James Gibbon believes that it is never too early to start planning the garden for next year. As you know, our garden last year was rushed together and unfortunately we didn’t have enough time in the summer to make it exactly what we wanted. I plan on changing this. One of the things we really wanted to incorporate into the garden is a group of raised beds. Instead of buying expensive raised beds from a garden center, we chose to build them ourselves. Mind you, I am no carpenter, so this was a bit of a stretch for my skills. Nonetheless, we persevered. It all started with a trip to Home Depot - https://www.homedepot.com/ .

Here is what we bought:

1. Wood - https://www.homedepot.com/p/2-in-x-12-in-x-8-ft-Premium-2-and-Better-Douglas-Fir-Lumber-707195/202094201

2. Post - https://www.homedepot.com/p/6-in-x-6-in-x-8-ft-Rough-Redwood-Tone-Pressure-Treated-Timber-161377/203837206

3. Construction Screws - https://www.homedepot.com/p/Grip-Rite-2-1-2-in-Construction-Screw-1-lb-Box-212GCS1/207200494

4. Power Drill - https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-20-Volt-MAX-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-1-2-in-Drill-Driver-Kit-with-2-20-Volt-Batteries-1-3Ah-Charger-and-Tool-Bag-DCD771C2/204279858

5. Circular Saw - https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-13-Amp-Corded-7-1-4-in-Circular-Saw-CSB125/205216317

Using these materials, along with a little common sense we were able to piece together the raised bed boxes. Below are some images of our finished products!

After completing our 3 boxes, it was time to place them in our garden area. We wanted to place cardboard in the raised beds over the winter to help kill off the grass, and prep our soil for the summer. We took some old cardboard boxes and flattened them out to fill the raised beds. This is what we ended up with!