I had time off over Christmas and New Years, which gave me time to build my veggie patch. It was a fun process. Here are a few pictures of it coming together.
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| Partially constructed. I used untreated cedar. Some people on the internet use cedar fence posts, but those are treated. To avoid chemicals you gotta buy the expensive stuff. I probably spent about $100 on lumber for this 4'x16' bed. |
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| Fully assembled. I added those cross bars to prevent bowing under the weight of the soil, but I think I should have added a few more. Time will tell, and I can add more later. |
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| Installed. I dug holes for the 4x4 posts to sit in. I put down cardboard (removed stickers and tape. Used plain unprinted). As you can see, I am using ollas for my watering (http://www.drippingspringsollas.com). |
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| All filled in with soil. With memories of my front-yard project freshly in my brain, I decided to skip the backache. I hired two high school kids off Craigslist to haul my soil in their pickup and wheelbarrow it into the bed. I used 1 yard soil and 1 yard compost from Organics By Gosh. OBG Yelp reviews aren't the best, but they are close by and the price was decent. |
Check back soon for updates on veggie planting.
Update in March 2017- I got concerned that the raised bed was starting to bow out, so I added two more cross bars. Now there's a cross bar every 4 feet. I think that's sufficient. I had to dig out the soil to add them cross bars. I did right before planting the spring garden, so there were no plants or roots to worry about harming. I feel a lot better about the long-term sturdiness of my raised bed with the additional cross bars.
