Get lumber, wood screws, power stapler, weed barrier, milk paint...check.
Build one in front.
Paint it to match the house trim. Twice.
Fill it with a LOT of soil and compost. Rake rake rake. Plant it with strawberries and flowers...leave room in the middle for bush beans, herbs, and beautiful bush pepper plants.
Then repeat the process...build another one in back. Add gifted raspberry canes, strawberries, marigolds and leave room for some herbs and purple tomatillo.
Insert pretty labels next to each plant for those walking their dogs past the house...answer many questions from the neighbors (yes, we are growing fruit and vegetables in there! ;)).
Voila!
By adding two raised beds we have increased our planting area, and worked in some full sun areas! yay!
21 comments:
Beautiful! How exciting.
Great project!
You've also cut down the amount of lawn you'll have to mow.
Looks great. These have been on my to do list for a while now... I love the milk paint packaging...
Wonderful! Can't wait to see them growing!!
Happy Mother's Day Denise!
((HUGS))
:)
Looks great! Where did you find your milk paint? I didn't realize it would hold up outside.
~Tara
P.S. Happy Mother's Day!!
fantastic...these are great boxes!
your boys' are good helpers!
These look beautiful! I'm wondering if you did anything to prepare the ground before you put them down--remove the grass, etc?
I'm curious to, where do you find milk paint? Happy planting!
you are roclkin' my world, Denise.
that looks awesome.
Did you remove the grass underneath or just fill with soil? We are putting our own raised bed in sometime this week. Thanks.
Hi everyone! :)
Milk Paint. We watched the Garden Girl DVD where she uses milk paint on all of her raw wood/lumber beds (and they look great). So, we decided that would be the best bet for beds which we are growing food in. We found the milk paint at a local wood working shop, but if you go to the milk paint site, you can find out who their retailers are in your area.
For our beds, I didn't remove grass under them. I stapled black weed barrier to the bottom, and set that right on the lawn. I am not doing root veggies in the bed, so I did a single board bed and put in a mix of potting soil, topsoil, and compost to keep it light and rich. In the area where our lawn has a bigger angle/slant, I put gravel in the bed (on top of weed barrier) across the edge of the lower end to help drainage before adding in the soil.
The size of lumber we used for the beds was 2x10x8, so it is wider boards, which is a good height at a single level for what we are planting in it. You could double it height wise if you wanted to plant root veggies, etc. :)
Happy Mother's Day !!
Oh how wonderful! Can't wait to see how your garden grows!
These look great... I'm going to show my husband and give him a little nudge.
I have some extra lumber in the garage. I mentioned making some raised beds to the hubby. In one ear, out the other!
Hope you had a lovely Mother's day!
That's great! I'm sure your front yard bed will be the talk of the neighbors. ;)
I gotta say you have inspired me quite a bit on the gardening front. We also put in a raised garden bed this year. Our soil is horrible so there is no growing it in the actual ground. I love seeing what you are up to! Thanks.
your raised beds are so beautiful and classy! milk paint!! :^D
That's awesome, Denise! Is that the boulevard? Maybe we'll try that on our boulevard...we already have four boxes in the front yard. Portable raised beds would allow food gardening where the soil gets too chemical-salty in the winter.
http://myfolia.com/welcome
Not sure if you have seen this yet, but thought you might like it since you are doing so much planting.
Cheers--from another Madison mommy/lurker. ;)
What an inspiration you must be to your neighbours. I love that you are helping people to see what can be done in any size property - that you don't have to live on a big property to grow your own veg.
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