Raised Bed Gardening

Garden. Beginning. Now!

Gardening has been a newfound love of mine.  I grew up amongst incredible gardens, but for whatever reason, never got too involved in my parent’s masterpieces.  Now that I have a house of my own, a yard of my own, and a family of my own I’ve been inspired.  It helps that my husband grew up on a small farm and has his skills to share.

One of the first house projects we took on was to convert our little yard into a lush vegetable garden.  For two years we had a small, but extremely fruitful corner garden.  This year, we’ve done some rearranging.  A 6 foot privacy fence now blocks much of the sun we once had in the southwest corner.  So, we built a raised bed in the middle of our backyard, and one in the front.  Since you can walk around them, all the vegetables are very easy to access.  An infestation of grass and weeds is kept at bay since they are above ground.  Fencing is easy to add to keep hungry animals out.  You can make them any size to fit your space (we also converted 2 large, square planter boxes to raised beds by our deck).  They’re attractive and great to show off!

A raised bed is very easy to build.  Here’s how you do it:

Materials for 10’X4′ Raised Bed:

4 10’X6″ untreated wood

2 8’X6″ untreated wood, cut in half (4 4’X6″)

some type of metal bracket to hold and brace the ends at a 90 degree angle

wood screws

3′ metal stakes

chicken wire

Building the Bed

How-To

1. Measure out the rectangle.  We used twine to mark the edges.
2. Dig up dirt at least 6″ down, turning over sod.
3. Attach two 10’X6″ to two 4’X6″, making an L shape, 12″ high.  Screw the boards together, in addition to using brackets on the inside corner.
4. Using the remaining 4 boards, make another L shape.
5. Attach both Ls to make a rectangle.
6. Place structure around prepared soil.
7. Fill bed with black soil, compost, and any other good organic matter.
8. Wrap chicken wire around bed, using metal posts to secure.
9. Plant your favorite vegetables!