Progress on the Berry Bed

For years I have wanted to build a bed here.  It's the only remaining space in the yard that is level, more or less, and gets a full quota of sunshine.  But I kept putting it off every year.  When the tree stump came out this summer it seems like the scales fell from my eyes.  I extended the limestone terrace that was built four years ago a few more feet then made a right angle turn to end the terrace into the slope, encompassing where the stump used to be.   Now I could build a proper bed for berry plants.

I got some landscape stone from the big box lumberyard.  I knew that I was going to set stone on the terrace for one side of the bed.  But the stone that I bought was too large. Set on it's end, it was too tall to be stable, and set flat it was not tall enough.

Then I found some stone at the local hardware store that looked just right, and at half the price it looked even better.  This stone is a bit lower and wider than the other stone, and looks plenty stable on top of the terrace.  I laid out the ends of the bed, then stretched a string to mark the south side of the bed.   Those giant okra plants throw quite a shadow this time of year.

The sod was dug inside the string, and the large stones were set into the trench alongside the string.  I used a level to keep this stone at about the same height as the stone on the terrace.  That little digging tool that is on the grass is a very handy tool for removing or adding small amounts of dirt when setting in edging stones.

The new bed will be 15 feet long and about 2 feet wide.  I plan to put in red raspberries.  I like other berries, and blackberries will probably outproduce the raspberries, but I just like the red raspberries more, always have.  I'm also thinking about putting some asparagus at the far end of the bed.  This will be a really great addition to the garden.  When the bed is built I will put in a sheet mulch to prepare it for next spring.