Dude...that sucks! Maybe you can get some stuff from Freecycle?

EG

Yeah, and watch Craigslist.

Sorry to hear that. It's horrible. But plant whatever you can. It will pay dividends in lowering your produce bill in spring and summer.

Maybe you can do traditional raised beds without wood sides this year and add the wood when you can. Just a thought.

Good luck!

Luckily, it's not that I couldn't come up with the money, but in today's economy, I don't want to dip into my savings account. So I'll just pare back my plans and stick with my original bed from last year and just ammend it as needed. Sure it won't be as much fun or interesting, but I'll make do and next years costs will be even lower because I already have the seed and supplies for seed starting. Next years costs will be the beds only.

All and all, I'm thankful that I have a job and the money to be able to fix this mistake and move forward. Many friends I know would be SOL if something like this happened to them. Many are living beyond paycheck to paycheck and if half of one of their paychecks had to go to the government like mine will they wouldn't be able to make their other payments and thus start a very bad downhill slide.

I'll just make do and be thankful that I have even that!

Be on the lookout for wood pallets. I just built a huge raised bed out of recycled wood pallets. It took some muscle/elbow grease to dismantle them, but the wood was free.

It will probably need to be replaced in 3 years or so, but during that time, I can find more wood to replace that. Good luck. Remember, there is always a cheaper alternative, it just takes a little more creativity and a little more planning.

My first few years square foot gardening I did not have raised beds. I had patio block paths between 4 square foot spaces. I put the compost in the beds. The benifit of Mel's spacing helped greatly from previous years gardens and got things under control. This is my first year with a raised bed. My first 4X4 square. It is filled with uncomposted compost. I'll see what it looks like in the spring.

I would cross any vegetables off your list that you don't love to eat. Maybe plant only one or two of the huge space ones. But plant a little bit of everything. If not as many pounds of vegetables, I think you can still get as much enjoyment harvested.

That's truly a bummer.

In narrowing down what to plant, I'd first consider

a) what worked last year, and
b) what do you eat the most of

then try to find a balance between the two. For me, we ate every cucumber that I grew and could have eaten more -- I started too late for a long season then had some watering issues. So, while they weren't prolific, they would be worth the space and time. Beans, not so high on my list.

That totally sucks, but I say keep an eye out for craigslist. You can not only find the lumber if you're lucky, but people will be unloading compost or manure. You may need to work a bit harder than you were expecting, but you can find something. Even if not, you've still got some beds which is better than nothing!!!

I hate having to pay the IRS. I had to write them a big fat check last year. I knew I would owe (self-employed) but it was fatter than I had hoped for...

You really can do a lot with gardening for very little money. I built my two 4'x 10' beds, pretty much for free. I posted info about building the garden in the January posts of my new blog.

You could build lasagna beds without sides and still keep your planned garden space. Then when funds are available, go back to your original plans. You'll even have compost to use.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener

Very cool greenbean!
I'm not the smartest gardener in this bunch, so can I ask, is it the time you can't afford to give to the garden? Or is it the materials? Because I got most of my wood for free last year. I also had most of my seeds given to me. Out here I think people are getting wise to folks asking for free compost (hm) because there was a craigslist ad that offered to sell aged chicken manure to anyone who wanted to come out and gather it. It was pretty pricey, too!

Posted by carolynp z7 (My Page) on Mon, Feb 9, 09 at 22:51

Very cool greenbean!
I'm not the smartest gardener in this bunch, so can I ask, is it the time you can't afford to give to the garden? Or is it the materials? Because I got most of my wood for free last year. I also had most of my seeds given to me. Out here I think people are getting wise to folks asking for free compost (hm) because there was a craigslist ad that offered to sell aged chicken manure to anyone who wanted to come out and gather it. It was pretty pricey, too!

Agreed on the folks catching on. I had 4 responses to my craigslist ad for composted manure. Three wanted the same price as what the local place charges for their "mushroom compost" and one had manure that was less than 6 months old, in a field, that I would have to load myself, or I could pay them to load it. I'm not objectional to paying someone for their time to use their loader, but it appears everyone wants to make poo a money making opportunity around here.

I'm finding craigslist to be less and less the place it used to be and turning more into E-bay where shops can post their ads for free versus paying for advertising.

I'll be fine with a few bags of the 99 cent compost from wal-mart to ammend my existing bed, but I won't be able to make additional beds and add the drip irrigation like I wanted to. I may just dig a couple holes in the ground and add some compost to the soil to plant a watermelon, pumpkin and cantaloupe seeds.

I'm just really more bummed about all the wasted planning than anything else. I had studied two versions of the book, and planned for the past month and had everything perfect.

there is always next year! Although I know what you mean. I have a larger garden plan than ever this year. I've been thinking/planning since last season ended.

Simple remedy!

On a W-4, line #6 states "Additional amount, if any, you want withheld from each paycheck" (FYI - A W-4 can be changed many times throughout a fiscal year)

So just figure the amount you expected in refund this year, divide that number by pay periods and enter that amount.

Next years refund will then include your usual amount and last years missing refund too and your garden plans will follow through. A win/win!

Yeah sure it's your money you're getting back, but the refund check looks good and makes you feel good, LOL!

-Gary the Bohemian banker & lurker, back in the bushes.

Hehe, I'm a banker as well. I call what I do a forced savings plan. I simply claim the correct deductions on my W-4 even though I get more deductions and credits than that and always get a refund. I guess I could increase my deductions to 9 or so, but this feels better.

Now how did we get on this subject? Hehe

HA! When I met the man and we first did our taxes as a married couple, I found out he was claiming THREE CHILDREN!! He had filled out the paperwork wrong and it was a mistake, of course, but MAN, you should have seen the look on the tax lady's face when I freaked slap out.

priceless.