Fall Vegetable Seeds for August in Zone 5 or 6

We sit right in between growing zones 5 and 6 here in our spot in the midwest. Technically, I think we are now zone 5b, but it has changed and could also be considered 6a.

 A week ago I planted my leftover Swiss Chard, spinach and onion seeds. Here are some things you can plant in August if you are zone 5 or 6:

• Carrots
• Spinach
• Swiss Chard
• Kale
• Collards
• Bok Choy
• Lettuce
• Broccoli
• Celery
• Beets
• Green Onions
• Fall Radishes
• Summer squash and zucchini (zone 6a or 6b)

I’m getting a lot of tomatoes and seeing the beginnings of peppers right now. But setting up another round of greens is really exciting for me this year.

Vegetable Growth Progress in August

Right now, the greens are slowing down and some of them are trying to bolt. I’ve been really impressed with the Blue Kale I have from Bakersfield. It seems highly heat resistant and hasn’t bolted at all, plus the bugs don’t seem to bother it much.

This is Chinese Multicolor Spinach and it’s been really fun and pretty. It is really happy in my tall planters, handles low water very well, doesn’t mind heat and has hardly had a bug bite at all!

I LOVE Swiss Chard. I grabbed Vulcan Swiss Chard this year and it’s been happy. Unfortunately, the rabbits loved it too and ate one of my rows completely. But, thankfully, I had some in the tall planter (where they can’t reach), though it isn’t as happy with the placement and is definitely on the small side.

I have a terrible time with collards. I’m going to figure it out someday (and that is the beauty of gardening), but for now, they are always spindly and bug-ridden. I keep killing worms and pulling off chewed-up leaves. This year’s look better than last years and I have gotten a few decent leaves. But, at some point, I’m going to figure it out.

Onions have been a favorite this year. I have had some great success with them popping up everywhere (and even returning from last year to SEED!). And the kids have been practically fighting over who gets to eat their “spicy” green onion leaves. I’m more than happy to hand them some green foods to munch on while outside.

But hooray for fall seedlings! I’m really excited about these. I ran out of my greens powder really fast last year and I’m planning on making a LOT more this year. I already have two jars full!

So get your fall vegetable seeds in now before the end of August!

The post Fall Vegetables to Plant *Right Now* for Zone 5, 5b or 6 appeared first on MidKid Mama.

What is a Victory Garden?

During WWI, Victory Gardens were a way for the nation to rally together and ease the national supply chains, sending much-needed supplies to the troops. After the war ended, the focus on gardening subsided. But, when the United States was drawn into another world war (WWII), Americans started growing their fruits and vegetables in whatever large flower boxes, backyard areas, rooftop spaces and deserted lots they could find.

According to History, the most popular produce grown in the gardens included:

• Beans
• Beets
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Lettuce
• Peas
• Tomatoes
• Turnips
• Squash
• Swiss Chard

By 1944, as many as 20 million victory gardens spanned the nation, producing over 8 million tons of fruits and vegetables (40% of consumed produce).

Why Should We Bring Victory Gardens Back

Gardening is good no matter the year or current events. BUT, now more than ever, people should be starting gardens.

Did you know the soil is good for your mental peace?

Studies have shown that microbes in the soil act as antidepressants, stimulating serotonin production. You’ve heard a little dirt never hurt, but this is really a complicated way to say a little dirt can really help. During a time where we have more down time and need projects that don’t revolve around hanging out, gardening is the perfect solutions.

“Although the government’s promotion of victory gardens ended with the war, a renaissance movement has sprouted up in recent years in support of self-sufficiency and eating seasonally to improve health through local, organic farming and sustainable agriculture.” -History

These Victory Gardens are more about personal victories and community victories than a national one. There are so many reasons a garden is worthwhile:

• Learn a new skill you can pass along to your children
• Create sustainable food that doesn’t require transportation or packaging
• Get your kids excited to try new vegetables they helped grow
• Pass along extra fruits and vegetables to your neighbors
• Preserve extras so you have garden produce on hand year round
• Enjoy nature with a productive outdoor hobby
• Explore varieties you can’t find in the store
• Enjoy fresh produce (psst! It tastes SO much better when it’s sun-ripened)
• Control what is in the dirt or on the plants (organic gardening is a thing!)

