Raised Garden Beds.

Landscaping has been a major priority this summer.  We've been focusing on the backyard this year, and between the fence and lots of new plants, it's really coming together.  One thing we really wanted was some sort of designated vegetable garden.  Almost everyone in my family grows some of their food - herbs, lettuce, berries, edible flowers, etc. - and after a few years of successfully growing balcony tomatoes, we wanted to try our hand at it too. 

Our backyard gets a lot of sun and there were plenty of places we could have put a vegetable garden.  As the fence and other garden plans started to come together, putting a raised bed along the length of the house started to feel like the right place. With a stone path running right against the back side of the house, the raised bed will hopefully soften all that concrete!

We build the raised bed out of 1 x 6 inch cedar planks, 10 feet in length. Six pressure-treated 4x4s were anchored about 6 inches into the ground and the planks were screwed into them with galvanized screws.  Everything feels nice and sturdy so far!

 Then we peeled the turf out and dug down a couple inches.  And then found rocks. Surprise! 

That huge boulder is actually from the fencing project but everything was carted off at once.

We filled the raised bed with what felt like a tonne of earth, mixing in a few bags of manure and peat moss for good measure.  And then we planted our Annapolis Seeds!

Without even meaning to, we must have timed planting perfectly because things started sprouting to life within a couple weeks!

Peas - one of my all-time favourites!
 

Fast-forward to mid-summer. 
Tomatoes, squash, carrots, kale and lettuce - all seemingly happy in their bed!

 And a few petunias... for colour!

 On its way to becoming a cucumber!