In the Midwest, gardening season is finally upon us! We loved our raised garden bed last year — and all the tomatoes and vegetables we grew inside it — and this year we decided to add another one to expand our garden.
I’ll be the first to admit I’m not very handy. This year though was the the year we finally invested in getting some tools of our own, rather than borrowing them from neighbors or family. Now, we have some fun projects in the works (so stay tuned!). But what’s cool is that raised garden beds are pretty easy. (Affiliate links included).
So easy in fact, that there are kits online (like these) that come with everything you need — but they still require assembly. That’s why we decided to make our own, so they fit our yard just the way we wanted. We did some research and then got to work. Here are a few things we learned along the way:
Decide Where You Want The Raised Garden Bed
This is important, because where the raised garden bed goes will affect both the size and shape. That said, keep in mind how you’ll access it too. Four feet wide is considered the ideal size; any bigger and it may be difficult to access all the delicious fruits and veggies in the middle.
Also consider what you’ll be planting. Some of your plants and seeds will need full sun. Others will need shade. Those factors will affect where you put the garden bed too.
Last but not least, consider your long-term plans. We decided to do one new raised bed a year, because we wanted to see how well it worked in our yard… and if we could actually grow anything. We also decided to put it in an area where we could line the beds up over time. It may be at the back of our yard, but it’s a perfect little corner… one mistake though? Our current hose doesn’t reach it. Oops! Thankfully I have kids who love to use their watering cans.
How to Build A Raised Garden Bed
Before building: figure out what supplies you need! We opted for cedar wood as it’s durable and typically lasts longer. We went with a four by eight foot garden bed, and so this is what we needed to build:
- Two 2 in x 12 in x 4 feet boards
- Two 2 in x 12 in x 8 feet boards
- Wood screws
- Drill
- Landscaping fabric
- Staple gun
Using the drill, fasten the boards together in a rectangle shape, and voila! You’ve got a garden bed. Easy peasy.
Next up: landscaping fabric… but why? My dad was a landscaper and he recommends stapling landscaping fabric to the inside parts of the board to protect the board from rot. You don’t need it, but it’ll help your raised garden bed last significantly longer. Cedar wood can last 10-15 years, but with fabric, we’ll (hopefully) be closer to the 15 year mark. Landscape fabric can also help protect against weeds from invading the garden bed, too. (More on that in a second).
Lastly, if you have grass where you’re putting the garden bed, consider laying down flat cardboard boxes. They’ll kill the grass off underneath and, in turn, help the soil. Bonus: my kids loved stomping down the cardboard and, in turn, the grass. They also pretended the raised garden bed was a house until we filled it with dirt. Speaking of which…
What To Fill the Garden Bed With
Soil matters when it comes to having a garden that, well… grows what you plant. Having a raised garden bed is one way to control the soil to make sure it’s ideal for plants. But you also need quality soil.
So, my dad’s recommendation — after working in landscaping for well over three decades — is this ratio: 4 top soil, 1 manure, 1 peat moss. Put another way, you want to have four times the amount of top soil for every batch of manure and peat moss you use.
Of course, you’re going to need a whole lot more than that, but follow that ratio and then mix it all together. For a four by eight foot garden bed, we used a total of about 24 bags of top soil. So, yeah. It’s a lot of dirt. Make sure you have a wheelbarrow — another “oops” of ours. Thank goodness for fabulous neighbors. Also, thank goodness my kids loved this part; they loved dumping out the dirt and then getting into the box and mixing it all together!
Also: add in broken egg shells. The shells will help moderate the acidity of the dirt… which is good for plants!
With this mixture, your plants will thank you. The bugs will too. We have tons of “good” bugs, like rollie pollies, in our garden… much to my daughter’s dismay (but hey, it’s a lesson in what’s good for the garden!)
It’s All About Maintenance
You’ve got the raised garden bed. You’ve got the right soil mixture. You’ve planted your vegetables and plants. But the work isn’t over.
Gardening takes maintenance. While there’s (typically) less weeds with raised garden beds, weeds do have their way of sneaking their way in there. So the first thing we did this Spring?
We rallied the kids to help us clean out the garden beds. We added landscape fabric to the outside of the beds and topped it with mulch to stop the crazy amount of creeping charlie in our yard from creeping its way back into the beds. And we ripped out weeds, added some new layers of soil, and turned the soil over to make sure it was nice and mixed up (the kids loved helping with this!)
Along the way we may have encountered a few worms, but it was reassuring, because worms mean the soil is healthy!
This year we’ve got a whole lot of plants ready to grow. In one garden bed, we have tomatoes and basil. In the (new) second bed, we’re planting raspberries. We also have some chives, and other herbs that have already returned on their own too. Gardening may be a whole lot of work, and yes it can be tiring, but I can honestly say that for us, it’s totally worth it. I can’t wait to see how our plants do this year.
What questions do you have about raised garden beds? Feel free to ask below!
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