Picking a Site

We live on a a 1 acre lot that is mostly shaded by massive oak trees. For a vegetable garden, they say you need around 5-8 hours of sunlight a day. This left us with only one option, and this is a small stretch in the back of the lot. The area was overgrown with grass and spiderwort.

This is a survey of our house that I copied and laminated. We are using it to create a 5-year plan of what our goals are. It's a work in progress and things will change over time as we get exposed to new ideas. The north end of the property is on the right vertical fence line and is the location of the raised beds. We picked this site because it received the most sunlight so we would not have to disturb the large oaks on the property.

Angela wanted to do raised beds to help with drainage and limit the effect of pollution on the beds. About a couple hundred yards to the east of us it Pottsburg Creek. I have not heard any bad reports about Pottsburg in particular but many of the creeks here in Jacksonville are contaminated.

In the southwest corner of area called "Bed C' is there we placed our first bed. We decided that each 4x16 bed would be named after loved ones, friends and family. Having a name for a bed helps keep track of them in a journal and is lot more aesthetic than a number. The first one was Jonah and the next Abigail, named after my children. Mandy, Angela's Sister is coming to town and I'm hoping she and Angela will build the next bed and we will name it after her.