Grow Documentation

The Work, Documented.

Field notes as the growing system develops.

We are starting a public record of the garden: decisions, adjustments, and results as they happen. The first field notes will cover the raised bed and what we learn from planting it.

FROM THE GARDEN / 01

The raised bed, up close.

A look around the finished bed before planting begins. Explore the actual front, sides, and surface through photographs taken in the garden.

4 × 8 FT footprint 32 IN high BUILT awaiting planting

Close view of the raised bed’s green front corner and straw-covered surface

01 / 08

Photographed views of the finished bed. The back is not accessible to photograph.

OPEN THE DOORExplore the bed's build ledger

Inside the build.

Twenty materials recorded in the completed bed, from the floor assembly to the straw surface. This is a build record, not a planting recipe.

Component	Recorded place and purpose
Structure & floor
Vego steel bed	4 × 8 ft footprint; 32 in high. Holds the growing layers.
3/4-in pressure-treated plywood	Floor beneath the liner; drilled for drainage.
45-mil EPDM	5 × 10 ft sheet on the floor only, with drainage bores through it.
Woven landscape fabric	Water-permeable layer over the floor membrane.
Lower layer
Oak logs	Placed on the fabric as part of the lower fill.
Plantonix coco chips	Added above the oak and hydrated in place.
Compost transition
E.B. Stone compost	Transition between the lower layer and growing mix.
Growing mix
Roots Organics Formula 707	Base medium in the amended growing zone.
SeaCoast compost	Compost included in the growing mix.
Colorado Worm Company vermicompost	One of two castings inputs in the growing mix.
4 Corners worm castings	Second castings input in the growing mix.
Pumice	Porous mineral aggregate used for air space in the mix.
Small black lava rock	Additional mineral aggregate in the mix.
Charged biochar	Porous carbon added to the mix; results depend on the finished bed.
Dry inputs mixed during the build
Down To Earth Bio-Live 5-4-2	Blended organic fertilizer in the build mix.
Down To Earth Bone Meal 3-15-0	Phosphorus and calcium input in the build mix.
Down To Earth Kelp Meal 1-0.1-2	Seaweed meal included among the dry inputs.
Down To Earth Neem Seed Meal 6-1-2	Plant-based fertilizer in the build mix.
Cascade Minerals basalt	Rock dust included among the dry inputs.
Surface
Straw mulch	Approximately 2–3 in recorded across the surface.

RECOVERY LOG

What Didn't Go Right

Not every plant makes it. Not every decision was the right one. This is the honest record: what went wrong, what we did, and what happened next.