Comments on: Backyard Raised Vegetable Garden Construction How-To Instructions

By: Backyardavore

Backyardavore — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:07:55 +0000

Dan, my garden box was built in January 2009 and it still in fine shape going on three years. I used pressure treated plywood which probably helps but regular plywood is fairly resilient, too.

Not sure about ground squirrels. I have far more of a problem with bugs/infections than I do with varmints.

Cheers,
Farmer Matt

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:49:05 +0000

I am about to make a box out of leftover construction materials including composite plywood. I don’t know how long it will last as siding, but I suppose it won’t be more than a year or two.. would you tell me how long your box will last with the materials you used? Do you plan on keeping it for a year, or for longer?

I saw an interesting tip for window boxes the other day; using drain gutters for houses. I like the idea of the dresser drawers, but you may want to drill holes in the bottom for drainage and apply strips of wood to the underneath to keep it elevated.

Any tips to dispel ground squirrels, naturally? I’m not sure chicken wire will keep them out entirely.

Thanks for your post, Mr. Farmer.

I hope you enjoy your crops!!

By: FlaNative

FlaNative — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:14:38 +0000

A simple way to get started in a hurry for a short season would be to cruise the big trash piles at the curb, find an old dresser, remove the drawers and use them as the boxes. Try to find wooden ones — not the chipboard cheap ones. Drill a few holes in the bottom, or knock out the bottom to maintain the frame. Line it with the grow cloth that Matt used, and fill with dirt.
One drawer is big enough for 4 tomato plants and a row of broccoli or peppers.
This is the Green Way to do it: You’re recycling a potential landfill waste.

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:08:21 +0000

Nice work! What did you plant? Good work on starting with twice the size garden I did.

This weekend I built an addition onto our garden. The addition will hold the strawberries, snap beans, cucumbers and watermelon. I’ll throw some photos up later this week.

Take some pictures and send them to me and I’ll post them here. I’d love to see what your garden looks like.

Cheers,
Farmer Matt

By: benard06

benard06 — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:41:48 +0000

I just completed the project for my wife for Valentine. I went a little further and made four (4′x4′x16″) instead of 8′x8′x16″. The separate boxes allow you to walk around and as well separate planting better. My wife is so excited that I build up brownie points for a while. I am kind of proud of myself. This was my first project from the internet, but your instruction was very simple and it beat hauling in railroad ties. The cost saved me $100 over and my got to watch and cheer me on, an added bonus.

By: adamsteinhoff

adamsteinhoff — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 02:16:09 +0000

When will you be stopping by to build our garden?

By: ksteinhoff

ksteinhoff — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:32:24 +0000

I be impressed with both your completed project and your detailed instructions for how to do it.

For the record, I counted the same number of fingers at the start and end of the construction. (All attached, too.)

That’s much better than when we built the shed in our backyard. On the very first swing at the very first nail, I missed the nail, hammered my finger, breaking it, earned a trip to the emergency room and found out very dramatically I was allergic to codeine.

Glad you had a better experience. It’s nice to know that I served some purpose in life, if only a bad example.