How To: A Raised Vegetable Garden

Since we've moved away from the farm, we had to get a little more creative with our gardening.  I guess we could have just tilled up some land in our backyard and planted a little garden as always, but that wouldn't have been nearly as pretty :)  I somehow convinced Justin that it would be SO much better for us to have a raised bed, and that our plants would just grow SO much better.  I've heard this is true....this can be our experiment.  Here are our tips:

1:  You need to have super cute helpers.

2:  I wanted our bed to be 10 feet long and 4 feet wide.  We purchased 2 boards that were 2x4x6 and 1 board that was 2x4x8.  Justin cut the 8 foot board in half, then screwed the boards into place to make a rectangle.

3:  I lined the bottom of the bed with newspaper to help keep weeds out.  Newspaper is biodegradable, so this will need to be redone in a few years.

4:  Pour in your soil.  We used top soil that we purchased from Lowe's. You don't have to do this, of course.  You could just use regular dirt.

5:  Plant your vegetables.

6:  Don't forget to water it :)

7:  Hopefully, in a few weeks, we'll be harvesting some good stuff!


Do you have any experience with a raised-bed garden?  Any tips for us beginners??