Raised Garden From Scratch

Starting Over

Because of the plague of pestilence that invaded my garden last season, I am starting over with my raised garden.

Boxes Moved to Expose Soil

First order of business was to remove the soil contaminated with a fungus called Phytophthora Root Rot and disinfect the remaining boxes.

Contaminated Soil

Even though I can no longer grow vegetables in the soil, it can be spread over a part of my yard away from the garden. I was told by A Master Gardener at the Mounts Botanical Garden that the fungus will not harm grasses, so it was spread in the yard on the other side of my house.

Removing Contaminated Soil

The original boxes were lifted from around the soil, and my wonderful yard man, Henry, came with two of his guys. They transported the old soil to the other side of my yard and spread it for me, too. They are the best!

Spreading Soil Elsewhere

New Materials

Besides the Phytophthora fungus, nematodes which are found in the dirt everywhere, made their way into my garden through a rip in the weed barrier. To prevent that from happening again, I am placing the new boxes on 4-inch cement blocks on top of black plastic sheeting. I will place a weed barrier inside the box, as well.

Killing Plants on Purpose

To prepare the ground under the boxes, RoundUp was sprayed on the section where the boxes will sit.

As soon as the grass and weeds die back, we will build one new box (there is a story about that, stay tuned). All three boxes will be placed on concrete blocks on top of the black plastic sheeting.

I put a few more pictures of the prep work in a gallery. Click on any picture to make it larger, then click on the right or left side of the image to move through the gallery.