Building Simple Garden Beds

This year is the time for me to finally go crazy on gardening now that I have the space to do so. Below is my process and results of making my garden beds.

Planning

This year we were able to give the yard a makeover and in the process plenty of space for me to add some garden beds. Since we wanted to keep a large space for us and the pup to play, we settled on creating a boarder of beds along the fence line.

The next choice was what style and material to use. Since there will be more plants and general costs to my garden this year, we decided to go with a cost affective and easy to adjust version. So, we went with the cement block and wood modular system. At first I was not super excited about the look, but now that they are made, I actually really like them! The ability to adjust and replace old wood pieces as needed should be really nice season to season and they have a natural subtle look which is what I wanted.

Day 1 of Building: General Layout and First Four Beds

After waiting a while for a warm day to really start this process, it was finally time to get the true layout figured out. We decided to go with the typical length that the wood is sold as (8ft) to save time and have nice long beds. This way for the main beds, the only cutting is the side sections, which we made 2ft to easily divide up the wood. So with that figured out, we measured and laid everything out to see how many beds we can fit and I got to work. The process for building these beds is very easy which was nice, so the most work was really getting the mulch pulled back and making sure the measurements work in the space.

Eventually we plan to line the sides to keep the wood in good shape and will evenly fill the base of each with the compostable materials we have been collecting. So, once the beds were put together, I divided up the cardboard and compostable items we currently have into each for storage and to get them more broken down. I am so glad we had a nice warm day to get the bulk of these first four beds complete. It is that time of year where one day will feel like summer and the next it will snow. We got lucky with some warm days being on a weekend so we could take as much time as we needed. And as expected, it ended up snowing by Tuesday, so we will have to wait for the next set of warm days to get more materials and continue.

Days 2 & 3 of Building: Finishing the Layout

Once the weather warmed up a bit, it was time to get the last few beds put together. In the moment, I forgot to video the process, but here is the final results for they layout. Our next step will be to level the beds since the hill is fairly steep for them, and then cut the side pieces and build them to the height we want.

Days 4-9ish of Building: Leveling the Beds

We got distracted by a lot of fun things in life in the summer, so finally got around to getting the beds leveled and prepared to be filled this fall. This actually turned out to be better in the long run so I could have cooler days to work in. The only downside was the massive amount of spiders! 'O_O So I would clear out a bed at a time, take apart the walls, rake away the mulch and then let everyone evacuate for about a day before I could get to work.

For the leveling, I would start with the second highest corner, make that level to the natural ground and then base the rest of the corners on that depth. For the corners that were higher, I dug the base stone into the ground and for the ones that were lower, I either built up the base with road base material, or added an extra stone which was buried into the ground for those that needed a large change. And overall this process has worked really well!

Once the walls were leveled, then I stapled some lining to the sides to keep the wood in better condition over time from moisture. Then I put all the compostable stuff such as boxes, branches, and leaves back in to continue to break down over winter before I get the soil to fill and plant in spring!

I still have 2 more to go, but am waiting for the ground to be a bit less frozen. They will all be compete and ready to plant this spring though and I cannot wait!

Days 10-X of Building: Finish Leveling, Fill, and Plant!

As we get into better weather, I will complete the leveling and share my process for completing this project!