DIY - Raised Garden Bed

Ahhh,...a hope of summer have made it to the Midwest. I have been itching to start a garden for quite some time now. Finally, the Mr. agreed but with one stipulation, It.had.to.be.a.raised.garden. He's not too fond of digging up the backyard for my project since I've never gardened before. I wouldn't either, who knows how long my garden enthusiasm will last! After some initial research, the Mr. realized that non-treated wood would be too costly to build a raised bed. We were out shopping one day and saw a starter kit at Menards while walking through their lawn section and it was reasonable priced for under $40 so we snatched it up and started on this project as soon as we got home.

Garden Kit from Menards

The perk to using this is that you can easily buy another kit and add on to your current garden. For a household the size of mine, I don't expect that I will need to grow that many vegetables. Opening this kit I realized the frame is made of plastic. Boo! I preferred for it to be wood but oh well. Moving on. To prep the garden bed, we had to turn over the grass. Mr. thought he was free from digging but he was so wrong!

Measure the perimeter and start digging away!

 

Turn the grass over and level out the bed and frame.

We purchased about 6 bags of soil. It was recommended 7 cubic feet for this bed but once we started filling, we realized we only needed 4 bags.

Fill up the bed and level out the soil

The last step is to plant your seeds!  I tried to pick vegetables that would be eaten in my household and the quickest to grow. Did you know it takes 90 days before some vegetables can be harvest?!? I wanted to grow those miniature watermelon but the Mr. vetoed that idea. He said they take up too much space. Oh well, I'll make due with what I can for my first garden. 

Top Left to Right: Cilantro, Baby Spinach, Radish

Bottom: Mixed Lettuce Bunch

It's been a little over 10 days since I started this project and I can see the vegetables growing. Follow along and see how my first garden turn out. I know I have a lot of projects going on at once but I promise to have updates soon.

On another note, I have booked my vacations for the month of May. I will be visiting Hawaii, California, and Florida all in one Itinerary. I will update my blog with my experiences once I get back!