DIY Raised Garden beds made out of Redwood to grow a vegetable garden.
It’s been my dream to have raised garden beds ever since we bought this house. Also, every time I opened Instagram and saw a raised garden bed set up. Because #goals. But seriously.
With all of the renovations, the backyard mostly got put on the back burner and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money in the beginning so I put it off. Instead, I bought some inexpensive plastic containers to grow things in. I also built a Cinder Block Bench that I grew succulents in to finish off the backyard.
That was pretty much it for awhile.
The system worked pretty well and I enjoyed it but I wanted more growing space and also a cleaner look.
Gardening is something I find a lot of joy in. I think the whole experience is beautiful, from seed to bloom and then perhaps to plate.
Not only do you get to know exactly where your food comes from, which is something I think is very important, you also get to watch the results of your work and dedication flourish right before your eyes.
It’s a great metaphor for life and relationships, that we get what we put into something and that in order for anything to flourish, we must nurture it, take care of it and protect it.
I think the garden is a great source of inspiration and in some ways, it’s become a type of meditation for me. Plus, let’s be honest, is there anything better than a homegrown tomato?
As much as I liked my put together garden, it was time to get serious. I wanted to be able to start growing more food and I also wanted the backyard to be a serene place that I would want to spend time in and entertain in, not one strewn with mismatched pots.
The inside of our house has come so far, it was time to give the backyard some love too. Mind you, my backyard is definitely not large. It’s basically an L shape with the back door opening directly on to the patio and then a short walk away on the side of the house that we have grass (and now a small paver patio!).
I needed to keep some grass for the pups so we decided that the entire back fence would become a raised bed instead.
The back fence is eleven feet on both sides and 35 feet on the back wall so it basically ends up being 7 garden beds:
(1) 16″ W x 18″ H x 11′ L
(1) 2.5′ W x 18″ H x 11′ L
(1) 2′ W x 18″ H x 5′ L
(4) 2′ W x 18″ H x 6′ L
The bed on the right is the skinniest at 1.5 ft. when you first walk out the back door, the back wall is four 6-foot beds and one 5-foot bed and then the left wall is 2.5″ wide.
These are just the measurements that happened to work for this space.
It’s important to figure out what works best for you and also judge your sun and shade needs accordingly. Living in California, we have incredibly hot summers so while my house does cast shade on some of the plants, it has still worked perfectly fine to grow whatever I want over there since it still gets a good amount of heat and sunlight.
One of the most important decisions we had to make was what to build the raised garden beds out of. Ultimately, we chose redwood because not only is it beautiful, it’s also rot resistant and does well resisting termites. This was definitely the most expensive option, as redwood is nearly 4x the price of other wood but it was important for us to do it right and invest in what would bring us our bounty.
Also, have you seen how beautiful redwood looks? swoon. Cedar is also a good option.
I have many plans to grow many things but for now I’m going to take it slow and get used to the new set up.
Here’s a general list of what I plan (hope!) to grow:
Herbs:
Basil (thai, lemon, purple, genovese)
Dill
Chives (garlic, regular, onion)
Lavender
Marjoram
Mint (regular, chocolate, pineapple)
Oregano (italian, greek)
Parsley
Rosemary (regular, creeping)
Sage (regular, pineapple, tri-color)
Tarragon
Thyme (lemon, regular, creeping)
I have an entire raised bed dedicated solely to herbs, not only because they’re beautiful but also because they’re so versatile — can be used to season food, make teas, soaps, flavor water, in cocktails, etc. They will also be interplanted with the vegetables in the other beds.
Vegetables:
Beans
Bell Peppers
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Cucumbers
Jalapeno
Kale
Lettuce
Onions
Swiss Chard
Tomatillos
Tomatoes
Zucchini
I’ll also plant strawberries and, in a separate bed in the other part of the yard, blueberries.
Flowers:
Borage
Calendula
Jasmine
Marigolds
Petunias
Nasturtium
Yarrow
Zinnia
In other parts of the yard, we also have fruit trees including Lemon, Blood Orange, Pomegranate and Avocado.
Can’t wait for the garden to flourish and have some garden to table dinners!
Do you have a veggie garden or raised garden beds? What are your favorite things to grow?
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