One of the things that excited Kate most about coming here was the idea of learning to garden, to have her own vegetable patch.

The topsoil here isn't so good, and would need more added – and it was important to Katie that she should do it all herself. And she was 7 months pregnant, so didn't feel much like digging and turning a big bed. So she built a raised bed.

She used the shipping boxes from our move as a base (they'll rot away), then covered that with compost and cut grass left by the previous owners of our house.

Then she bought organic soil and manure in big plastic bags – not the greenest solution – but hey, you gotta start somewhere.

Turns out she's got green fingers.

The RyanIsHungry.com video that Katie mentions is here:
http://ryanishungry.com/2007/12/29/food-not-lawns-no-lawn-left-behind/

—
“This was a discount store,
Now it’s turned into a cornfield”