The evolution of our garden beds from 2012 to 2020.
This is how the beds in our back yard were laid out when I bought the house. I used some metal edging to plan out the space for our raised beds (2012).
Reworking the paver edge and laying out beds with string.
Walking path mulched and ready for the season.
Our planting plan for our 6 beds at the time (2012).
Adding more structure to the beds with a simple 1x lumber build. This helped keep the soil in the bed even and from overflowing into the walking paths (2014).
Building replacement beds with 2x lumber and a cross brace in the middle because of the long length - to prevent bowing (2016).
All beds built and preparing to install.
Beds installed, planted and temporary fence in place to keep our dog out.
Later in 2016 I removed the temporary fence and made a nicer replacement
Our best asparagus to date…
The side yard as it was originally, grass and some shrubs (2013).
Some smaller raised beds installed, leaf compost bin and gardening materials in the background. Preparing to install more limestone stepping stones (2017).
Working on beds in our front yard. Here is a self-watering raised bed I designed, with a reservoir underneath the plywood floor (2015).
Filling the reservoir for the first time, took quite a while.
In practice this self-watering bed hasn’t done any better then the regular square bed next to it, and we don’t fill the reservoir anymore - just water it like any other bed.
New square beds and bigger greens bed planted. The greens bed replaced a smaller 1x bed I’d built years earlier.
More new beds in the front yard, this time along the driveway (2016).
Some cedar trellises I built for tomato support.
I replaced these trellises in 2020 with metal ones - I used a BMX wheel as a form to bend a circle from 1/4” rod and then welded these to vertical rods. I made some new metal trellises for the other beds as well.
I added new beds in the boulevard (2020). Also a new weathering steel bed in the front yard.
In 2020 I had to do some repair work on the back yard and driveway side beds. The wood is starting to rot and I had to replace some boards or re-secure loose boards that had rotted where they mount together.
I would estimate I have one or two years more with these current beds before they need replacement. I did not use any treated lumber or cedar for the beds, which kept the cost down but meant that they would have a limited lifespan.
I may replace these beds a few at a time with weathering steel beds.