Planting Your Personal Victory Garden

Let’s make this a thing! Are you gardening? It isn’t too late to get started! There are different vegetables that can be started at different points of spring and summer. You can plant from seeds started indoors, sew seeds directly into the ground or purchase seedlings (small plants) for your garden.

Just get something in the ground this year. Try a few things and be committed to weeding and a little watering (don’t overwater!). Give yourself a lot of grace because there is a learning curve.

Easy vegetables to grow from seeds sewn right into the garden:

• Green beans (make sure you have space to plant at least a few rows)
• Peas (these need to be planted early)
• Swiss Chard (I really like planting them in closely spaced rows and picking the leaves young)
• Bunching or green onions
• Carrots and radishes
• Corn (very easy to grow, but takes a LOT of space—several rows or it won’t be properly pollinated)
• Pumpkins/squash/gourds (plants take several square feet of space, so only if you have the room)

Easy vegetables to grow in the garden from seedlings/starts:

• Tomatoes (use a cage or they fall over and struggle to produce)
• Squash/Watermelon (takes several square feet of space)
• Herbs (especially creeping thyme)
• Strawberries (you may only get a few the first year, but these spread rapidly)
• Potatoes (won’t be ready to harvest until fall)

Participating in Community Gardens and Food Banks

If you really have no space to even add a pot, look into community gardens near you. Some neighborhoods get permits from the city to turn empty lots into community gardens. Spaces like this can offer a place to enjoy the outdoors and participate in the community wellness. People who help in the community gardens can enjoy their produce throughout the summer.

Those who grow in their own yards can also help their communities by donating their extras to neighbors, churches and food banks. Ample Harvest is one resource that can help you find locations that accept extra produce.

Share this on your page or with someone who could start a garden, and let’s get more people planting their own food!

The post Starting a Victory Garden during a Global Pandemic appeared first on MidKid Mama.

But, what if something happened and you couldn’t leave your house for a few days—would you be able to comfortably survive? Do you have the food, water and basic necessities on hand to make things work for even a week or two? There is a reality of natural disasters, diseases, storms and other things occurring at any time and with little-to-no warning.

The current virus threat has schools, workplaces and even whole countries closing down to anything but necessary travel. But I also remember ice storms taking out our power and making it very difficult to travel for over a week when I was a teenager. It happened again when I was in my twenties and living in my own house. There was also the blizzard of ’68 that my parents’ generation will never forget—where the snow was up to the rooftops across our state.

So, are you prepared for the realities of disaster situations?

US Disaster Preparedness Stats

Many people aren’t prepping enough. If something did go wrong, the more people who are prepared to manage their own care for a time, the less emergency services have to rush in with supplies and solutions. If we all had a week or two’s worth of supplies on hand, we could care for ourselves and neighbors that need help.

The last US census reported only about half of American households are storing water. Around 80% of families did report having enough nonperishable foods to last the family for three days. FEMA has stated:

If an earthquake, hurricane, winter storm, or other disaster strikes your community, you might not have access to food, water, and electricity for days or even weeks. By taking some time now to store emergency food and water supplies, you can provide for your entire family.

Back when the ice storms knocked out the power and made it impossible to drive, stores were closed and things were tricky. I remember we had plenty of food, but we shared a friend’s generator so we didn’t lose the food in our refrigerator or have our phone batteries die. We had to have sources of heat, water and cooking, since the power was gone and a boil advisory was in effect for our area. If we would have been down to the last bits of food and supplies before the storm hit unexpectedly, we would have been in a little trouble and had to depend on neighbors and friends for help.

Basic Prepping for Beginners

Prepping and disaster readiness might seem a little out there for many. Perhaps you picture people in off-the-grid underground bunkers with freeze-dried soups and metallic heat-reflecting blankets. But what I’m talking about is scaled back, simple and manageable.

Basic prepping should include necessities you that you are already using in your daily lives for the most part. With basic prepper storage, you want to focus on items that are easy to store, easy to use and have a longer shelf life.

