Raised Bed Garden Enclosure - Backyard Project Inspiration

Raised Bed enclosure via Wayfair

It has been a couple of years since we had a garden.  Sure, we've tried to grow tomatoes and basil in containers (with mixed results), but ever since we moved out of our house in Elmhurst, we have been garden-free.  Nat has mentioned that she misses it.  She misses the veggies.  But also how our kids were involved and helped both plant and harvest.  Not to mention the understand you get about health and nature and the environment when you grow your own food.

Why do I bring this up?  Because a week or so ago, Nat texted me the photo that you see above of this raised ben enclosure that she came across.  This one is being sold from Wayfair, but there are a few different varieties of these things sold from various places online.  They start at about $1K and go up to $3K.  Which...if you ask me is nuts.

If you've been following along on the blog here, you may remember that I've been dreaming about a raised bed project for more than a year.  Right before we moved into our new place, I posted some raised bed inspiration.  In that post, I noted that we don't have a ton of space of full sun but said that there appeared to be a spot in the middle-back that saw sun for the middle part of the day.  Then earlier this Spring, I found another raised bed design that included a self-watering feature that I thought was nice.

However, now that Nat has found this design above, it has restarted my whole thinking about the garden area.  This one above is 8x8, which is totally manageable.  But, I know myself and I'm already thinking bigger.  Something like 8x12?  Or even better would be 10x12.  10 foot wide would allow for a generous middle aisle - something like 4 foot with 3 foot wide beds.  Factoring in the lumber, the beds would each be 29" wide with 48" clear for the aisle.   Also, the side walls/trellises/deer fences seem too short to me.  I'd want them higher.

The Wayfair product listing also includes this handy assembly pdf that shows the path forward if I was to try to recreate it from lumber.

Now to find the time.

I guess this project goes somewhere after the workbenches and the firewood storage shed.