Walking In The Quarry And More

We had a busy week here at home. The back quarter of our property where we have lots of evergreens had been left to grow over with weeds and brush. This week we had a few dry hours here between all the rain storms.  So we got out and cut down all the brush and weeds. While out back we came across a surprise Mulberry tree.

The mulberry tree was growing between the evergreens. Did you know some people consider mulberry trees weeds? I don't know about you but there are some tasty berries on that weed. I am about to go make a cobbler from the berries I picked today.

My grandson Little Bug helped me weed our weed free garden. Lol, that's another post in the making.  The little red spot in front of him is a radish he pulled. We have to schedule a few more weed pulling lessons before I set him off on his own. Ha ha.

We went into town and stopped by the lake shore for some photos. 

That is a view of the Lake Erie shore line.

A view of Cedar Point off the Lake Erie shore.

We went for a walk in a quarry. About half an hours drive from our home. This old quarry has been made a park by Erie Metro Parks. The quarry has many nature trails. Some for walking and some for biking. A walk on the main path takes about 45 minutes at a steady pace. We took the main path most of the walk and got off on a few side paths just to see where they took us.

Old cabin off one path.

Some of the cliffs climbers use. I think climbing is prohibited though I often see some climbers.

Half way along the path is an awesome observation platform.

If you look closely you can see Lake Erie on the horizon. 

Our walk down was much quicker as it was all down hill. We really had a great week. I do hope you all Enjoy you weekend.

How To Start A Weed Free Raised Garden Bed

To start off you will need something to use as a retaining wall for your garden bed. I had some leftover wood from a wood pallet and some 4x4's from our deck project.
Next you will need a supply of cardboard or newspaper. Earlier this year I started saving pizza boxes, soda cartons and other boxes from purchases.
Now decide where and how big you want your raised bed. Then lay out your cardboard flat right over the grass. I overlapped the cardboard just a little. I have been told the grass will die under the cardboard or newspaper. The cardboard will break down into the soil as the summer goes on.

Next lay out your wood or other material to help retain the soil. Cinder blocks would work just as well in this instance. 

Now fill the inside with about twelve inches of soil, peat-moss and other soil amendments. I added 14 bags of organic soil and two large bags of peat-moss. 

At this point I had my husband put some stakes around the out side of the garden bed. This will stop the heavy soil from pushing the 4x4's outward. 

I then added my started vegetables. 

I am looking forward to keeping a record of how my vegetables do in my garden planner. This is the first time I am trying this new raised bed method. I have been thinking that I probably should have put the raised bed together in the fall so it could have sat over the winter. The cardboard would have been nearly decomposed by spring. No matter now I will keep you informed how this method works for me. What do you think? Do you think it will remain weed free for this summer at least? Have you planted a garden this year? Do you use a raised bed method?