It wasn't until the spring of 2011 that I actually got to work on my raised beds. Being the supportive husband that he is, Jonathan let me use the majority of our backyard. We actually have a huge front and side yard that we use to play in...so that allowed me a big garden space in the back! The first step was to remove the existing sod. I paid to have someone do that part. (Too much work for me!)
Secondly, I went to work building the raised beds. I bought the wood from Home Depot and stained what would become the outside of the beds to help weather protect the wood.
Once assembled, the raised beds looked like this:
I ordered garden soil mixed with compost that was delivered to my house. It was enough to fill all the beds and I still had LOTS left over! (I ended up having to give it away free to the neighbors. They were blessed, so it all worked out! :)
At the time, some neighbors of mine were tearing down and rebuilding a retaining wall. I noticed that they were throwing away the old bricks, so I asked if I could have them. They were happy to get rid of them and I was excited to use them as a walkway! As a birthday gift, some friends helped me to spread out sand before I laid the bricks. (Thanks, Ann and Neelie! )
Hauling the bricks took a while! I think I gained some muscle that summer! Here's what the finished product looked like:
Now that the hard work is done, I'm enjoying planting! Here's my kitchen garden right now in early summer. I've planted tomatoes, beans, lettuce, Kale, squash, cucumber, herbs and flowers:
(You can disregard the weeds growing up through the cracks in the brick. I will take care of those soon enough! I'm trying vinegar. That's what I've learned on pinterest anyway! :)
