipede grass filled in the rest of the yard since 2004 (no more bare red clay). Although it's brown and dormant now, that will green up once the weather warms more.













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Our weed farm....... (bumper crop from last year)













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Yes, somewhere under those predatory carnivorous weeds, there is a 3/4" soaker hose system. 













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This "was" Lowe's Top Choice pressure treated lumber. Nine years in the weather is taking it's toll. I think we have some crumbling infrastructure here.  Can we get a government bailout? 

So there you have it.  I have confessed my sins......  I am a negligent gardener (Ok, probably don't even deserve to be called a gardener by now at all).

*And now for the rest of the story......*

Well after 35 years in law enforcement, I retired on December 31, 2012.  Like many others out of work, I've been looking for another job as I really am starting to find there is truth to the old saying "it's either time or money".  Seems when you work, and work a lot you have money to do things, but no time.  Once you retire and have the time, and well.... you have no extra money.  Living on a "fixed income" is an adjustment (especially with our youngest daughter still in college).  So I've been looking for a new job since December, but I'm starting to think unless you want to flip burgers at McDonald's or clean toilets somewhere all for minimum wage, there is not much interest in hiring old retired guys now days.

So with that preface in mind, I figured since I'm apparently going to have time now, I might as well start working on bringing this poor neglected plot of land back from the dead,  only caveat is I will be on a budget.

That's the other thing about having time and internet access.  You spend a lot of time seeing what others have accomplished and start to dream.....     More on this later.

*And so it begins...*

Over the coming weeks and months I will update this thread.  I figured posting this will help me stay somewhat focused on trying to get this garden back up to snuff although I do have 100 other "honey do" things to take care of.  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this but the wife is still working, so doing sitting around the house and doing nothing is totally out of the question.  Sounds like I'm going to be working more in retirement than I was for the 35 years I drew a salary as a Lieutenant in law enforcement.

So if I falter and seem to have fallen back into my neglectful ways, please feel free to prod me back to the straight and narrow (as in the straight and narrow planting rows that is....)


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## chef willie (Mar 9, 2013)

hah...good thread.....I'm sure there are a lot of 'us' out here that can relate. I still work Sat & Sun cooking in a 'retirement' joint so consider myself semi-retired but have the rest of the week to do whatever. Have started gardening again after years of not doing it...a small raised bed and a coupla tractor tires left here from previous folks. Got me a coupla chickens last Spring (6 hens & 1 that turned out to be a rooster) to eat bugs and supply eggs that I trade for beers to guys at the VFW bar. Works well....bartering is good. I now stay fairly busy with a new smoker & started making sausage and more jerky than ever. Most gets given away so it's more a hobby than sustainable living. Had to laugh about the money comment...yeah, u either got the time & no money or money & no time. I haven't had a 'real' vacation in years...$$ always earmarked for something else. Regardless, the GF still works so I'm considered, jokingly, the 'house b****' or cabana boy, as I prefer to be called. And you're right..there's no work for us geezers. I'd kill somebody eventually working in a wal-mart or probably stick my head in the fryer at Mac Craps after a few days there. My latest plan is to hit the local Farmers Market next year as a seller with bar-b-que sauces and spice rubs and maybe a few dozen eggs if available. Make a few bucks and call it good....or not...don't matter to me. Got enuf to get by on as long as she stays working and don't feel to obligated to do to much. I've done my 48 years of working & did my military duty...time for me to do whatever I please, or do nothing <grin>. Kinda cool actually. Enjoy that garden gig...open a stand later in the summer and get yourself some tax writeoffs for next year.....a boyz gotta do what a boyz gotta do. It's Happy Hour...I'm outta here.


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## diggingdogfarm (Mar 9, 2013)

Cool!
I hope it's a very rewarding project!

~Martin


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## michael ark (Mar 9, 2013)

I'll be watching.


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## pineywoods (Mar 9, 2013)

Just a thought here if you took some lets say 1" metal conduit and cut them into 16-18" pieces and drove them about 10-12" into the ground along the edge of the raised bed frames on the long sides you could then get some 3/4" pvc pipe place them into the conduit and use them to form hoops over the bed. Pull some visqueen over the hoops and clamp them with snap type clamps and you can protect stuff from frost. If it's going to get real cold then you can lay poly pipe like you have for irrigation in there with some low flow misting heads and keep it above freezing in there. That more than likely would have saved those blueberry bushes


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## gotarace (Mar 9, 2013)

Keeping a eye on this thread Dave....nothing like a garden project to keep a family busy!!!