The goal will be to choose items you already use on a weekly, monthly or occasional basis so you can swap them out regularly. You don’t want to buy a special dried soup that you never actually use and it eventually goes bad. You don’t need to waste money on strange foods just because they will last a long time. You can choose items that will be swapped out over time and used naturally in the course of your family’s meal planning.

Easy Snacks

It is a good idea to have foods that can make easy snacks that are fun and filling. Items like Pop Tarts have a very long shelf life, are packaged individually and take no work to prepare (in case of a power outage). Something like pop corn is also fun and filling, but would take power to make, so it works if you just can’t travel. Snacking items can contain veggies, like the fruit and applesauce pouches they have for kids. Try to include as many nutritional snacks as you can in your storage. You want things that last for a while and are easy to store, but many of those items are not going to have a lot of green things in them.

Meal Basics

When you are planning your storage, think about what you need to make a good meal. Most of our meals include vegetables, a starch or carb and then meat. When you are storing food, you want a mixture of these items. It is easy to store a lot of frozen meat, dried noodles and very few vegetables if you aren’t thinking about it much. You don’t want to get overly heavy on the frozen or canned storage because canned items contain more sodium and frozen foods won’t last as long if the power goes out.

Some items, like rice, will require water and a heat source to prepare. While you will have power in many scenarios, you can’t always count on it. A mix of raw and cooked foods is helpful so you are prepared with or without power.

Some items, like noodles, are easy to store, but fairly pointless if you don’t have other things (like sauce or meat) to go well with them. So, when prepping, try to think about whole meals. Try to choose items that can be used in more than one way. Oatmeal, rice and peanut butter are foods dogs can eat too, for example. Canned chicken can be used for sandwiches, soups or on any kind of noodles without any work to thaw or cook it.

Pantry Food Storage

Pantry foods are dried, canned or packaged foods that don’t need to be kept in a specific climate. Preferably your pantry food storage will be a place other than your normal kitchen pantry and will be on the cool/dark side. You can use a basement closet, linen closet or even a big tote under a bed for this. The goal with the pantry storage is to have a few items on hand that you will use over time and replace with new storage items. How many pantry items you keep on hand will vary based on how much space you want to allot to your storage and how much extra food you want to keep on hand.

Get a locking plastic storage tote for items that could easily attract pests. You don’t want to have mice or bugs getting into your storage and invading your home because food is too accessible. A large locking storage tote will keep your items dry, collected into a neat space and safe from pests. Items that are well package in jars or cans will not need to be included in the tote for storage.

Check dates of everything you are planning to store. Ideally, your items will be good for a year or more. Some items, like crackers, don’t have long dates before they start to go stale. You want to give yourself room in case you forget to swap something out, so you want to avoid keeping any short dates in your pantry food storage. Checking the dates will give you an idea of roughly how long you have until you need to use it. If Pop Tarts aren’t really part of your regular family diet, then you know you have a whole year or so before you need to buy another box and use the current storage ones for a fun snack.

Examples of Pantry Food Storage:

• Popcorn
• Pop Tarts
• Snack pouches and/or baby food
• Rice
• Oatmeal
• Couscous
• Quinoa
• Nuts and seeds
• Dried fruit
• Ramen noodles
• Spaghetti/rotini/macaroni noodles
• Egg noodles
• Canned meat, veggies and fruit
• Spaghetti sauce
• Peanut butter
• Honey
• Pancake mix
• Syrup
• Salt/pepper/spices (like 1 or 2)
• Oil
• Flour and yeast (if you like to bake)
• Water flavoring (preferably with vitamins or electrolytes)
• Coffee

Frozen Food Storage

How many things you can store in the freezer is going to largely depend on how much freezer space you have. It’s really nice when you have a separate refrigerator/freezer or deep freezer for food storage because it will give you a lot more space. But even if you don’t, just a few choice items can be stored in the back of your regular freezer in case of emergency.

