It took nearly two months for me to finish setting up my garden after the move, but it's mostly done now. I decided to put down cardboard and straw over as much of the unused ground in the garden as I can, with raised beds and pots to hold my plants. This gives me more control over the soil and watering conditions compared to planting directly in the ground, and will make it easier to move the garden again in the future. (Still looking for my own property.)
I ended up buying a circular saw to cut the boards for the raised beds. I'd been wanting a saw for years but had previously been able to borrow from the awesome Oakland Tool Lending Library. Now it made more sense to buy one. I cut the the boards into 4' lengths with mitered corners:
My sister helped me paint them pink, as I wanted a pop of color and had a lot of this paint left over from the chicken coop.
Then I assembled, with hardware cloth on the bottoms of the beds to keep gophers out. (There is a LOT of gopher activity.)
The ground was uneven so I got my pick axe and broke up hills and clods to smooth things out.
Hauling over cardboard:
Finished beds:
Worm bins and gooseberry are getting as much shade as possible:
Still have to hook up the succulents to the drip irrigation - I had to order a valve for the 1/2 inch tubing so that they don't get watered as frequently as everything else. And obviously there is still a lot more ground to cover with cardboard + straw. After that, it's just regular weeding, tending, and enjoying! Until the next move...
