Last year when we bought the house, we knew we’d have a garden in the backyard. We even knew where it would be before they poured the foundation—the garage side of the house. Once spring arrived, it was time to get going. We bought four garden beds, one for each kiddo (Vaile shares hers with Brian; Saige shares hers with me). They were super easy to assemble… Laine put two together.
It had been a beautiful, sunny week so I watched the sunlight each afternoon to see which area on the side of the house got the best sunlight. After a few days, we decided to put them against the house instead of against the fence (which was where I hoped they could go). When we moved all four over to the house side, they were barely going to fit with spacing between them. I wanted them to start at the edge of the house and end before the garage service door. Brian suggested connecting them… great idea. And since we connected them, that left three extra sides which allowed us to make a fifth garden bed.
Next up was soil, plants, and seeds. We calculated how many cubic feet of soil we needed. Lowe’s had a great deal. Then we went to Flower World to buy some starter plants. They were out of strawberries so we stopped at the kiddos’ school farm, Keep It Simple Farms, and picked up some strawberry plants. Brian’s dad had sent us seed packets. We were ready to start the garden.
What we planted, by garden bed:
Vaile & Dad: zucchini, summer squash, beefsteak tomatoes, onions.
Saige & Mom: strawberries and broccoli.
Laine: super fantastic tomatoes, carrots, corn.
Blaise: peas, zucchini, summer squash, corn.
Family: pumpkin seeds, so we’ll have some for Halloween; cucumber seeds.
Not much is happening yet. The starter plants have perked up and there is one strawberry flower. We’re eagerly awaiting little sprouts. In the meantime, we water in the morning and evening unless it’s rained.
Lainey Bug assembling the garden beds.
Lainey Bug assembling the garden beds.
Lainey Bug assembling the garden beds… in a dress even!
Saige supervising. She was sick and actually sat still for a while.
Vaile was pretty excited about her garden bed. She thinks.
The completed beds with soil, before planting. From left: Vaile & Dad’s; Blaise’s; family (closest to the house); Saige & mom’s; Laine’s.
Laine about to get her carrot on.
Laine carroting.
Blaise about to get his corn on.
Blaise corning.
Gardener Blaise.
Melvin, not sitting in the garden bed and he definitely was not digging to his left.
Melvin resting after not digging in one of the garden beds.
Vaile’s idea of gardening.
Lainey Bug ready to water.
We actually used the hose.
The finished garden!
The finished garden the other way, with Melvin guarding the garden beds.
Cheesy gardeners.
Jumping Raccoons 
Very nice! Hopefully you’lol have a lot of yummy produce soon! Is the surface the garden beds are on loose rocks? This will probably give you some good drainage. How much soil did you put in the beds?
Thanks! Yes, the beds are on loose rocks. Each bed has about seven cubic feet of soil. I used this calculator to figure out how much was needed: http://www.gardeners.com/how-to/soil-calculator/7558.html.