My first real garden.

11 years ago

Okay, so May of 2011 I decided I wanted to try gardening. Rather than dive in all at once, I made sure it was a hobby I'd want to stick with. So I just had a little 12x3 foot plot of grass I dug up and threw in some peat moss and composted manure and threw in some plants. (Which you can see in some of the pics. It's getting torn out though) Had some failures had some successes, decided this is something I definitely want to do long term. So when income tax came in, I expanded.

The lumber:
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The dirt: {{gwi:22258}}
I wanted to dig down a bit to put the lumber in. That way the grass won't die underneath it and leave a gap.
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Assembly:
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On top of the grass not dug out inside the bed went 3-ply newspaper, then cardboard, then dirt.
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And finished the beds off by heaping it, to account for settling and to give just a bit extra room for the plants roots while the paper/cardboard decomposes.
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I still gotta run the soaker hose and put together the trellises and poles and stuff. But I'm largely done, and it feels good. I already went and bought like 100 bucks worth of the mason jars, and I've had a vacuum sealer forever. I'm ready to start reaping the benefits of my hard work.

Comments (9)

nc_crn
11 years ago
Looks sharp. Good job on the extra support at the joints and board joins. Once that soil gets moist it gets heavy and those are generally the first places you see board cracking.
stuffradio
11 years ago
It's looking great!
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nancyjane_gardener
11 years ago
I like the idea of the ramp to run a wheelbarrow up! I'm going to look for one! Nancy
IAmSupernova
Original Author
11 years ago
That is from a pair of ramps you use to raise a car up and get underneath it, if you can't find something better suited to the task.
Kevin Reilly
11 years ago
Nice Job! What kind of wood? Going to do a drip system?
IAmSupernova
Original Author
11 years ago
Nothing specific. After researching I decided to just go with pressure treated lumber, and I'm using a 50 foot soaker hose in each of the bigger beds and a 25 foot one in the smaller one. The only downside is having to connect a regular hose to each one every time I want to water it. Just a minor inconvenience.
robyn_tx
11 years ago
Need a facebook-ish "like" button. :)

Like!
MelissaHess
11 years ago
I would love to do this! What's your estimated cost, if you don't mind me asking, at this point with just wood and dirt?
IAmSupernova
Original Author
11 years ago
Dirt was just under 500 delivered. I think the lumber was right around 300-400 from Lowes (delivered).. I didn't just buy lumber from Lowes so I'm not positive of the exact total of just the lumber. It could be done even cheaper as I ordered both extra dirt and a couple of pieces of extra lumber. I ordered 9 cubic yards, but probably coulda got away with 7 if I was doing just the beds. I also used some soil for a herb garden and 2 berry patches (raspberry and strawberry).

The big beds are 4x20 feet and the smaller one is 4x12 feet. I want to say with just the lumber and dirt for these 3 beds it cost around 700-800. Delivery from Lowes was another 80 or 120 (don't remember which) so if you have a truck you can take that off too.. I didn't have a truck or know anyone with one so I had to pay extra to have my stuff delivered to my house.

This post was edited by IAmSupernova on Mon, Feb 18, 13 at 14:11