Houndvision: Building a Raised Bed Garden - Ready to plant today

Would you like to start a garden today? Do you hate the thoughts of pulling weeds or spending hours building a garden only to lose it to those pesky weeds or crab grass?

This is the way to get a quick start in gardening when you are having trouble getting the soil to cooperate, because there may be a weed issue or the soil isn't properly amended. You can do this in just a few hours. The bed that I build in this video is 18 feet long by 1.5 feet in width and 8 inches deep at the center of each bag -- as is its twin bed along the fence. You could build a 9'x3' with the same depth or a 4'x6' and make it a couple of inches deeper.

The beds built here are 27 square feet in total area utilizing 11 bags of top soil(98 cents per bag on sale), 1/4 bags of 50lb sterilized play sand ($2.50 per bag on sale), and 1/10 of a bag of peat moss ($8.98 for 3 cubic feet). Extrapolating those numbers out, this project cost less than $14, when you include tax. Even without the added savings of the sales, you will add less than $5 to the total cost of this project.

I will probably stretch this to two feet when I enclose it this Fall. And my goal is to add a removable cold frame top to grow lettuces and other cold season plants and vegetables.

My backdoor garden area has had issues with crabgrass. I wanted to plant herbs there and begin the process of getting the weeds under control in that area. I got this idea of how to make this quick raised bed garden at the Mother Earth News website:

Mother Earth News: How to Make Instant No-dig Garden Beds



Many of the plants that you see in this video were plants that were started in February and March and transplanted the first week of April. I also have utilized 100% of the water resources collected in the Water Container system that I developed in April.

I hope these ideas might help open your mind to the possibilities of self sustainability and the many ways that you can save and conserve your resources, while leading a healthier lifestyle and reducing your dependence on the grid.

Houndvision: Garden Watering System
My Scientific Garden 2010