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## dward51 (Mar 9, 2013)

Pineywoods said:


> Just a thought here if you took some lets say 1" metal conduit and cut them into 16-18" pieces and drove them about 10-12" into the ground along the edge of the raised bed frames on the long sides you could then get some 3/4" pvc pipe place them into the conduit and use them to form hoops over the bed. Pull some visqueen over the hoops and clamp them with snap type clamps and you can protect stuff from frost. If it's going to get real cold then you can lay poly pipe like you have for irrigation in there with some low flow misting heads and keep it above freezing in there. That more than likely would have saved those blueberry bushes


Actually it's had PVC pipe attached to the sides since day one for that purpose.  In the 2004 photos that is what the trellis supports is mounted in and in the 2013 photos you can still see the white PVC short pipes in the ground along the edges.  The beds were based on info I got from some VHS video's I bought in the 80's called "Yardening - by Jeff Ball".  There is a lot of good info on using PVC and irrigation hoops to protect from frost, extend the season and keep pests away, etc... in those videos.  I have the entire set of 15 or so videos.  I have not seen them on the market in years though.  I still have 2/3 a roll of irrigating pipe rolled up in the basement I can use.   I've also got a couple of unopened packs of the spun polyester and at least one pack of the clear plastic I can use once I get the beds up to speed.

We really planted the blueberry bushes too late in the season and they did not put on much growth before winter came.  That was the year we had 2 weeks of very very cold (at least for our area) temps and we held at around 8-10* for about 5 days.  I'm probably going to buy some more blueberry plants this year, but will put them in another area of the yard as I want the bed space back for veggies and such (may move the blackberries too - they were cold damaged also but did survive).

*Update......*

Hit a minor snag tonight....  My oldest daughter, the one who we started the bed with as part of a school project in 2004, informed me that one of the beds is planted with wildflower seeds.  Oh.... so that's where all those weeds that are devouring my soaker hose came from.  Guess I'll compromise and do that bed last of the 4.

I went to Lowe's tonight and bought a bottle of glyphosphate concentrate (generic and not Monsanto).  Now I have to figure out where I put the pump sprayer marked "weed killer" (I have one for bug spray, one for weed killer and one for organic stuff such as BT). Of course it's not where I thought I put it.  Dang basement elves keep moving stuff in the middle of the night.  Perhaps when I find it I will find some of my missing wrenches and screw drivers as well?

I also priced re-establishing the borders of the beds using ground contact rated 4x4x8' lumber.  Local price was $8 per piece and at 24' long by 3' wide if I take them 3 courses high I figure about 24 pieces per bed.  That's a little under $200 _per bed_ and I have not done any soil improvement ($800 overall ! ! ! !  Hey, I thought I was on a budget here).  Of course I don't have a working compost pile right now.  Our old compost pile has been devoured by a roaming pile of sticks and whatnot that I vaguely remember the wife saying something to the yard man about "just pile them over there and I'll get Dave to run them through the chipper later". Hmmmm.... 2 years later they are still there (and the chipper is on my list of to do's as I have not fired it up in about a year so I'm sure it's going to need some carb work).

Ok, so the new lumber for the beds might have to wait a while.  Money would be better spent on improving the soil and just getting things running right now.   I'm thinking that lumber may have at least one more season left in it.  Besides, if I get some green veggies growing over the edge they will camouflage the lumber anyway, right?

I think plan "A" is spray some of the generic "roundup" on two of the beds I know I can work on to start killing the weeds and grass.  Then while I'm waiting on my plan of revenge on those gnarly weeds to ripen, get the Mantis tiller and that chipper/shredder running.  Mantis parts came in Friday and with any luck the chipper carb can just be cleaned and reassembled.  I'll probably pull the 2 chipper blades and have the local commercial power equipment shop sharpen them.  Might as well flip the flails while I'm at it.

So stay tuned..... Chemical warfare starts soon (actually as soon as I can figure out where the dang basement elves hid my pump sprayer).

Note to self:  Pick up about a case of carburetor cleaner and a box of Elf traps next time you go out.


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## dward51 (Mar 9, 2013)

*Yardening - by Jeff Ball (the video series)*

After I posted the update a few minutes ago, I figured I would find a link to the videos.  Apparently they are about as old and obscure as I am, and no longer appear to be available.  And sadly I did see that Jeff Ball passed in November 2011 in Michigan.

So if you are ever out browsing a yard sale or flea market and see these videos peaking at you out of a box, they are worth purchasing IMO.  Here is my set. Uh Oh!!! I just had a very bad thought.  VHS does eventually fade away magnetically.  I sure hope these are still good.  They are from 1986.

