Raised-bed Garden

With the composter up and running, it was now time to construct the raised-bed if I seriously wish to grow some herbs and veggies. I had most of the materials at hand so I started by ripping a old 2 x 4 to make 2 x 2 for corner posts. I had some 1 x 12 "formuleta" lying around so I cut two end pieces and two side pieces. The ends had to be 48" inside dimension to allow for comfortable access to all parts of the raised bed.

I began by clamping the corner pieces to the ends, allowing a 1" setback to accept the sides, for which I had allowed when cutting the ends. I had requested 3 1/2" bolts but when my courier went to THE hardware store they only had 3". So I wound up having to countersink the nut ends to accommodate the shorter length. I drilled and bolted the corner posts to the end pieces making sure they were on the same side! Then, with great difficulty, I bolted on the side pieces. It's always a challenge to do a four-handed operation with only two available. Nevertheless, there is always a way to overcome if one is sufficiently resourceful.

Here in the rainforest we have critter problems. My main concern with the raised bed was the land crabs that will burrow up from underground to dine on succulent new plants. To combat this, I affixed some 1/4" hardware cloth I had lying around to the bottom of the raised bed frame. That should discourage them, I think.

With the raised-bed frame completed, it was time to mix the medium and fill it. A friend had recommended ground coconut husks be added to the soil to aerate and lighten it - similar to vermiculite in potting soil. Now in the rainforest when you are not looking for them, coconut husks are everywhere. So I dispatched my gardener to collect some for me and I made arrangements to use the chipper owned by the water association. He came back practically empty-handed. I picked several up on the beach and the road, my own property and harvested some of the fabric-like material on the coconut trees. I began running the nuts through the chipper and was delighted to see how much material derived from a single nut. Unfortunately, after a short time, the chipper totally bogged down. I believe it happened because the material was pretty damp and fibrous and simply clogged the delivery system to the point that the flywheel could no longer fly. So since today was repair-the-chipper day, I assigned my gardener to shred the remaining material by hand and mix the soil, compost and husk to fill the frame.

I am pleased to report that the chipper is now back up and running. I will ensure that coconut husks are dried in the future or simply wait until the dry season to shred them.


When we finished repairing the chipper, Jesus (my gardener) and I applied some fertilizer and worked it into the soil. I will now let it rest while I start some of my plants in a nursery.

This is sure to be a challenge as my new puppy chewed up the five packages of seeds I had purchased. I was able to recover a whole bunch of seeds but I don't which is which. I am hopeful there are seeds remaining in the chewed up packages and that they are different enough for me to tell what is what. Nothing is easy in the rainforest.