I have been wanting to have my own raised garden bed(s) for years...needless to say I finally got around to building two 5ft x 5ft beds by upcycling an old broken shelving unit in my garage. I only had to buy one board from the hardware store, all of the other boards were salvagable.
I pulled out all of the nails and then created the two beds by using brackets for the corners and additional nails along the edge/seam of each side of the frame.
Digging up the grass in these two areas didn't seem like it would be that big of a deal (it looks small afterall) but surprise not only did it take me hours, but it also filled up my yard waste bin...but then I have to think that it was about 50 square feet of grass and dirt that I was trying to uproot...No need to go to the gym after this project!
I lined the bottom of each bed with a fabric weed guard and then lined that with newspaper (as another weed barrier). I had the TAGRO man deliver 2 yards of their potting soil/garden bed mix...No wheelbarrel in site I began a rather long trek back and forth with my 5 gallon bucket filling and dumping.
Then came the task of deciding what and where to plant...of course I had to include a few flowers too so along the one row I planted dalias.
I did use some starts for a few things such as the yellow squash, basil and kohlrabi, the rest is growing from seeds including cucumbers, spinach (which did not do a thing) beans, and peas.
Nice try spinach...maybe next year!
So it has been a little while and I was walking past my yellow squash plant one day and it was like overnight two of the squashes seemed to have doubled in size!!! I suppose it's time to make something out of my first harvest! I'm so excited!
I also had to be resourceful and wanted to use up some items that I have in my fridge and cupboard...so what did I want to make with my squash? I decided to do a polenta lasagna bake.
I coated the bottom of the of my 8x8 baking dish with a light amount of olive oil and then I layered, sundried tomato polenta slices, my home grown yellow squash slices, a light layer of cheese (enough so that the layers would hold together), baby spinach, sliced and also home grown basil, ground black pepper, garlic and another light layer of cheese and repeated that layering process until I filled up the pan.
That might be the prettiest squash I have ever seen! I might be getting healthier just by looking at it.
Layers and layers
Then it's a matter of putting it in a 350 degree oven and letting it bake for about 20-30 minutes and voilà!!!! Wow...wow, wow, wow!
Scrumptious would be an understatement!!!
Bon appétit!
