Darrel and I have reached the point where ground-level gardening is wearing us out.  While working low to the ground, we have to be mindful to sit every so often to save our backs.  Inching along moving a stool is a pain.  Going too long stooped or bending over while working leaves us in pain.  We have been planning to switch over to raised beds.  So far, that has not happened.   A few days ago, Granddaughter Jamie sent me a picture of a raised planter box.  This offered us the perfect solution.  Even better, we already had most of the material needed.  Of course, in my excitement, I declared that this weekend, I would take on this DIY project. 

Darrel mistakenly thought he would have his weekend free. What is it with him?  By now he should know whenever I say ‘I’ am going to do a project realistically, it is a ‘we’ project.  Especially if it involves manual labor, outside planting or the possibility of bugs.  I showed Darrel what the finished project would look like, and he really liked it.  We went over the plans and our shopping list and headed to Home Depot. It seems that between our house and the two-minute drive to Home Depot, something got lost in translation.  Once inside the store, Darrel started misbehaving.  He immediately went for supplies he needed for the lawn and his other projects.   The list of items we had agreed on was only for this project. There were other battles too.   All of a sudden, the vision for the project changed.  Darrel tried to commandeer the project by getting different materials for it than we had agreed on. We stood in the middle of the aisle with me talking through clenched teeth, trying to appear as though I was speaking lovingly to this stubborn human being. Neither one of us wanted to budge. I took a deep breath.  Then suggested that after we finish this project, he should come back to Home Depot without me and get everything he wanted for all of his other projects. His face lit up, he was now a happy camper focused on the task-at-hand.

Once home, the project went smoothly.  We even had fun with a paint-off trying to out-do each other putting an even coverage on the cabinet.  We are both pleased with the way the planter boxes turned out.  We plan to do more garden projects in the future.  Thanks to my quick thinking, when you know who was showing out, our DIY Do did not become our DIY Don’t.  With just a little coaxing, hubby got his act together and came through like the Champ that he is.

 Amanda 🌻

Grabbed these file cabinets for free before they went into the dumpster. They have been sitting in our garage unused for months. We added casters to make it mobile. Thanks Jamie for putting in drainage holes and Zola for your help too.

Painted the black cabinet and filled boxes with wood/card board/twigs, compost, and soil. Darrel is proud of his rich compost. He kept showing me the fat wiggly worms…yuck!

Project completed. Our raised planters with lavender, snowball onions, Italian oregano, sweet basil, cilantro, hot burrito peppers and marigolds.