There have been tons of tasks completed today: 4 strawberries from dear friends were tranfered to the front yard, sod was removed, a small bed was placed, a rose was moved out of the way, weeds were weeded, crocisima bulbs were planted, a lavender and rosemary were removed from the fruit bed and placed in with drought-tolerant ornamentals in the front yard -- and yes, we managed to place our large raised bed and add a mole guard (a project made a bit tricky due to the posts and bracing we used.) So we didn't get as far as we hoped, but if you ask the kids: raised beds are fun.
If anyone is curious, the bed my brother build last month was inspired by the plans made available by Sunset magazine. I looked into sealing the bed, but didn't find ready access to anything I considered food grade (like linseed oil.*) I put a query into Seattle Tilth's garden hotline and learned that cedar is supposed to last at least 20-30 years without decomposing. And while I am not sure those numbers will hold when the wood is near soggy soil, I figure I can get at least a good 10 years out of this bed without sealant. I am more afraid of chemicals in my food than rotten wood -- maybe in 10 years I will find out that was a foolish decision, but it is the one I am standing by now.
*The linseed oil I found was double boiled -- but apparently manufacturers tend to use chemicals to mimic the boiling process rather than actually double boiling it these days. I didn't have enough time to look into the potential dangers.