Examples of Frozen Food Storage:

• Raw or cooked meat
• Lunchmeat
• Sausages and Hotdogs
• Peas and other bagged veggies
• Bread (double bag to avoid freezer burn)
• Easy dinners (pot pies, pizza, burgers, chicken nuggets, burritos, full meals)
• Cheese (including string or sliced cheese)
• Broth (I prefer to make my own and freeze it)
• Homemade meals (chili, quiche, meatloaf, soup, stews)
• Sauces
• Fruit (berries, peaches, pineapples and cherries freeze well)

Water Storage

Occasionally a disaster situation could lead to issues with the water filtration system. There have certainly been boil advisories here before. Keeping water on hand is a good way to have a clean source of drinking water in case of emergency. FEMA recommends keeping a two-week supply of drinking water for every person in the home (that is 7-14 gallons per person!).

While the average adult will only require about a half-gallon per day, sick people, children and pregnant women will likely require more, especially in a hot environment.

“Having an ample supply of clean water is a top priority in an emergency.”

-FEMA

While there are ways to store your own water, the process does involve the right amount of chlorinated bleach. Purchasing commercially bottled water (preferably gallon size or larger to reduce packaging and make storage easier) ensures you have a safe supply of clean drinking water that will last indefinitely.

Hygienic Supplies

Different scenarios (natural disasters where you can’t travel, power outages, national pandemic) will lead to additional items you will want to keep on hand. Cleaning supplies, soap and cooking fuel are examples of things you might want to keep on hand that won’t go bad for a very long time. Medications and batteries are items you will want to swap out every time you buy more for regular use.

Here is a list of things you may or may not want to have on hand. Choose things that you would desperately need if you lost power, had to travel, couldn’t travel or another possible emergency scenario arrived.

• Cleaners
• Soap
• Medication
• Hygiene products
• Batteries
• Skillet/firewood/fuel
• Toilet Paper
• Detergent/bleach
• First aid items
• Rubbing alcohol/witch hazel
• Diapers and wipes
• Unscented candles/flashlight
• Emergency documents

Low Budget Prepping

A lot of us don’t have a big weekly budget. There isn’t much room for building up a stockpile of items. When you are trying to buy extras for disaster prep, it can start out cheap and small. You don’t need to overwhelm your budget to create a pantry buffer. Just like a savings account or rainy day fund in the bank, prepping is best when it builds up slow and steady.

Add More Over Time

Don’t rush out and buy a huge stash unless you have extra cash on hand. You can start small and build up slowly. With just five dollars, you can buy a large box of Ramen noodles, a can of chicken and a couple gallons of water. If you keep buying a few additional items each trip, you will have a couple extra weeks of food in no time.

Plan to Swap Out

It is incredibly important when you are on a low budget that you swap your items out. Plan to stock up on items you already use that you will continue to buy. Each item you purchase, you will put it in your storage stockpile and use the stockpile item.

Check Dates

You might really be surprised at how long some things last while others expire quickly. You want to check dates so you know you can use items before they go bad. If PopTarts last a year, you know you can plan to eat them at any point in the year and you don’t need to plan on them being part of the weekly menu. Other items, like some crackers and noodles, might have a much shorter shelf life, so checking the dates will give you an idea of whether or not an item is good to store. If you use those items every week, then you can store them.

Start Small

Don’t get overwhelmed. Start with just a couple of days of extra food and expand over time Think about how you are going to use your items to create meals. This will help you stay organized and not get into a hoarding situation where you have a lot of items that don’t really work together.

Keep Pests in Mind

In order to protect some items, you will want to store them carefully. While jars of peanut butter or cans of tuna are safe from pests, flour, chocolate and oatmeal are examples of items that can attract pests. From mice to weevils, there are all kinds of things that could be attracted to your stockpile. When items are stored away from your normal kitchen stash, they may be more accessible to invaders and you may not notice as quickly. Store items that could be attractive to bugs and rodents (or pets!) somewhere safe, like in a locked plastic bin.

View Storage as Zero

When you get to a place you feel comfortable with your stockpile, you want to count it as your baseline or “zero.” That means, you don’t dip into it unless you are facing an emergency. You definitely want to swap out items as you buy new ones, but you don’t want to use those items before you have the new ones to swap out. Keeping it in a place separate from your normal pantry or freezer storage for every day use will also help with that separation mentality.

