How To: Building a Raised Bed Garden

This weekend we spent some much needed time outside. Mother Nature gave us a beautiful, sunny 70 degree day Saturday...and then it snowed Sunday morning. She is a fickle lady. But we were still able to get some things done, and the dusting of snow we got overnight melted away quickly. We have four raised beds in our garden but decided to add a long bed between the original four beds and the fence, which is what we worked on on Saturday and what I am going to write about today. Shout out to our friends Simon and Emily for keeping us company and helping out with building our box! Work is always better with the company of friends. I've had a few people ask about our raised bed and how we built them, so I took (far too many) photos yesterday and am going to provide some simple instructions on how to make them yourself.

working hard - i believe emily and i were sitting
on the deck eating girl scout cookies at this moment

I don't want to take over our yard with our garden. Well, I actually DO want to do that, but I'm trying to be reasonable. If we at some point sell our house I don't want potential buyers to think we're insane/worry about having to pull out a massive garden area if they're not gardeners. So we opted to add a 15 foot box in between the current boxes and the fence. It doesn't extend into the yard any farther and Nathan doesn't have to squeeze the mower back there - win win! Building the boxes is very easy. If you can work a saw you can bust these bad boys out in a day.

Seed Update and Weekend Plans

here's a little gardening humor for you

Hello all! I'm so happy to say we had a few 70 degree days this week! Never mind that it's currently in the 40s outside and I have been battling the cold that never dies. We made the best of it though: Adelle and Mallow got to play in the yard, Nathan grilled dinner and had a few beers, and I sat on the deck with some tissues stuck up my nose. Fun times.

In other news I have a bit of a correction to make! In my post that gives instructions on starting from seed I mention that I bought a clamp plant light for (only) my tomato and pepper seedlings. I didn't think the other plants would care much about getting a lot of light, but apparently all plants benefit quite a bit from a light source. My broccoli seedlings popped out of the dirt and grew 2-3 inches in a matter of days...which is exactly what you DONT want to happen. In that same post I also talked about how you don't want your plants to become leggy (tall and thin) because the plants are weaker than stockier plants. The reason they get leggy is generally because they are focusing all their energy on growing toward their light source (like a window) and less energy on growing leaves and bulking up.

Gardening: Where to Start

When I posted the link to my blog on Facebook I had a friend comment and say that she wanted to plant a garden this year, but had no idea where to start. You know how anytime a professor asks a question in Harry Potter, Hermoine excitedly wiggles in her seat with her hand straight up in the air? I am totally having one of those excited "I can help" moments. While I am definitely not an expert, I feel a bit like a crazy plant lady these days and if I don't know the answer I will do my best to find it. So where to start? Here are some things to consider when you are ready to plan your garden:

What sort of space am I working with? 

a view of our garden area from the deck

I think people generally begin to think about what they'd like to grow, but the first thing you should plan out is your garden space. Do you want several raised beds and six tomato plants so you have the option of canning? Do you want a container garden with peppers and tomatoes so you can avoid buying them at the store? Figuring out how much space you have will help answer these kind of questions. You have a few options here:

Containers: This is a great option if you are short on yard space. You can use just about anything: terra cotta pots, plastic pots, DIY boxes or even thrift store finds (think wooden boxes or old metal containers). A few things to keep in mind: it will need holes to drain out extra water, which can be drilled into the bottom if there are none, and bigger is better. Seriously, the more room you give your plants, the bigger they will be able to grow their root system, the more soil they will have to "eat" from and the more food you will get. Some things do better in smaller pots, like herbs or greens (think spinach and lettuce), but things like tomatoes and peppers will really benefit from having more space.