Family Garden Project: Part 3
Are you new to gardening? My name is Ella. I am the family dog of our blended family of 6. Last December, we created a bucket list of activities we wanted to do as a family in 2022. My family has undertaken a project to plant their first family garden this summer. If you have been following us for a while now, you probably saw the very beginning of our project and when we started seedling indoors last April. Now we are ready to show you how to prepare your raised garden for the summer.
We have partnered with Home Hardware Elmwood Group for this beautiful project. All opinions are our own, and we only promote products we believe in and use.
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Why we chose a raised garden
The first reason my Mom wanted to plant in raised planters, also called a raised garden, was so the boys could each have their own garden box. Our family has four teenage boys, so four raised planters were in our family garden plan.
While doing some research, my Dad was excited to find out that garden box building packages were available at Home Hardware. This build-your-own garden box package is a hidden gem among other Home Hardware offerings. In each package, you get all your materials and building instructions from start to finish. My Dad loves working on all kinds of projects around the house, and the boys were very excited about the idea that they would be building their own raised planters.
Building your raised planters
They chose a cedar raised package that was 2’H x 2’W x 3’L. It’s a perfect size to walk around and take care of the garden. If you decide to build your own planters, keep in mind that you will also need a few power tools and be comfortable with measuring and cutting your wood. Let’s just say that the boys did a few mismeasurements, and my Dad needed to use some of his creativity to finish the work. However, the raised planters turned out beautifully and made a perfect addition to your backward.
Furthermore, there are even more benefits to planting your garden in raised planters :
- Less weed
- Better drainage
- Warmer soil so you can start earlier in the season
- Better pest control
- Can be moved if needed
- Easier on your back
- They are very nice looking
How to fill your raised garden
Do you want to save some money on soil? Depending on the height of your raised planters, they may not need to be filled with soil from top to bottom. After reading many articles, my Mom opted to try to fill the ½ of the base with wood logs and branches we had in our backyard from cutting trees and a layer of leaves. First, my family put a landscape fabric at the bottom and sides of each box. These will not only help with the drainage but will turn into excellent compost with time.
They filled up the rest of the boxes with garden mix soil from Home Hardware. Soil is one of the essential ingredients. Yes, water and sunlight are important, too. However, without a good mix of dirt, your garden won’t grow. Before you realize your need to change the soil, you will have missed your gardening season. My advice is to do it right the first time. It will save you time and money.
Finally, in no time, the raised planters were ready, and it was time to plant the garden. You can check my family design on our blog: How to prepare your first family garden for success.
Planting your garden
Did you know that some vegetables are good companions and help each other grow or reduce the presence of pests? Planting your garden is a very enjoyable part. Make sure to plan where all your plants will go before planting them. Check how much space they need in between each other. Furthermore, check which plants will grow higher and put the smaller ones in front so they can get sunlight too.
On the other hand, some are bad companions and will harm each other’s growth. Here is a chart my Mom made just for you. It shows some of the vegetable’s good and bad planting pairings. You can also get your FREE PDF copy here.
Finally, after my family had finished planting their garden, my Mom put mulch over the top. This will help the plants to dry out a lot slower during the hot sunny weather. Straw or mulch helps keep the moisture in the soil.
Final Thoughts
These raised planters have endless benefits. They have made our family garden project much easier to complete and our experience so enjoyable. We will be able to use them for many years to come. My family’s job is not over. They will still need to take care of the garden every day. Looking at the window, I can see it’s growing beautifully. Now you know How to prepare your raised garden project for the summer, and we hope we have inspired you to create yours. Do you want to see the update on our garden? Follow us on our social media at @ellas_blended_family for more updates
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Excellent suggestions for creating a raised garden! I have a large one just for vegetables.
This was great information to add to my current research. I am very excited about starting a garden. Thanks so much for sharing this wealth of information.
Thank you for sharing. We love these posts!
Happy you liked it!
I have been wanting to do this! So glad I stumbled on your post. This is helpful for making raised flower beds.
So happy this was helpful, Amanda!
What a fun family project. We don’t have a lot of space for a garden, so I’d love to add by doing a raised garden bed!
Megan, we are having so much fun, and it doesn’t take much space.
We have been considering doing raised planter boxes! I love this! And some of these benefits to planting your own garden are news to me! Thanks!
Glad it was helpful.