"You want a WHAT?"

Last week when The Grandsons brought me the pumpkin seeds, their mother also handed me several seed packets and asked, "Can we grow some beets?"

I've tried growing beets.  Most of the time, the seeds never even sprout.  Last fall, I planted beet seeds, and they came up and made leaves, but they never made beets under ground.

"We can plant some," I answered.  "Whether they will grow is another matter."

So for the past week, I've been pondering what I could do to the garden soil to encourage a beet.

People have told me to add sand to my soil to improve the drainage.  Others have said that adding sand to the kind of soil we have would turn it into concrete.  The best thing to do would probably be to haul in a whole dump-truck-load of "garden mix" from the local nursery, but I can't do that now, with this season's crops still growing. 

An immediate solution would be to build a raised bed for the beets. 

As I've mentioned, my garden is not actually on my property; it's across the road, behind Nanny's house, where there's full sun for most of the day.  If the property were mine, I'd not think twice about plunking down a semi-permanent structure at the edge of the garden, but, somehow, it just seems wrong to plunk one down in Nanny's yard.

Yesterday, on my way to work, I spied a possible solution.  In someone's front yard was a long, narrow, black plastic trough on a low metal stand, and it had a "For Sale" sign on it.  I think it's supposed to be used for cows, maybe, or pigs.  Filled with good, store-bought soil, it would probably be perfect for growing beets and carrots, and maybe even potatoes.  And it wouldn't kill Nanny's grass, and I could move it out of the way when the crop is harvested.

So I said to The Husband last night at dinner, "Today, I found something I want."

He tried to look interested (like this statement is a shocker for him, eh?).  "What's that?"

"A pig trough.  There's one for sale on the Holly Grove Road.  I want to grow beets in it."

He thought about this for a minute, then asked, "Why don't you just use the horse trough?"

"WHAT horse trough?"

"The one behind the shed."

It seems that there's been a trough behind the garden shed ever since Nanny and Pop-Pop boarded a couple of horses for a guy a few years ago.  The Husband knew it was back there because he makes a pass behind the shed when he mows Nanny's yard.  Having never actually been on the back side of the shed, myself, I had no clue it was back there.  I assumed it left the premises with the horses.

This trough is horse high, and twice as deep as the pig trough.  I won't even have to bend over to tend the vegetables I intend to grow in it.  Wooo-hooooo!

Now, if I can just get some dirt....