Start a Garden

To help out with your storage, grocery bill and skills, start a garden! While many think of gardening as a hobby, growing vegetables can be tricky but leads to a lot of value. A garden doesn’t necessarily seem like part of disaster preparedness, but knowing how to grow your own food is an important skill.

Growing, harvesting, preserving and saving seeds for the next year are all things that many people know little about. Yet, if something went wrong with the food supply chain, it would be a valuable skill. And, on top of that, you save money while controlling the quality of your food (you can avoid pesticides and soil quality, for example).

Overall, it is important to save up items in case of emergency. Don’t wait until things go wrong to start thinking about potential disaster scenarios. If you want to listen to meal prep ideas, you can check out this podcast:

The post Easy Steps to Disaster Preparedness appeared first on MidKid Mama.

A lot of people have told me they wished they could garden, but just weren’t good at it. While I do have a lot of success, I also screw up every year. I am almost always accidentally killing something or letting something go to waste. I don’t know how to handle every pest or why I can’t get the basil to sprout from seed!

But I see that as the true value of gardening. It’s not a skill that happens overnight—there are a lot of variables. It takes time, patience and braving the learning curve. But gardening is a skill we should keep alive to pass to the next generation.

Oops, I Did it Again

Once again, I let my beans go too long and they got “beany” as my dad puts it. They get swollen with the bean and the lack of water makes the pod filled with air instead of juicy bean. They would taste stringy, stale and tough. They don’t even make good baby food when they are like this.

When they think they have produced seeds for next year, they stop producing new ones. Sadly, I tore out the dying plants that seemed completely passed saving, and I clipped the oversized beans on other plants to save what I could. I absolutely hate wasting fresh food. If I would have picked them last week, I would have gotten at least another meal or two’s worth.

It’s pretty normal to have failures for more than one year:

• My basil didn’t come up (AGAIN). I’m going to have to put more research into this because I suspect I am planting it at the wrong time. My brother’s Italian neighbor plants his from seed every year and has Italian basil that could make anyone jealous. Even his seeds didn’t come up for me. It’s me. Not nature.
• My broccoli and greens went in too late, and the bugs had a field day with them.
• I got lazy and didn’t plant any fall crops. I should have put in another batch of Swiss chard at least. Next year…Next year (I think I say that every year).
• My garlic sprouted and then died (again). I’m going to figure garlic out someday too.

Trying New Things (That Flopped)

This year I had a few failures in the new plants realm:

• I tried several new varieties of tomatoes and peppers. YUM. But some of them weren’t fantastic. I did NOT like the Purple Russians. They were very fleshy, almost grainy and split. This is a smaller one (they are usually almost twice this size). The plants didn’t produce a lot and most of them fell to the ground and rotted before I even realized they were ripe because they were heavy and the vine hold was weak. I will NOT be saving those seeds.

• My sunflowers sprouted magnificently in a new bed I was testing this year, but then flopped as soon as they bloomed. I’m not sure if they needed to be staked or if they needed deeper soil. I will probably try peppers there next year too and deepen the bed.
• I planted Summer Squash inbetween the sunflowers and it HATED it there. The plants were small and very promising at first. But then I got one squash and everything else rotted. Not exactly sure if it got some kind of plant disease or if it was just too shallow there.
• The bugs ate my peppers ALIVE. I should have waited to transplant them for a few weeks because a lot died and had to be replaced with extra starts. The tomatoes planted at the same time were fine.

Okay, not to scare you, but you can see just a few of the many things that can go wrong. But every year you learn what you should and shouldn’t be doing. It’s harder when you start with seeds, so maybe try starts first. I didn’t buy any starts at all for the first time this year—everything came from seeds!

You Have to Have the Knowledge to Pass it On

I had a great harvest and successful year, but there is always something to learn. These skills will die out if we don’t keep practicing them. I was taught by my grandfather, grandma, mother and family friends. And, I still look to them for advice when I get stuck (and oh how I love Google!).

When I talk about gardening, I get surprised reactions and told a lot by older adults that it’s unusual for someone my age to have such an enthusiasm for vegetable gardening. But I think it’s becoming more common with the Millennial generation. And as a huge bonus, my kids have found a love for vegetables just by being part of the growing experience.

