Beginner's Raised Garden Bed

Hi Fellow Gardeners,

I retired and purchased a home. Now that I had more time on my hands, I wanted a garden. Am I a seasoned gardener? No. Am I a contractor? No. But I wanted a raised garden bed to grow some vegetables. I already had some of the supplies that I moved from my previous residence. Why a raised bed you ask?

• Easier on my back; I can sit on wall and reach.
• More control of what goes into the soil mix.
• Better protection from animals. I planned to add a top to the bed later, but even without one, it will keep some animals out of it due to the height and chicken wire underneath.

Prices in Lynchburg, VA , August 2021

Sand 0.5-cu ft 50-lb Play Sand $4.20 at Lowes

Straw 2.5 cu ft, covers up to 500 sf. $12.98 at Lowes

Manure 1 cu ft $5.28 at Lowes

Raised Garden Bed Soil 1.5 cu ft $9.98 at Lowes

Rod Caulk Gun Price varies depending on choice at Lowes

Concrete Adhesive 10 fl oz $5.58 at Lowes

Concrete Block 8"x8"x16" $1.78 at Lowes

Concrete Block Cap 8"x2"x16" $1.70 at Lowes

Landscape Fabric 3' x 100' $21.98 at Lowes

Galvanized Steel Poultry Netting 50' x 2' $8.98 at Lowes

Plastic Sheeting Price varies depending on choice at Lowes

First, decide the best location for the bed. Most vegetables like at least 6 hours of sunlight. You will want access to water for your garden and fairly level ground. For my location, the fact that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west helped determine a great location for morning sun and over 6 hours total sunlight daily.

Choose best spot for garden The University of New Hampshire has a great site to help determine sunny spot.

I wanted to be able to set on the top of the walls and reach over to any part of the garden. I already had some 8" tall cinderblocks and 4" tall top cap blocks, so I did not have to buy many more for the size bed I wanted. I love my electric tiller! I attached a link to the exact one I have. I used it to till up the grass and dig down about 4 inches. I raked the loose grass/weeds out of the bed base.

I laid out the cinderblocks to get an idea of the size rectangle I wanted. For me, 7 cinderblocks for the long sides by 4 cinderblocks for the short ends worked perfectly, and I used 2 rows of cinderblocks with one row of top cap blocks. That's a total of 44 cinderblocks and 22 top caps. Then I moved the cinderblocks aside.

Next, I laid out 2 rows of poultry netting on the dirt base. This is so groundhogs and the like cannot dig underneath the bed. On top of that I put down plastic sheeting to help keep weeds out from the bottom and help keep the layers in the bed inside. You could use landscape fabric instead of plastic if you so choose; I already had the plastic and opted for it instead.

Now I placed the first row of the cinderblocks to make the rectangle shape of the garden bed.

Electric Tiller from Amazon

This is when the exterior construction adhesive comes in to play. I applied it with my rod caulk gun onto each side of cinderblocks and on the top edges. I was generous with the adhesive because I wanted this to hold up to the pressure of the soil inside, time and me sitting on the walls.

I pre-measured my side walls and cut some of my old tarps to size. There was already some moist adhesive that eased out on the inside wall and this helped the plastic stay in place while I built up the layers. Allow adhesive to dry completely before adding the inside layers of the garden bed.

Now I added a bale of straw on the bottom and spread it out.

Sand goes over the straw next. I added enough to look like about an inch over the straw.

Luckily, I had some soil from my yard saved over from another project. I moved it from one part of my yard where I had saved it for this project, with my handy wagon, to the bed. I covered the sand with native soil. After this, the bed was about 1/2 way full.

Saving the best for last, I spread a thin layer each of the following:

1. Black Kow Cow Manure
2. Bagged leaves I had in bags from previous fall
3. Miracle Gro Raised Bed Soil
4. Garden Pro Compost & Manure

And to finish it all off, a local landscaping company sold garden soil, pre-mixed with the good stuff, in bulk.

I truly enjoyed adding the last layers of soil. I placed extra blocks, bricks and such around the walls for future projects I planned on. This gave even more support for my new bed.

A lot of work went in to this project (and quite a bit of money on my budget,) but I believe this will last for many years and pay for itself in the long run. Now I shall germinate vegetable seeds to plant later and build the covered lid for the bed.

When all was said and done for the 2021 season, I built three raised garden beds. The middle one is the one I have given directions for. I have learned a lot by mistakes!

• Watermelons take up way more room than I knew
• My bed lids are too short for my tall tomatoes
• My bell peppers have a hard time getting sun because I planted too many tomato plants
• Don't pick beets until you see a good chunk of the top of it at surface of soil or just above it
• I'm apparently the only person in my family who enjoys radishes and I had too many

Hope you enjoyed my very first Instructable. Tootles to all, Debbie in Virginia, Growing Zone 7