A Raised Garden Bed

We had such a beautiful weekend in Michigan - 80 degrees and sunny!  And after spending a day in the cool basement painting cabinets, I was ready to get outside and enjoy some sun.  I gave myself the day off from the kitchen work on Sunday and Justin and I worked in the yard.  Specifically, prepping our garden space. 

 

Our new house has a half acre to work with, and plenty of sunny spots that would be perfect for a little garden bed.  Something to get us started growing our own herbs and veggies. 

 

 

Here's how we did it:

I grabbed 3 eight foot long lengths of 2"x6" cedar from Home Depot.  I cut one piece in half and we made this 4'x8' bed from the lumber.

 

We joined the ends together with two 4" screws in each corner.

 

 

We placed the cedar frame in a sunny spot set to the side of the yard (giving the lawn mower plenty of space to go around it) and then used an edging tool to cut the sod around the frame.  Ignore the landscape fabric in the middle of the frame.  I just used the frame to measure it and forgot to remove it for the photo.

 

 

After marking the area around the bed, we started to remove the soil.  This was not an easy process.  Especially since we didn't have the right tool (a sharp spade would do the trick).  I read about several methods of removing sod here, but we were in a time crunch.  So we improvised and used a garden claw to till the sod until we were able to loosen the roots from the ground.

 

 

Justin tilled and I tossed the sod in the wheelbarrow.  We tried to keep the sod in large pieces so we could reuse it in other areas of the yard.

 

 

The sod came in handy in other areas of our yard where crabgrass and weeds have taken over.

 

 

After we removed all the sod, we loosed up the soil and raked it evenly across the ground.  The yard slopes slightly downward in our backyard (towards a creek by the fenceline).  We raked the soil so that we favored the side that was sloping towards the creek.  Or towards Jusin in this photo.

 

 

We laid the cedar frame in place and leveled it once in the ground.  Because the spot we chose is on a slight decline, we had to dig into the higher ground until we were level with the lowest spot.  We basically buried the side of the frame closer to the house. 

 

 

Once the frame was level we poured out the garden soil and spread it evenly.  We purchased 8 yards of Miracle-Gro garden soil, which gave us good coverage about 2-3 inches from the top of the cedar frame.

 

 

 

I'd love to leave my garden out in the open, but I'm afraid we have too many little critters that would love to feast on the young plants.  Deer, rabbits, squirrels, and groundhogs all enjoy the yard.  And we enjoy seeing them, but I don't really want to share my basil!

 

One of my neighbors has a gorgeous garden in her backyard full of herbs and veggies.  I used her as a guide when choosing how to protect our plants.  She suggested using DeerBlock mesh and some metal stakes. 

 

 

The mesh comes in a roll that is 7 feet high.  My neighbor has had good luck with a four-foot fence, so we're going to try out the same and see how it works.  I used 5 steel stakes to mark the corners and a doorway.  The stakes are 5' tall, but once they are placed in the ground, they measure just over 4'.  We ran the mesh around each stake (using the tabs on the stakes to keep the mesh in place), and folded the extra length over the top.

 

 

The mesh has no structure to it, and we figured little critters might be able to duck under the mesh and sneak underneath.  In order to discourage little paws from lifting the mesh, we used a few plastic stakes we had in the garage to keep the mesh taut and tight to the ground.  I haven't seen any intruders yet...

 

 

Also, we added a few cedar stakes in the ground on the sides of the bed to keep it from bowing out over time.  And one extra stake in each corner (drilled into place at each corner) will hopefully keep it from separating at the joints.  Time will tell how that method works :)

 

 

 

I was too excited to wait any longer to transplant my veggies and herbs.  I started seeds about three weeks ago, and they've grown so quick that some were getting too big for the starter pots.  I planted a few of my starter plants... the beans (on the far left), carrots (seeds were started in the ground), green onions, snap peas, cucumbers, basil, and cilantro. 

My tomatoes aren't quite ready to go into the ground yet.  They need to adjust to the outdoors and I need another garden bed!  Good news is that I have lots of room to grow.

This project was quick and easy, and I think I can talk Justin into making another one.

It took us about 3 hours to make this one bed (and not using the proper tools). Here's the cost breakdown for one 4'x8' raised bed:

24' Cedar lumber - $45

8 cu ft garden soil - $20

5 - 5' steel stakes - $25

8 cedar stakes - $5

Fencing - $20  (with plenty left over for other garden beds)

16 - 4" Screws - $0

6 plastic stakes - $0

 

I could have saved us some dough by using pressure treated wood rather than cedar.  But, I didn't like the idea of the chemicals from the pressure treated wood being close to the plants we were going to eat. 

 

If you know me, I don't have the best of luck with keeping plants alive.  This is a new adventure for me, so I'm using this year as a test of my skills.  Crossing my fingers I don't kill everything before we can make a homemade pizza!