Whether you are planning in pots with a limited patio space, square foot gardening in raised beds or planting in a traditional vegetable garden, keep working on bringing fresh, organic food to your table!

The post 2020 Garden Prep: This Year’s Gardening Lessons appeared first on MidKid Mama.

Pick and wash your greens. Remove any thick stems (especially for the larger, more mature leaves). Then lay them out on the dehydrator trays. Put the dehydrator on the lowest heat setting for herbs and let it sit for several hours or overnight.

The leaves will shrink and be very brittle. Stuff them into your cup for grinding/blending. Studies show, dehydrated leafy greens will retain quite a bit of the micronutrients, including high levels of carotene.

A whole cup stuffed with dried leaves will only end up about an inch or so full of powder. I’ve found roughly 1 teaspoon of powder equals about 10 large Swish chard leaves.

Surprisingly, Swiss chard powder has very little taste (even less than dried parsley). It can be used in place of parsley or in just about any sauce/puree without altering the taste much. I like to add it to sweet potatoes for my baby, top pizzas with it, add it to our pasta sauce, soups and more.

Of all the things I’ve dehydrated over the years, this is by far my favorite thing to do. It is easy and a very practical thing I use in so many dishes. I can never make too much Swiss chard powder!

This makes it so easy to sneak green nutrients into my kids’ foods. They eat their veggies, but this is just an extra boost. It’s really helpful for babies that don’t like green foods.

What do you like to dehydrate?

The post How to Make Swiss Chard Powder for Greens Boost appeared first on MidKid Mama.

Sometimes you have plants that get out of control and want to sprawl everywhere. When you are square foot gardening, there simply isn’t space for plants to take up more room than planned. We’ve had a cold and wet spring, which means the peas are growing like weeds.

You can see here from about a week ago, that my peas were already tall and needed a back support. I went ahead and got some ornamental yard fencing to help keep them upright. Leading up to the peas are rows of carrots, Swiss chard and onions. Right behind the peas are a bunch of tomato plants. So, not a lot of space for them to get wild (which is always the case with square foot gardening!)

But after another week, they nearly doubled in height and were flopping forward onto the carrots, Swiss Chard, and onions. I didn’t want to buy more support fencing because that stuff gets pricey fast. Plus, the gate I had was working, but not tall enough.

Instead, I used long, strong and slender sticks (especially the curved ones), and built this all-natural and completely free support. Not only does it work perfectly, but it is really pretty and woodsy too.

Simply look for long sticks that are between the size of a pencil and a marker in width. Carefully push them into the ground in between rows so you don’t disturb any roots.

I started with the longest and most curved ones so they were actually going across the plants first. Then I used the straighter sticks and positioned them so they were holding the first sticks in place with a kind of basket weave (inside and then outside).

Many sticks went in at an angle to help hold up the plants with a kind of x shape. This is very sturdy, won’t block any sunlight and the plants can grow around it.

The post Building a Free and Natural Garden Support Trellis appeared first on MidKid Mama.

1. Let the sweet potato sprouts grow bigger in windowlight.

2.  Cut the sweet potato into pieces with sprouts.

3. Put pieces in dirt that is kept moist until roots and leaves appear.

4. When danger of frost is past, plant outdoors.

5. After vines turn brown and die, carefully dig up the roots.

We will be using these quickly, so I will dry them for 7-10 days at room temperature. If we wanted them to last longer, they would need to be cured at 90 degrees F (85% humidity) for those 5-7 days before being stored in a cool, dry place.  For as many vines as we had, we did not get a lot of potatoes, but that could be because we just planted a random potato from the store. We got about 4 good sized potatoes per sprout. They were a beautiful vibrant red color.

