My First RBG…that’s Raised Bed Garden

Yesterday I was standing in a friend’s kitchen and she was remarking on the different ingredients in a jar of chilli sauce she had purchased. Everyone has their favourite recipes for chili sauce, and people are always trying to come up with some twist on the traditional ingredients.

In a flash, I was transported back to our first cottage. Chile sauce is perfect with bacon and eggs, and I was sitting at the old pine library table having breakfast with friends. I could really taste it too!

That memory also started me thinking about our first cottage which was on a small island in the Muskokas. The cottage was quite old, having being built around 1870’s as a residence for clergy who held summer services on the island. In fact the rickety remains of a small pavilion used for outdoor services were still standing on the property when we arrived more than 100 years later.

Families travelled by train and steamer in those days, to spend the season in this northern paradise. On one side of the property, near our new boathouse, were the submerged old cribs from the original old steamer dock. People and supplies arrived at their cottages by water whether they were on an island or along the shoreline because there just wasn’t the network of roads of today.

I wondered if the ministers ever tried to grow something during the short season that they occupied the cottage, but they probably were well provided for. Well you still have to be fairly organized in the food department when you cottage on an island. Summer is short and you don’t want to be spending time in town shopping when the sun, sand and garden are calling. After all, there is only the weekend to fit everything in.

Wild life rules Monday to Friday and would enthusiastically take care of any tasty vegetables I might try, so I opted for a flower garden. The next step was to find a suitable location.

Stage One

The only place not covered with beautiful pine and spruce trees was a large solid rock point in front of the cottage that extended to the water’s edge. This rock point faced south and east and had a spectacular view down the lake. However, we lost the sun around 4:00 o’clock because of the surrounding trees. Oh well, another ‘sun part shade’ garden, but I could handle that.

Lack of soil was the second major obstacle. The soil on the island was thin and acid and I could compost for 50 years and not have enough to fill the space I wanted. Although we were surrounded by water, how to keep the garden from drying out during the week when we were not there was also a concern.

Planning a garden takes on new meaning when materials have to come by boat or barge.

• Outline the garden, and clear away brush.
• Make sure all saws, sledge hammers, spikes are assembled
• Co-ordinate the deliveries to the marina with the arrival of the barge.
• Round up the bodies to do the work + beer and burgers.
• Pray for dry weather on the delivery day.
• Late spring, ice is out, bugs not arrived.

Stage Two

• Fill the car trunk with trays and pots of flowers each Friday night and transport by boat.
• Ask all my friends for any perennials that there were splitting and haul them the same way.
• Transplant native, hardy wildflowers taking care to leave enough so they would keep regenerating.

This was my first raised garden.

Thirty years ago, I had never heard of Raised Bed Gardening or why it works. It was just the obvious solution. We lived in an apartment at the time, so I had to focus all my gardening passion into the weekends. Nothing was going to stop me. Ergo, build a container on top of the rock, barge over enough soil to fill it & voila, flowers.

Today, I would not use railway ties because of the creosote leaching into the soil and lake & of course, if you are growing vegetables, it is definitely not the material to use. (It is nasty to get tar on your bare feet too)

Gardeners are a determined & resourceful lot. Using the principles of Raised Bed Gardens makes it possible to have a garden pretty well anywhere you want.