Simon is happily pretend gardening at countertop height.  His pretend strawberries were easy to pick and very tasty.

Is it a compost container or a really tall raised bed?  Maybe it is both.  Today our R&D staff put together a 36 inch tall version based on feedback from interested customers.  In my conversations with many interested folks, several had wished they had garden beds that were even taller in order to accommodate their bad backs.  Another group of people saw these circles set up and immediately thought compost bin.  I like this taller circle as a compost bin because it makes it a little harder for animals to get into it.  We will try crafting a hinging cover out of some mesh, next, to make it even harder for the animals.

Well, I am happy to say that we can do custom heights, now.  We experimented with another kind of fabric here, too.  The grey color is interesting, but it is too thin and I am not sure this will last as long as our standard black fabric out in the sun.  You can expect the final taller products to look black just like the current products.  Other colors are available, but in quantities of about 4000 garden beds.  Someday...

One thing this made visually clear is that this garden bed contains a lot of volume and would require a lot to fill it up.  This makes the soil offset strategies like putting wood, sand, rock, leaves, or straw under the soil even more important.

“Well, that will make it just the right height for the deer.” - Most common comment about our product when presented to locals around the north woods where we live.  So, we also started experimenting today with a tent-like structure over our taller raised bed prototype.  The tent poles were covered with a light bird mesh in today’s play session.  That would work to protect your strawberries.  To keep deer out we may need to find a heavier mesh.  We could also make a clear cover for it so it acted like a mini-greenhouse so you could extend your growing season.  These and other fun ideas will, hopefully, become new products as soon as we get the first product out into the marketplace.  

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1. Our brilliant scientists came up with the idea of cheeseburger seeds.  The theory is most simply explained by imagining a very talented bee pollinating together various strains of wheat, tomato, lettuce, mustard, cucumber, and a cow.  
2. These are non-GMO seeds - guaranteed not to have any genetic matter in them at all, in fact.  
3. The Fast Food cultivar demonstrated was chosen because it grows rapidly.  Unfortunately, nutritional value and taste were somewhat compromised compared to the real food cultivar.
4. The planter used is a unique, tiny, one-cheeseburger size prototype.   They grow so fast we were afraid to plant them in one of our full sized Garden Circles. 
5. Of course the leaves look papery, it's a cheeseburger plant!  Everybody knows cheeseburgers come wrapped in paper.
6. It took a lot of plant breeding to get the leaves to grow that nicely folded around the cheeseburger.  Early attempts often resulted in the cheeseburger barely wrapped, which did not keep them fresh and safe from pests.
7. These seeds rely on the power of belief.  If it doesn't grow well for you, you obviously were not a real believer in the power of cheeseburgers.
8. Individual results may vary.  If yours actually grows into a tasty cheeseburger, please let us know immediately so we can patent them!
9. Yes, it is only an April Fool's joke.  Sorry for getting your hopes up and then dashing them against the cold hard rocks of reality.       
10. We are pleased to announce that you, too, can now raise your friends' expectations and then have laugh.  You can order your very own Cheeseburger seeds right here.

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