I planted the first two sprouts in the new L-shaped raised bed I built this summer and the other two went into the packed out 3’X9′ bed. The ones with the most space grew much bigger vines and produced far larger potatoes. Here is a comparison of my biggest sweet potato from the packed bed vs the potato from the bed where both vines had about 4 square feet of space each:

As far as I could tell, this was just because of the crowding (maybe not enough sunlight?). It could have also been that the different mix of soil wasn’t ideal for sweet potatoes. The leaves didn’t seem to be bothered by bugs or anything, but the vines were only about 1-2′ long total (vs the huge tangle pictured above from the other bed). I’ll have to experiment more with what they prefer next year and see if I can find a way to grow sweet potatoes more efficiently (maybe a trellis?).

The post How to Grow Sweet Potatoes appeared first on MidKid Mama.

Designing Your Raised Bed

Of course, you want to start by selecting a space in your yard for the bed. Find the spaces you think would work well in the overall layout of the yard. Watch to make sure that space gets either full sun or mostly sun. Most vegetable plants don’t like very much shade. We have two big trees in our yard, but the spaces close to the house are full sun and perfect for veggies.

Simple Rectangle: For the first bed, I wanted a size I could fit into my SUV and also reach into easily. Too wide of a bed would make it impossible to reach to the back without stepping inside. Since my bed was going to be up close to the house, I didn’t want it deeper than 3’. The space for the bed was the perfect width for a 9’ bed. So, my dimensions for that bed were 3’x9’. This worked out perfectly, since the planks I wanted came in a 12’ length (3’ + 9’ meant I needed two 12’ boards with one cut each).

“L” Shape: The second bed I made was a little trickier. One end of our house has a patio sticking out and I wanted the bed to take up the whole corner. Building an “L” shape would require less wood and have more uninterrupted space. I almost made the mistake of making the bed too big. At first I was going to make the bed 12’x14’. When I looked at the wood plank size, I decided to scale it back just a couple feet so that it would be cheaper and easier to transport.

I didn’t realize until I was putting it together that I never considered how far the bed would stick out. If I had gone with the original size (what would fit the length of the house and patio), the depth of the bed (3’) would have caused it to stick out and be in the way. Shortening it by the 2’ each way allowed it to fit naturally in the space. It doesn’t feel like we were walking around it because it is nestled in the space. You can use string to mark out the space and visualize placement.

Materials Needed for a Raised Garden Bed

Yellow Pine: Yellow pine comes in the perfect width and height for a sturdy raised garden bed and has many length options. I opted for 10” wide yellow pine lumber that was 2” thick. Both Lowes and Menards carry it. I found out with the second bed that Lowes was cheaper and not stingy about in-house cuts. I didn’t want to have to have a saw, so had them to cut my lengths before we left. Choose boards that are straight and fairly smooth so that you have less work when assembling your raised garden bed.

Deck Screws: Made for the outdoors, these screws won’t rust. Get ones around 2 ½” long, so they easily travel all the way into the second board (but not out of the back).

Drill: You will need both the screwdriver end that fits the screws and the drill bit to make holes first. Choose the right drilling bit size by checking to see which one is closest to the screw width, erring on the side of being slightly smaller than the screw. In the pictures below, you can see the bit to the right of the screw is the correct size for creating the holes.

House Paint: While not necessary, the bed may look more like it belongs when it is the same color as the house it is butted up to. This step is all a matter of personal preference.

Assembling Your Raised Garden Bed

While it may seem daunting, building the box for your raised garden is not difficult. Start by carefully choosing your size and determining what size boards you need. The larger size boards often save you money, so look into different options. For my L-shaped bed, I was able to purchase two 16’ boards and a 12’ board and then make cuts on both of the 16’ boards to get my shorter sides (10’ + 3’ + 3’ and 7’ +9’). For the smaller bed, I just got two 12’ boards and had them make one cut per board (9’+ 3’). This leaves no wasted wood and cuts down on the cost as much as possible.

Make sure you account for the 2” width of the boards as you plan out your assembly. This means that you need to strategically put the ends either on the inside or outside. It sounds complicated, but it’s not super hard if you lay them out. You will see that they don’t line up correctly if you get wild on how you on what boards are on the outside or inside of the corners. Here is a quick illustration to show how the boards need to connect to create the right shape:

Start by drilling three holes close to the edge of the board that will be on the outside of the corner. Make each of the holes within 2” of the edge so that they line up with the board butting up to that end. Holes ensure your screws go in easily and straight. Set up the two boards at a 90° angle and start screwing in the deck screws. Alternate tightening the three screws to get an even and straight fit. The planks may not be completely straight, so pull the final boards together to get them to line up correctly.