Note to self:  After you bait and put out the elf traps, see if you can find the cord to patch from the VHS deck to the PC Hard drive and put making digital copies of these on your "to do" list. Yes I still have one of those (VHS deck) along with my quadraphonic 8 track player and collection of rock classic quadraphonic 8 tracks.  Sitting right next to my box of LP's from the 60's and 70's if the elves have not been partying with them.













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## goingcamping (Mar 9, 2013)

Nice work Dave..be careful with those videos...they are now archives!

I am envious of the garden. I have a rather large backyard (for a city subdivision) but I'd have to tear up some of mama's nice landscape...I told her earlier this winter I wanted a pepper/chili garden. She didn't seem too opposed?

I'll keep an eye on ya here...see the progress?

BTW, keep an eye on Craigslist (CL) for people discarding old lumber...my neighbor (with my manual labor) replaced about 800sqft of decking (redwood 2 x 6) he was concerned with disposing (it's also pricey) I suggested he place an ad on CL for free-wood. Within an hour he had a guy coming by to pick-it up...free for both! You might even want to place an ad on there "willing to pick up old wood" type thing?!

Ciao,

~Brett

EDIT: Here's a few around Atlanta.
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/zip/3670832409.html
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/zip/3670621946.html
Some for the smoker too: http://atlanta.craigslist.org/sat/zip/3670161811.html

Hell you get the idea..besides, you're retired and in you got "time"


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## kathrynn (Mar 9, 2013)

This is so neat. Love this thread! I have what I am calling my Victory garden. It's red clay with weeds now. Getting started on it soon. Looking forward to your updates.

Kat


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## dward51 (Mar 9, 2013)

Thanks Brett!  I had not thought about free wood (free is always good).  Even if it's not sized for the beds, I can use it to frame compost piles, etc...  Not pressure treated?  Who cares, it was free.

As to the wood for the smoker (and fireplace).  I had 3 very large hickory trees that were damaged by lightning at my parents house and I'm still burning that wood.  My brother in law had a huge red oak blow down in a storm last fall and we have been slowly cutting that up.  Once I get it all cut and moved to the house I will rent a splitter for a day and have at it.  I figure I will have close to 3 cords of hardwood when I'm done which is plenty for me.

HEY!!! I just remembered the guy who lives next door to my parents house is tearing off his back deck and has a huge pile of used PT lumber in his back yard.  I'm sure he would love to have someone haul his problem away (and as my wife would say, make it our problem).  They had a huge multi-level deck and there is a ton of wood there. 

Great idea!   Perhaps I can actually work within a modest budget and still make progress after all.

*Ok, here is a question for the group.....*

Assuming I get free 2x wood of various sizes and build something from it, is there any reason not to use opaque wood stain (solid stain) to dress the wood up as it will likely be a mix of stained and raw wood (and may even be different colors from different houses).  Anybody ever heard of using solid wood stain on garden beds being a problem before?

Free wood, a box of nails (actually I have 2 boxes of screw shank for my framing nailer in the basement, assuming the elves have not found them already), and a $25 gallon of wood stain might be the ticket for a frugal budget challenged garden project or two.

Wow!  I may not be able to sleep tonight (and I bet those dang elves move my clock ahead so I will not get much sleep tonight anyway).


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## goingcamping (Mar 9, 2013)

Dave...this forums helps us older guys...(that was for you actual older guys...myself, I still feel and act 18ish!

As far as staining goes, if it's pressure treated, it might not take the stain very well (it should be mostly saturated with whatever product it was treated with?) Try a few samples with some stain you might have laying around?

Here's an article on Gardening with Pressure Treated Lumber 

Happy Smokin' (and Gardenin')

~Brett


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## kathrynn (Mar 10, 2013)

Hey THERE!  Waving in the Background......GIrls tooooo!  LOL

Kat


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## dward51 (Mar 10, 2013)

goingcamping said:


> Dave...this forums helps us older guys...(that was for you actual older guys...myself, I still feel and act 18ish!
> 
> As far as staining goes, if it's pressure treated, it might not take the stain very well (it should be mostly saturated with whatever product it was treated with?) Try a few samples with some stain you might have laying around?
> 
> ...


I'm pretty sure it's weathered enough that it will suck up anything I put on it like a sponge.  I'm thinking a solid opaque stain so it will cover the grey wood and any old paint/stain that might still be on part of it. Once I build whatever I used the wood for, I intend on hitting it with my 40* nozzle on my pressure washer to freshen up the wood and remove any loose paint/stain bits before staining.  I'm hoping staining it would give this reused wood a uniform color and help it last a little longer.   But if it's free, well there is that.

I'll go get a quart and try it soon.

Also I emailed my neighbor about the pile of deck boards behind their house.  They are between here and their Tampa home visiting their kids and I did not have her cell number.  Should know about that source of re-tasked lumber once she get's back to Tampa next week.


