Raising beds for fall crops | Charlotte Observer

We are getting ready for fall and winter crops.

I want to build a few more enclosed raised beds because the four I built last spring have been extremely productive.

Mine are not pretty or even uniform in size because they are built out of junk wood, but they do what they are designed to do – hold soil.

By junk wood, I mean wood that has been used and reused for projects until it split and decayed and is unfit for any normal woodwork.

Makes great raised beds, though.

Our two raised beds of tomatoes have been awesome. Jenifer put a single tomato cage in the middle of each bed and then planted five tomato plants around each cage.

They have been producing like crazy.

Sign of the season

Dove season comes in on Labor Day and I thought I would take Levi dove hunting or in my case, dove missing.

I used to carry my Mossberg 12-gauge pump shotgun, which allowed me to miss three times at the same bird. But for the last couple of years, I just carry my single-shot 20 gauge I got for Christmas when I was 11. Saves on shotgun shells, since I only miss once.

Maybe Levi will be able to knock down a few doves, since, in general, he is a better shot than me, which is humiliating.

I hope he does. Dove breasts wrapped in bacon on the grill signify the end of summer and the beginning of fall.