I’ve always wanted a little garden, but never really got any farther in the thought process than that. . . Lowe’s recently asked me to try out one of their online courses (that they’re offering in conjunction with Craftsy), and I chose the one that promised to lead me—a non-woodworker—through building a raised-bed garden of my very own:
The course is led by Andy and Karen Chapman, a husband & wife team that look adoringly at each other through the entire video series. :) I had big plans to watch the entire course and then knock this out by myself in a weekend. Lucky for me, my parents were visiting. The video was easy to understand, but for labor purposes, I would say this was definitely a two-man job. (Thanks, Dad! And, Mom. . . who entertained the twins.) We did take them on our first trip to Lowe’s when we had the wood cut for the project. They weren’t a fan.
I decided to put it in the yard to the side of our house so that it was easy to water. (No excuses!)
I watched the videos first and took a few notes, but the courses also provide printed directions and shopping lists, which was good to look back over while I was out in the yard.
Once the garden was built and planted, I went to back to Lowe’s to look for a trellis. My dad decided that we could build our own on a bigger scale for less, so we picked up several 2 x 1 x 8 pieces.
I plan to run some of the vegetables up it once they grow more, but for now, I like the grid-like backdrop it provides:
I haven’t seen any deer nearby yet, but there are a few other creatures I have to watch out for. . .
I like how this garden has become a family effort. We analyze what’s grown overnight every morning while we’re getting in the car for school. My oldest helps me water, and he made some little garden markers from paint sticks. Whether or not they’ll actually eat what we grow remains to be seen.
You know I’ll be Instagramming my first vegetable—no matter how puny. Stay tuned!
By the way, if you’re curious about the cost of this project, the total (including the extra wood for the trellis , the soil, and all of the vegetables) was about $175.
If you’d like to give it a try, Lowe’s has this video course—and several others—available for free on their site.
Thanks to Lowe’s for sponsoring this post.
Hi Emily
I just want to thank you for putting my farmers market number 10 on yout front page.It blew up my computer and I received 240 hits most coming from your page.Thank you again for the exposure to my sight which gives me incentive to do better and just maybe someday I can get as popular as your sight.You do beautiful work in all that you do.
Thanks again LaurenesDreams
You’re so welcome! Always happy to find great, new Etsy shops.
That was a really neat thing to see your boy working with his grandpa loved that!
When my kids were little we had a garden, built by my parents. It turned out to be a great experience for both the kids and the grandparents. My favorite memories are of the kids picking the vegetables right off the vine or out of the ground, rinse them off with the garden hose…and eat them. I hope your kids have as much fun as mine did! Happy growing! ;)
Perfect timing- I am going to try to revive my raised garden tomorrow!
I’ve wanted a garden and gotten as far as you–only thought about it. I guess I dream of a large garden with everything I could ever want growing and that’s intimidating. I can do this, starting with one raised bed, and make more as needed. Thanks for inspiring me.
So glad you enjoyed our class. Had to smile when I read your comment about Andy and I “looking adoringly at each other throughout the video”! We’ve been married almost 30 years so that’s a great compliment!
Is there a place I can find the instructions for this? It’s not on Lowe’s website anymore. Would love to make it!
Ok.. just read that the plans are no longer on Lowe’s site … my big question is “what kind of wood is used that is food safe but won’t rot? And what is the bottom made from (looks like sheet rock but I know it isn’t).
Thank you!
How is the trellis attached to the bed? How can it be strengthened or reinforced so it doesn’t fall over with the weight of plants?
What exactly did you plan?