I have been so excited to share our new raised bed gardens with you all! We closed on our new home at the beginning of May and in no time at all, we started our first big project, a raised bed garden! After years of watching videos, reading books & articles, and asking anyone with experience about homesteading and backyard permaculture, it was finally our turn to get our hands in the dirt! The first plant babies we brought home were from a best-buddy of Bryan’s in Norman. These first plants were three slicer tomato plants, two cherry tomatoes, a pepper plant, and a Zucchini plant!
I wanted to be sure to get the new plants in the ground as soon as they were hardened off. This meant we needed to build our beds! Bryan let me go collect some of our first supplies first. We had to go one at a time instead of going as a family because of Covid-19. We want to limit exposure as much as possible with our newborn at home!
One thing I was super pumped to bring home was a brand new Ryobi circular saw for cutting the cedar boards we needed for the beds to the correct length.
The gentlemen at Home Depot were super helpful and even impressed that I was buying power tools. Especially when they asked which one I was looking for and discussed why I was choosing it. How crazy?! I know there are a lot of women who buy power tools, maybe we are still scarce though? đ
Bryan and I took turns getting to use the circular saw because it was a new fun tool! In no time, our boards were cut and ready to be put together. We chose cedar fencing planks because the oils in cedar help the wood last longer than cheaper pine planks. The planks all being 6ft made it easy to cut them in half for our desired 3×3 raised bed design. We used scrap wood & a 1×2 at the corners to make sure the beds were sturdy. You don’t want a bed to bust apart and all of your hard work to be lost!
I found out shortly after this that my skin doesnât particularly care for cedar oil. So since then, I have made sure to wash my hands or any place the wood touches my arms after working with it. If you plan on building beds with cedar, it might be worth it to also be cautious about the oils on your skin.
After assembling the beds, we brought them out to a spot we had picked for them in the corner of our yard. We have huge beautiful oak trees that shade most of our backyard. I watched how the sun hit different parts of our backyard before making a decision on where would be best for our garden!
With the new beds all set up, the big kiddos and I planted some seeds together! We planted Mammoth sunflowers, Cinderella pumpkins, carrots, and propagated some succulents! Every morning, the kids check on their sunflowers to see how much they have grown. It is really impressive how quickly a plant can sprout!
The plants seem to love their new homes and are thriving! I will be sure to post garden updates in future posts so you can see how things are going. I am so thrilled with how things are going and to finally be able to have the garden I have always dreamed of!
Thank you for reading! Be sure to come back to see how the garden is going AND to see what next big project we have in store đ