New Raised Garden Beds

So you know how I like to garden, right? It's a sickness really. One of the things I've missed about our old house was our established garden and established herbs. Sob! I'm still a bit tender about that loss. 

When we were looking at houses I knew I would need space to garden. I guess it wasn't so much a deal breaker as good schools and two bathrooms. But it was always a consideration. We also wanted to make sure there was yard space for play too. And this house/yard delivered big time. We even got a pool as a bonus! 

Anyways, my February goal was to get our gardens up and running so that I could get my herbs started early. (Most herbs can be started before your first frost date, FYI.) I wanted to do higher raised beds here. I've always liked the look of wood ones so that's what I started planning on. I looked at the ready-made kits and do to what I wanted to do (2 8'x4' beds) it would be about $300 before tax. When I priced out treated wood it would be over $200 and then tax.  

I really love the look of wood raised beds. But the problem with wood is that it rots. And I don't really want to go to all the trouble and expense to build the beds only to have to replace them a few years down the road. 

My mom suggested we price out cinder blocks and we did. They came in at $100, with tax. So yeah, that's what we went with. While not the most aesthetically pleasing, they are durable, inexpensive and will last us until we are tired of the beds. 

Here we are in process.  It took us two trips to the Lowe's to get all that we needed. 

Before dirt we removed the top layer of grass and put down a bunch of cardboard as a barrier. The cardboard will breakdown and enrich the soil over time. 

We called Yardworks, a local company we have used previously, and they delivered three yards of dirt the next day. 

I thought Charlie would love this, but he was mostly freaked out. Oh well... 

He helped with dirt distribution though.  Based on calculations 3 yards should have been the perfect amount,  but we had a ton leftover. We're slowly adding more as the dirt settles and will put some in other places too. 

I planted parsley and spinach seeds right away. I also started my pepper seeds inside. Is it already garden season?! Yay! 

Next up: fruit bushes! The City of Germantown had a fruit sale last Friday which we took advantage of. After redoing the shed last fall I had planned to plant some berry bushes around it.  I'm glad I waited as we got some good deals.  I'll do another post on this later when I have pictures. 

So, what kind of garden beds do you have? In the ground? Wood? Cinder blocks? Pots?