Raised Bed Garden

After last years failed attempt at growing anything, I was determined this year to make it work. A few weeks ago I built at raised 8x4 garden and filled it with plants a few days later. Two weeks in the ground, the plants are getting taller and even small tomatoes are beginning to appear. Here is what I did to build the raised bed.

Items Needed:

Six 2x8 Boards

Two 4x4 Posts

Drill

Pack of Outside Rust-Proof Nails

Hammer

Roll of 24" Chicken Wire

I went to Lowe's to get the wood - buying six 2x6 and two 4x4 posts. I had two of the 2x8 cut in half and both 4x4 posts cut in half. The smaller 2x8 served as the ends and the original 8 foot boards were both sides. I placed the 4' posts in each corner and screwed all sides into the boards. While others have cut off the posts so that they are flush with the top, I am using the posts to hold up the chicken wire.

Once completed, I moved it to the place where it was going to go. I picked this place because it was out of the way and would receive the most sunlight throughout the day. The garden bed needs to rest flat on the ground so I had to dig out some ground underneath one end of it.

While nothing was growing in this spot before, I wanted to put something down to keep out any weeds and anything else unwanted that may begin to grow. I simply laid down newspaper in a few layers and was sure to have some of it going up the side so that nothing could grow around it.

Now was the dreaded task of filling this thing up with dirt. I went back to Lowe's and bought ten bags of Top Soil and ten bags of Compost and this completely filled up the raised bed.

Once it was filled, I gave it a good mixing and begin to plant all of the plants. Being on the marsh, it is constantly windy and I didn't want to take any chances with seeds. Everything I bought was already a small plant, many coming in the peat pots that they can be planted in.

I planted over twenty plants so many are closer than they are suppose to be. In a few months I will find out if this was a good decision or not. Here are the plants I went with:

Red Bell Pepper

Green Bell Pepper

Silver Queen Corn

Egg Plant

Squash

Watermelon

Cantaloupe

Cucumbers

Cherokee Purple Tomatoes

Mr. Stripey Tomatoes

Solar Fire Tomatoes

Homestead Tomatoes

Super Sweet 100 Tomatoes

Lemon Boy Tomatoes

Once all these were in the ground, I went ahead and put the Chicken Wire around the garden. I put a nail on the outside of each of the four posts on the top and bottom. Because of the shape of Chicken Wire, it can be attached to these nails and it holds is perfectly. I pulled the wire as tight as I could so that it didn't droop and stood up straight. I also put a single nail on the inside of the garden about halfway down on each side. I attached the bottom of the wire on this nail so that the wire couldn't be pushed or pulled in either direction. So far this is working great and keeping the animals out.

Once this was up, I gave it a good soaking and let it begin to grow!