Planting a Raised Bed Garden

Well, spring is upon us and summer is right around the corner. I wanted to share with you what I planted in my raised beds this year.. My first venture in the raised bed garden started last year. I am so excited to plant this year. You can build yourself one, I promise. It is suprisignly easy. Jackson and I put it together in a couple hours. Go to your local Ace Hardware or Home Depot and pick up the wood. I would suggest something not treated with chemicals but cedar. If you don't have equiptment to cut the wood, fret not, 'cause most places will cut all the wood for you. Couple pieces of wood, some nails and you are done. Then you just need to figure out what plants you want to put in it.

The key is knowing how much you want to plant, so that you can space it accordingly. Last year was a total trial garden for us. We had just moved in that winter, so I had no idea what the sun light would be like. I also had no idea we would have little pesky critters that would attack it.

Little did I know, what a huge bunny population we have in our backyard. Ugh, it was so frustrating to come out one day and see that half of my garden was eaten by some critter. Jack and I did some recon and low and behold, those pesky little hoppy creatures, were eating all my veggies. Sorry if this affends some of you, but my cats seemed to help me with that population. This year I have learned my lesson, and bought some getto fencing to keep those furry bastards out. They have chicken coup like wire and I just took some stakes to secure around the raised bed.

My area is not huge, so I made sure I did my research regarding how big the vegis would get and make sure you place the bed in a good sunlight location. I think the key, besides keeping critters out, is planning on what you are putting in the beds and making sure you get the correct soil. I went to my local Ace Hardware store, ( I like to support the local stores) and bought some soil that is just for vegetable gardens. I luckily had quite a bit of soil from last year, so I did a little combining of the old and the new. Once you feel like the soil is good, and you have have to map out what vegi's you have, how tall they will get and spacing is key.

I am not gonna lie and say that this is extravangant, but for the first time gardner, this is an amazing way to start. Give it a try and see what you think. It's fairly easy and you don't have to be a master gardner or even have a little bit of a " green thumb " to master a raised bed. Promise.