EBN and I are finally in our house and we have a long list of projects. With summer just around the corner we have started in the backyard. Right now, our yard looks like crap. The lawn has been neglected and half is taken up by a rotting wood deck with a recessed fire pit (suprise, surprise! Not up to code). We will get to the deck soon but I decided to start with a much smaller project… a raised vegetable garden!
Rotten Deck
When I was a condo dweller I used to long for my own vegetable garden. I just love the idea of popping into the back yard to grab vegetables for a fresh salad. Yesterday I was out with friends from work and after being inspired by my colleague Roberta, I made the decision to start building my own vegetable garden.
The first decision I made was to build raised boxes to house my vegetable garden. My green-thumbed colleague explained that building raised beds helps deal with two of the challenges associated with gardening in the City of Calgary.
First off Calgary spring and summer nights can be chilly. Good for sleeping in a house without air conditioning but bad for vegetable gardens. Building raised beds helps keep your plants a little warmer.
Second challenge: the soil in Calgary is clay based and full of rocks. Building raised beds means you can use better quality soil to grow your vegetables. To see the plan that we followed to build our garden beds check out: Try Recycling
Below you will find a list of supplies that we have used to complete this project…
Materials for Two 5’ by 5’ raised garden beds
• 8 2×6 cut in half
• 2 4×4 cut into 8 18 inch posts
• 2 cubic yards of soil (Compost Mix 20%)
• 1 bag of Vermiculite
• Landscape fabric
• 64 galvanized screws
• Stain of your choice (or not, I just wanted my beds to be pretty)
spot for my future veggie garden
In addition to buying the supplies, we picked a spot for the garden. The spot is sheltered by the garage, out of the shadow of our south-facing house and is the sunniest spot available in our yard (although it was miserable outside when I took this picture). I am not sure if it will be enough sun but I guess we will see in the months to come!
