Take it easy on a first-timer?

I guess it's about time I (Dan) found out what all this blog hoo-hah is about eh? Ironic that I haven't been the major contributor, considering I'm the one with the most time on my hands!

Anyway, just thought folks might like to see what I've been occupying that time with (a little of it), rather than watching too many political attack ads and tearing my hair out because Mark Udall is apparently the anti-Christ. This is based on the number and ferocity of the attack ads of which he is a target; I think they account for better than half of all political ads here this season. Hitting the off button, like the guy recommended in Broadcast News, really is the only defense.

So you will see some pictures of the terraced beds I've been working on at the end of the landing strip (the long, two-car wide driveway that ends conspicuously at the yard without a garage). The backfill sloped down from the concrete into the yard, and I decided that I would plant some tomato plants there this year. When I watered them, it ran off really fast, so I had to water them very slowly and deliberately, which was also a giant pain in the @$$. So I considered terracing almost immediately, but it wasn't until I was over at cousin-in-law Dave's house that it finally all came together. He had removed a bunch of 4x6's of varying lengths from his own yard, and had thrown them over in a pile. I asked if he had any plans for them, and he said I could have 'em, and now they're the walls of my terraced beds!

I worked with the varied levels of the existing hill, and made the beds two different levels. The one on the right (if I've used the right pix!) is only 6 inches above the main yard level, while the bed on the left is about 12 inches higher than the yard. Since the lower one is also a little hemmed in from above, I'm thinking that it'll make a good herb garden, while the larger bed is going to be pepper or tomato or something a bit bigger--I'm open to suggestions, but I'm boycotting vining plants like cukes and squash just because they're such bedhogs. Not to mention very very THIRSTY plants! All that's left now is to add in some compost and fertilizer (cousin-in-law Sara, Dave's wife, has an in with a llama poop source...it worked for her this year!), and turn it all back over.