Once the box is created, make sure it is sitting evenly on the ground where you are going to place it. You will probably need to scrape away dirt from bumpy areas and add dirt to low areas to get an even space for the bed to rest. When the bed looks straight and even, add your dirt inside.

Mixing Your Garden Dirt

Dirt is dirt, right? Well, sure, but different plants like different soils. Loamy, acidic, sandy, clay — not all dirts are created equally at all! I wanted a soil that drained well, but didn’t dry out in my raised garden.

I mixed about 8 bags of top soil with a bag of peat moss and two bags of seasoned cow manure. This seemed like a wonderful mix and my tomatoes and green beans in this garden have been enormous every year. The peat moss is important for helping reduce the density of the top soil and manure – roots need to be able to breath and water has to drain. I also added egg shells on top of my mixture (about a dozen’s worth) to give the soil calcium, which tomato plants love and slugs hate. And, every earthworm I found while building the bed was added to the box for ongoing help.

Caring For Your Raised Garden Bed

Raised beds don’t usually require a lot of weeding. The short walls keep some of the smaller animals out of your prized plants. Those walls also mean your gardens are less likely to be trampled by a zealous kid chasing a ball, butterfly or imaginary villain. Every fall I pull out all of the dead plants, turn the soil and spread a thick layer of leaves over the top. A leaf layer prevents weeds from popping up, keeps the dirt moist and adds nutrients to the soil. This gives me a great head start for spring.

Grass will grow up around the outer edges of the raised garden bed — too close for the mower to catch. Just remember to trim it back with gardening shears every 2-4 weeks. I placed my bed about 3” from the house. I wanted enough space for the plants to grow without being pressed against the house. But I didn’t want enough space for weeds or grass to grow behind it.

Thinking about building a raised garden bed for your own back yard? Do it! My kids love the fresh veggies almost as much as I do. They are learning an important skill that doesn’t come without a lot of trial and error and effort. Begin with something simple; tomato starts or green bean seeds. You will discover your green thumb in no time!

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When we moved into a more urban area of town, I wasn’t close enough to garden on the farm with my grandfather. But, my husband enjoys wide open yards and really didn’t want me tilling up a space to use for vegetables. Then I discovered square foot gardening. It seems like common sense now, but at first it really challenged my traditional understanding of gardening.

What is Square Foot Gardening?

Basically, with square foot gardening, you only give the plants as much space as they absolutely need. Unlike traditional gardening, you don’t give your rows between space for walking. The plants take up enough space they keep the weeds down and you kind of ignore the seed pack instructions on how far to space out your plants.

The first garden I built was a 3’x9′ raised bed. It fit snugly against our house (with a 3″ breathing gap) and I painted it the color of the house to help it blend in better with the yard. It has been a bit of trial and error, but I’ve found some plants like that specific bed better than others.

This year I’ve already planted a row of green onions, two rows of beans, 8 Swiss Chard, 2 kale, 4 pepper and 14 tomato plants. It still has space for sweet potatoes in the middle.

Start Your Own Backyard Garden

Gardening is awesome for kids. They learn so much about where food comes from and it gets them involved in the process. Not only do they love trying the food the grow (way more than they love vegetables I buy at the store and serve for dinner!), but they are learning a great skill.

We shouldn’t forget where we came from and how to survive without depending on others to grow our food. Growing things isn’t as simple as dirt, seeds and water. The more you work at it, the more you learn about finicky plants, garden pests, weed control and healthy soil.

You can totally garden from pots, but I found this insanely hard. I forget to water my plants enough and I don’t think I ever got anything but herbs to survive long enough to produce. With raised beds, you have fewer weeds to worry about and you don’t need a lot of excess watering.

On to Bigger Things!

I’ve been planning a second bed for more than a year now. I wanted to build it last year, but didn’t get there. This year, I’m more ready than ever and I think it will get built very soon. The next bed is going to be more than twice as large with space for summer squash and so much more.

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