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Showing posts with label how to build a raised bed garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label how to build a raised bed garden. Show all posts

6.01.2015

Tutorial Tuesday!

Freesie Koozie:


7 Fat Quarter Projects:


DIY Raised Bed Garden:



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Hope Studios

10.11.2010

Building a Garden - The Conclusion

Okay, let's finish up this garden! We have all the components for our garden, let's assemble it.

Line the inside bottom of your main garden box with weed blocking fabric, stapling it to the inside edges:



Place each raised bed frame into place and let your kids inspect the arrangement:



Check for level, you don't want all your precious rain water running right off next spring before it can reach the roots of your plants. You can use little "shims" from the home improvement store to level up the corners of your individual raised beds.



This part is fun for the kiddos - fill the walkways between the raised beds with pea gravel. This is easily found at your local home improvement store. I used about 6 bags. The kids love using rakes and trowels and hands to smooth it all into place.



This pea gravel gives you a well draining walkway that discourages weeds AND it's so pretty!



Now, fill your interior boxes with soil and you're good to go!

For good measure: I mixed in one bag of manure compost to the soil in each raised bed.



Pretty as a picture.



If a fence is necessary in your location, I can show you how we build ours next week. Now, get to work! You're in the home stretch!

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10.04.2010

Gardening Part 3

Need to catch up? Check out last week's post Gardening Part 2

Okay, it's time to build a series of boxes to contain our garden. As I said, I kept it simple with the outside and made no cuts. I used the 2x6x8 and 2x6x10 inch pressure treated lumber:



I made a simple box that I screwed together with 2 1/2 inch screws that were coated for outside use.


For strength, I also bought 2x2 boards that I cut to insert into the corners. Again, screw these into place to reinforce your corners and reduce that back and forth swing.





Now, do the same with your remaining boards and make several small boxes for your actual plants. Mine measured 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches and I built four.



I did not reinforce the corners of these boxes since they will be filled with soil.

Your mission? Go buy some wood and some screws and get to work constructing your boxes! Use your husband's tools! If you are afraid, ask your local home improvement store to cut them for you! You can do it!

Next week we will finish up this project and your garden will be good to go for next spring.

**Edit** I have been made aware of some facts about wood choices since this published. Though I was following the advice of a Lowe's employee in choosing pressure treated wood, read what Rhonda from Southern Proletariat has to say:

Anything that has been chemically treated or that has chemicals is required to have what is called an MSDS (material data safety sheet)...I looked up Georgia Pacific pressure treated wood on its website here:

http://www.gp.com/build/product.aspx?pid=1395

The actual MSDS (the sheet that tells all the details about the lumber) is a pdf down at the bottom. But here is the line that I pulled out for you:

"Pressure treated wood should not be used in circumstances where preservative may become a component of food, animal feed or beehives."

Basically, that's cause you don't want to run the risk of getting large amounts of copper in your system. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_effect_does_too_much_copper_have_on_your_body

Might I suggest that you look into the Yellawood environmentally friendly pressure treated product?


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