I built a cot in my garden. More specifically, I built a baby bed.

I created a small, narrow garden bed for planting truss tomatoes. I built it in a thin and narrow shape primarily because of space. This was one patch of vacant space in the garden which will receive a sufficient amount of sun. I also built it this way because I don’t think the truss tomatoes, having been transplanted from the pot, will need much width in order to grow.

The garden is at the back of a rental property on the south coast of New South Wales, about 2 hours south of Sydney, Australia. The soil is generally fertile in a region famous for dairy farming and viticulture, although the garden had been stripped of much of its nutrients when I moved in, courtesy of the previous tenant’s neglect and a dry winter. The garden attracts quite a lot of sun, during very warm summer months and even during colder winter months in what is typically a temperate climate. The area is also famous for beaches and surfing, which is great after a day of hard yakka in the garden.

I’ll soon make a trellis for the tomatoes.

The bed was filled with newspaper, grass clippings, manure and potting mix, following the method of no dig gardening. The seeds were simply saved from some truss tomatoes that I bought from the supermarket.

The bed could also be said to resemble a coffin, but that’s a bit morbid and I hope to create life with this bed. I also don’t need further reminders of my own mortality, I already live across the road from an aged care home.

I hope the cot nurtures my little babies through to maturity.