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## dward51 (Mar 10, 2013)

*Well today was rather depressing.  I will elaborate...*

First (and main reason) it is tax day at my house.  Doing both the personal and corporate income taxes and I owe federal this year.  Not too much, but it offsets the state refund I will get.  Overall it's a wash, but I still hate doing taxes and hate writing that check even more.  Corporate taxes are from a business I used to run but is in active (in essence a zero return), but I still keep the corporation, my tax number, state sales tax certificate, reseller license, etc... alive in case I want to do something for real in retirement.  Costs $60 a year to do that so it's worth it. And any of you who have ever run a business would well know the corporate tax filing deadline is March 15th instead of April 15th.  Figured I might as well get it all done and over with so I'm doing them all today.

Other reason was the wife and I walked around the yard surveying the magnitude of what needs to be done.  Oh man, it's more than I thought.  That trimmings pile in the yard is huge!!!  I think the yard gnomes have been collecting clippings from all the neighbor's houses and piling them here at night.  Seems like there may be some sort of alliance between the basement elves and yard gnomes I was previously unaware of.

This pile is about 7 1/2' high, 15' wide and 20' deep.  Lots of birds, in there and I'm sure the rabbits have moved in as well.  Heck, this might even be the yard gnome and basement elf meeting lodge for all I know (all the more reason to get medieval on it).  I have no intention of hauling it to a land fill or burning like most of my neighbors do.  I will run it through the chipper and it will reduce down to about 2 or 3 large wheelbarrow's full.  Then store it to use with the green grass and garden clippings in a hot compost pile as supplemental carbon material.  More on this later....

Here is a photograph of Local Elf and Gnome Lodge number 73.  It's bigger than it looks in the photo (those are full grown Magnolia Grandiflora leaves on the front of the pile) and I suspect the mischievous critter infestation is worse than I initially feared.  Wonder how many of my basement tools I will find in there?













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After further thought, I may try and salvage my existing beds at least for this year.  The one where the center joint plate is separating is the worse one (photo posted earlier).  I'm think since this is a low budget operation, $5 spent on a few bolts and washers may go a long way.  Take some of my wood clamps and draw it all back together and drill and bolt it to stay that way.  That way less time and effort is diverted into pulling and rebuilding the bed frames since I'm getting started a little late in the year.

*So it looks like first order of work will be.....*

Find the "weed killer" pump sprayer and hit the weeds with glyphosphate
Pull and clean the carb on the Mantis tiller and get it running (new gaskets, fuel line (ethanol victim, replace with resistant line), filter, air filter, etc.... and general tune up)
Pull and clean the carb on the Craftsman chipper shredder and get it running
Pull the chipper blades to have them sharpened, and flip the flails to expose a fresh corner for shredding
Take some soil samples from the beds and get them to the County Extension Office for soil analysis so a augmentation plan can be formed.
After the glyphosphate as done it's job and then broken down for a few days in the sun and become inert, remove as many of the weeds as I can and till the beds surface.
Cover freshly tilled beds with clear plastic to see what other weeds germinate in the warmed soil and repeat as necessary while waiting on soil analysis to come back.


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## goingcamping (Mar 10, 2013)

That certainly doesn't sound like the rantings of a "retired" man. That, my friend, sounds like work. (You know the old saying...If it walks like duck...talks like a duck...it must be a duck?).

Let me know if there's anything I can do from here? (That's more of a rhetorical question as the geography between where you're at and where I willing to go is further than our actual mileage might dictate?).

Anyway, good luck with those piles (I'm no no way jealous of those "obstacles") I'll be here smoking some hot wings and beer can chicken (sans beer can).

Ciao,

Brett


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## daveomak (Mar 11, 2013)

Dave, At my local Home D  they have vinyl (pvc) fence rails.... No rot , no preservatives.... 2x6 X 16' for $16....   Just another alternative.... 

I had a guy drive through my fence... I'm planning on using the pieces for raised beds...   Dave


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## dward51 (Mar 11, 2013)

*Ugh......  Taxes*

Well finally got all the taxes done around 6:15AM this morning.  Yep, an all night'er.  So I laid down for about 5 hours and basically feel crappy from lack of good sleep and being up so long.  Can't do the 2 day sleepless marathons like I could in my younger days I guess.

It's pretty windy and supposed to have a hard rain in a while and rain the rest of the evening/night.  Guess I'll postpone the chemical warfare weed assault until after the rain.  Supposed to be sunny the rest of the week (or so the weatherman says).

Not real motivated to work on the tiller & shredder today and my body is saying "go back to bed you fool".  I'm trying to resist the urge though.  I think I hear my recliner calling me ....


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