In April, when quarantine was still relatively new (eg, day 30 instead of day 65), our daughter wanted to build a plyo box for working out. Meanwhile, we wanted to grow tomatoes.

We’d been talking about the idea raised beds for a while. We have no level ground on our property — the only level ground is in the shade. Where we do have sun, we either have lawn or flowers. I don’t want viney tomato plants and their cages in the middle of my flower garden.

We found a hardware store that delivers lumber, and we didn’t want to make them drive all the way to our house just to deliver a couple pieces of plywood for our daughter’s plyo box. So we researched what we’d need for a raised bed and figured what the heck, let’s give it a try and see what happens.

I dug out the grass; my husband leveled the bed and boxed it in with 4x4s. Today, I filled it with top soil and compost, then planted four tomato — 2 beefsteak and 2 varieties of cherry — and an habañero plant.

We’re ready for summer.