Winter beds are not the prettiest of them all – - but they are useful. You need to plant your seeds, bulbs and plants in time to have an explosion of color in the months ahead.
Just wait for summer and you’ll have more blooms than you know what to do with. And, if you plant vegetables, you might be giving away bags full of edible goodies to your friends, family and neighbors. We even gave loads of spinach away to anyone walking by the house who wanted some.
It’s EZ to make your bed. All you need is a couple of 2 X 4′s (actually we have used 8 here on each bed), a few nails or screws (self-tapping screws are the best–especially exterior screws) and a hammer or cordless drill. Your local lumber yard (Lowe’s, Home Depot, Mr. Plywood, etc.) will even cut your wood to size- for a small fee.
(CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO ENLARGE THE DIAGRAM)
Lay the wood out in a box-shape and screw or nail the corners together. If you are using two layers tall, make two separate boxes (the same size) and then stack one on top of the other. Then, position the boxes where you want them. Drive stakes inside the corners to secure the box in position-so it won’t shift and/or bulge when filled with soil.
Make sure you use untreated cedar or fir, if you’re going to grow edibles. Cedar resists rotting longer but is more expensive than fir. Fir is about $2.00 per eight-feet. Pressure treated wood has been covered in chemicals and you don’t want the chance that any of that will leach into your food. I don’t want to have any chemicals leach into my ground but at least be careful when it comes to family farming. And you can farm in front of your own house – I do.
I grow enough to feed my large family and others. Of course I still have to go to the grocery store, but maybe one day I’ll have chickens in my backyard and . . . well, a city girl can dream – can’t she?
Anyway, you can line your bed, if you want it to last longer but at the cost of a couple of 2 X 4′s – I don’t. I’ve had my raised beds out in the front yard for at least twenty years and only had to replace a couple 2 X 4′s every now and then.
Even a small city lot can yield an amazing harvest of healthy food for a family.
If you have any questions about how to build your own bed, just leave it in the “comments” section and I’ll answer it for you.
Happy harvests are only a season away!
“Even a small city lot can yield an amazing harvest of healthy food for a family.” I hear you! People are amazed that I produce as much produce as I do in my small backyard.
I’m going to try this with putting the bed on a raised platform so I can garden with my bad back! I’ll do the double set and try for something I can sit on my garden roller and work. Easy-peasy! thanks for the suggestion~
I love gardening in raised beds. I just built a 3′ x 6′ one just for strawberries.