Garden Boxes

Ryan and I have been hard at work while he's home for spring break.  We are building our gardens!  Since we just moved here last year, we haven't done any landscaping.  We did accomplish a huge feat last year with the building of the boys' swing set.

I have a whole list to accomplish, including {Ryan's vegetable garden}, {my herb garden}, a flower garden, mulching around the boys' play area, transplanting bushes from the front, and on and on. 

Because we're on a budget, we have to pick and choose what to do this year.  The most important to me is what can save us money.  That would be Ryan's vegetable garden and my herb garden.  It does cost money up front, but the benefits are wonderful.  At our old house, Ryan was able to can enough tomato sauce and salsa that we never had to buy any from the store for the whole year.  And the best part is knowing exactly where the ingredients came from.

We started at Home Depot.  I found {plans from Ana White Homemaker} that got me started.  She recommended using cedar fence posts instead of the regular cedar boards, and it saves a TON of money.  We borrowed my dad's truck to cart it all home.

Next was building it all.  We are using the boxes to landscape a side yard with a dangerous slope to mow, so it was a little tricky.

We got the hang of it, though, and it took us about half a day if you take out the boys' "help" and nap time.

ready to help!

halfway there

all done with the boxes

We were especially proud of how the side turned out with our ingenious cutting.

The boys cooled off after a hard day with a super soaker battle!

Now all we have to do is fill them with dirt and plant the herbs.  We are also going to eventually add pathways that don't require mowing.  We are also going to put Ryan's vegetable garden together, which should be easier than this project (fingers crossed!).