Building a Raised Vegitable Garden!

As the wind howls and the snow blows I sit here dreaming of a garden full of fresh veggies this summer, so I figured, why not begin the planning now! I did a pepper window garden last year which worked pretty well.

My family growing up had a huge garden and rarely bought veggies during the summertime, so I figured I'd like the same! After some research I've decided to make a raised garden going along the east fence in the backyard(they recommend a North to South orientation). This project will required sawing(or the store can do it), drilling, digging, and rearranging the sprinklers so I'll be involving the resident engineer for some assistance :-) We teamed up to tackle the front flowerbed's sprinklers last summer, so I figure this should be pretty straight forward.

It will be a 12ft by 4 ft garden, mostly because I want to have room for all the zucchini and squash(because, yum!). To begin with, Here are the supplies needed:

2 16-foot-long 2-by-12s (Cedar or redwood)
90 degree metal corner piece (we used these)
12 3½-inch #14 wood screws 
Box of 1½-inch  #9 wood screws
48 cubic feet planting mix
4x12ft Landscaping fabric
Various sprinkler parts (we set up a drip line and added mini sprinklers called drippers)

To begin, cut 4 feet off both of the 16-foot-long 2-by-12s, so you have 2 12ft and 2 4 ft boards (or the hardware store can do this for you). On a flat surface, screw the 2-by-12s together to create a rectangular box, using the corner brackets with the 1 1/2inch screws and the 3 wood screws on the outside.

 
Position the bed in the area it is to be installed. This is the tough part where we decided how to re-route the sprinklers and remove the sod(that stuff is heavy!). We have an extra unused sprinkler zone set up in the yard right next to where the garden was going, so we just added a drip line onto that. They have nifty kits to do this at home depot!

If needed, this is the time to level the area, then dig a shallow area to slightly bury the sides. We moved the metal siding and created a border of rocks around the outside of the garden.

Once the bed is positioned and the sprinkler situation figured out, put down the hardware cloth and fill the bed with a planting mix and rake it smooth. We are weirdos and did this at like 10pm...

Once the soil is all situated, lay out your drip lines and stake them down. Plant seeds in rows, being mindful of what needs sun/shade. If you aren't planting yet, still go to the next step!

Give the garden a nice soaking to weigh down the soil and bam, you now have a kick ass veggie growing machine! or a garden, or whatever...