Raised Vegetable Beds...Day One

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My goal for today was to mow the back lawn and get 4 raised vegetable gardens built, and the area prepped to put the raised gardens in. Well, we didn't get it all done - but did make a lot of progress today. I did mow the back lawn (it was in desperate need of mowing!!!), we built all 4 raised beds, and my dad cleared enough area for us to put two of them down (they are not "set" yet, they are just laying there for now).

I've been wanting raised vegetable beds for a bit now; I was inspired by my boss's vegetable beds, and other I had seen. We had a vegetable garden last year, but the raised beds not only help with drainage, but also access to all the plants/vegetables. Well, one of my favorite bloggers happened to post a tutorial of a very basic raised garden bed a couple weeks ago. She posted full details of every little simple step...thank you Pioneer Woman! I used her tutorial as a guide for what I decided to do. My dad and I measured out the area we had planned and decided to do 4 3'x6' beds - 12 inches high.

This morning I made a trip to Home Depot (my home away from home) and bought the supplies needed for the raised beds...My dad and I put them together, and then I waterproofed them (we used a cheaper wood, so wanted to waterproof the boards in order for the to last longer), while my dad worked on clearing out the area for the beds....
What the vegetable garden area looked like this morning:

My dad worked on removing the plants and weeds from the area...and then digging up the area to make sure the dirt is soft and mixed up:

Nice and clean!!! - thanks Dad!

The supplies (thank you, Home Depot, for cutting the wood for me):

We used a tinted waterproofer...it's supposed to look like Redwood (don't mind the drip marks!):

We laid down 2 of the boxes just to get an idea of what they'll look like. The next step will be making sure they are level, putting in stakes to hook them too (to help keep them in place), fill them in...and then plant away!


It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so if it does, the next steps will have to wait...The remaining 2 beds waiting to be set in place:

1 comments:

Candace said...

WOW! They are beautiful! Can't wait to see the finished project. You got a lot done in a day :). Also, I love your new blog design, very pretty.