Can you think of anything tastier than home grown tomatoes or summer squash fresh from your own garden?  Have you ever longed to stroll into your own garden to pluck fresh herbs or vegetables for your evening meal?

Although my husband and I have dabbled a bit with growing veggies in our garden, we’ve never really gotten serious about it.  One season we experimented with planting tomatoes. Another year we tried our hand at growing strawberries, but we’ve never made a major commitment to a true vegetable garden.

Years ago we had a very sweet neighbor with an amazing vegetable garden.  She would keep us supplied with tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and zucchini all summer long.  Oh how we enjoyed the fruits of her labor!

Well, we have made the decision to truly commit to growing our own veggies and herbs in our own garden!  We will finally be able to enjoy our own fresh tomatoes and share our abundance with others!

Our first step to this exciting project was a trip to Home Depot to purchase supplies.  We knew we wanted the garden to be a 4 x 8 raised bed.  The benefits of a raised bed include better drainage, protection from pests, and easy access to your garden.

Here is our materials list:

• 6    2 x 6 x 8      Cedar boards                        11.93 ea.         71.58
• 1     4 x 4 x 10    Cedar post                                                     20.60
• 6     copper end caps  ( optional )                 3.77 ea.        22.62             Total Cost 114.80

We used 3 cedar boards from materials we already had so our materials cost was actually less.  My husband chose to use cedar for this project for its extreme durability  and resistance to rot.  The copper end caps were totally optional.  We thought it would give the garden a touch of panache!

Here are the steps for constructing the raised bed:

• Cut 2 of the cedar boards in half.  These are for your end pieces.
• Cut cedar posts into 6 equal pieces of 20 inches each.
• Assemble your frame.
• Using 2 1/2 galvanized screws attach boards to post.

The time required for constructing this raised bed was probably under two hours including cutting the boards.  The assembly went really quickly.  Of course, my husband did the work.  I stood by and cheered him on!

We are excited to have this portion of the work complete.  Next, we will be adding a ground cover, soil, and finally the plants!

I will keep you posted on how this garden tuns out!

                                                                          Happy Gardening!

xxoo   Gerri