It’s done. The yard’s looking particularly farmy, but no complaints so far. I’ve had some great chats with neighbours and people passing by on foot, on bike, with kids/dogs in tow.
The order of events went something like:
1. set out bales in bed configuration. Keep kids and their dad from making forts long enough to figure out what works.
2. fill centres of beds with organic compost. Add a bale of peat moss and some vermiculite to the mix (a nod to the square foot gardening technique, but not the 1:1:1 ration). Kids swim through the combination, mixing it nicely. Followed by baths all round.
3. Lay 2-3″ of compost on tops of some of the bales. Trying to calculate which spots will grow well, leaving me room to manoeuver for weeding (positive planning). Water over 6-7 days. Keep kids from shovelling it off every time we water.

4. Plant seeds. Corn in north-most bed.
Carrots, lettuce, spinach, potatoes, onions in centre bed with peas and beans planted at base of bamboo supports.
Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, broccoli planted in southern-most bed, with zucchini, cukes, butternut and acorn squash around the periphery, so they can spill over the bales, onto the ground if they so desire.
Plant some herbs in the on-top-of-bales section. Way too premature and the basil pays the price (sorry Trish, thanks for the sprouts, but they won’t be making pesto).

herbs along the top of the bale
If nothing, this has been a lovely experiment that has allowed me to get to know people in the area a little more and my children are huge fans, whether or not they ever eat anything we produce.

Bare bamboo, beans to follow
I also put up the long-awaited bean teepee. There are little mini- compost pockets at the foot of each bamboo pole, where my 3-year-old planted scarlet runner beans. He wants to know when we put his bed in it.