Raised Garden Bed and Rock Wall

Sometimes, one project begets another. I like that, actually, because it keeps the creative juices flowing and presents its own sets of challenges. I had several problems to solve.


Problem 1: Overestimating material requirements. My pond project left me with a substantial pile (2 feet wide, 8 feet long, and 1 foot high) of leftover gravel and rocks (up to 4 inches in diameter). I needed a place to temporarily store this excess rock. (It was crowding our driveway, where we parked four cars.)

I decided the 30-inch wide bare earth strip between the south fence and the sport court could serve as a temporary storage area.

Problem 2: Too much mulch. I already had a large mulch pile that I'd moved close to the north side fence. I'd subsequently covered it over with garden soil and planted potatoes in it. I needed space for the gravel and rock, so I expanded the large mulch pile with excavated dirt from alongside the sport court.

I created a 3-foot tall 8-foot diameter green mound where the worms could play and my potatoes could grow.

Problem 3: Bishop's weed (aka goutweed) takeover. Ever make a gardening mistake? I thought Bishop's weed was pretty--and because it was free, (came through a back fence) I'd allowed that weed to take over a 30-inch wide strip of bare earth next to our sport court. Only later, did I learn the name of the plant. Note: Be suspicious of anything with 'weed' as part of its name.

In the process of uprooting the Bishop's weed a year later, I harvested a couple of huge black plastic bags of the stuff. Don't even consider using it as mulch--takes too long to break down--put it in the trash! I dug deeply enough to completely remove all traces of its invasive roots.

I did move the excavated dirt from the 30-inch-wide strip over to the growing mulch pile and dumped my rock and gravel into the excavated strip beside the sport court. Temporary rock storage problem solved.

Rock and gravel is temporarily stored next to sport court (the dirt mound at bottom right was contributed by Mr. Mole)

A year later, I harvested the potatoes growing in the mulch pile, but the tall earth/mulch pile was an unsightly mound in winter. I needed to spread it around a bit. That's when I first contemplated a permanent raised bed.

Problem 4. Rotting fence boards. I knew I couldn't spread the earth/mulch all the way to the fence, which was already rotting at the bottom from a long-term buildup of organic materials on both sides. I could solve that by purchasing new fence boards, but I had to consider how to protect the replacement fence.

My answer was both simple, economical, and involved the least labor for me: concrete building blocks.

I laid up two courses of concrete building blocks as the back wall of the new raised bed. Concrete blocks aren't pretty. However, my back-of-the-raised-bed block wall is mostly hidden from view by both the dirt in the bed and the plantings growing in the raised bed. The back-of-the-raised-bed wall is fairly close to the wooden fence, but there's still plenty of space for good air circulation at the bottom.

Concrete blocks help keep dirt in the bed and away from fence. Note air gap between fence and blocks.

I had a few large rocks leftover from the pond project and used them to start the front-of-the-raised-bed wall. My block back wall is 12 inches tall and the rock front wall is just slightly shorter.

Completed rock wall with gravel path in front.

Bug's eye view of wall and gravel path.

Problem 5: Digger dog. Our dog likes to dig (surprise, surprise). My son pointed out to me (the day after my rock wall was up) that Cookie dog had dislodged the rocks in a section of the wall. She'd dug in front of and beneath the wall rocks and undermined them. (Seems she was after an invader--a mole.)

To prevent her undermining my rock wall again, I laid down a pathway of compacted gravel in front of the new rock wall. This won't stop her from digging within the raised bed, of course, but my new rock wall is reasonably safe.

Problem 6: Mole. Since Mr. Mole travels from my yard to the neighbors yard and back, it isn't a serious problem for the moment. I'll probably have to trap it (...squish...).

Garden Accessory Projects (part 1)

As a 13-year-old, I was an amateur magician. I couldn't afford ANY of the tricks at the magic shop. Instead of purchasing those, I checked out every library book I could find on magic tricks and hand-built my illusions.

I once constructed a "magic" wooden box (with a little help and all the materials supplied by my Dad). With this special box I made things disappear and reappear (using lights, glass and a mirror). It worked well. But for all the work involved in its construction, my audience was impressed for...maybe...five seconds. I loved showing off that box but HAD to move on to the next trick. What made that "magic" box so special to me was my feeling of accomplishment after building, adjusting, and readjusting until the illusion worked just like the book said it would.

Writing this blog about garden/landscape projects is a lot like presenting my early magic shows. As a landscape magician, I may impress the blogosphere for a few seconds. What impresses an audience today, may not last until tomorrow. What appears simple, often isn't. However, if any project triggers wonder or inspires a reader's mind to try new garden possibilities, there is great reward in that.

How much research and pondering goes into a project before construction begins? How much additional time, money and effort are expended before the final product appears? A lot. But that's unimportant. I'd enjoy the fruits of my labor, and the construction process anyway. The bonus is in sharing them with others.

Today, I'm going to talk about a few simple garden accessories I've made. I think that what makes some items 'work' in my garden are: the particular spot I've chosen (the locus); what draws the eye (the focus); the seeming coordination with nearby garden elements (flow); the element of surprise (or contrast); and the multiplicity of the senses involved (sight, sound, color, and odor). Add in our dog and cat, visiting birds and squirrels (and racoons at night), fluttering and buzzing insects, and fish in the pond--all unpredictable elements, and our yard exhibits still another dimension: movement.

This garden is for people. It offers opportunities to gather, to relax, even to explore and discover.

My hope is that all the elements work together to make the garden a memorable place.

GARDEN TOWER.

After looking at various gardening books, I decided a tower might be an appropriate focal in a corner of the garden.

I used what was available (my "lifetime" supply of 1 by 2 stock). I drew a simple sketch and played with proportions and spacings. My tower would be four-sided, so I cut and laid out the pieces for one side on a piece of plywood (form shown below).

Plywood pattern with spacings for tower rungs.

To make two opposing sides identical, I tacked spacers to the plywood and laid out the opposing side to match the first. Then, I changed the position of the rungs, keeping the legs in the same position so that the rungs on the two adjacent sides would not interfere during assembly. A cross-brace at the top and bottom will stabilize the structure, though aren't absolutely necessary unless you're transporting it on top of your car or something. (No, I didn't mean it to sound like you mount the thing to your car roof; I meant if you're building it at one place and want to move some distance to another.) To top it off, I cut a 5-foot cedar fence board into three even pieces and stapled them to the top.

Completed tower in a corner of the garden.

GARDEN HANGING PLANTERS.

Hanging Planter (bottom view)


Hanging Planter (side view)

Another "easy" project if you have access to a 45 degree saw box (or chop saw). Make all your pieces of equal length and put a staple into each corner of 8 frames. Assemble the frames alternating 45 degrees as shown and add another four staples to each to stack them. a couple of strips on the bottom keeps the pots from falling through. I used "dog" chain to hold them, plus cup hooks (found in the kitchen department of major stores) to attach to the chain (see detail).

GARDEN LATTICE FENCES.

More tricks using lattice. I used a 7 by 11 spacing to match the grape arbor and kept this spacing for other projects. The little lattice "fence" by the grape arbor keeps our dog from stepping between the winter-flowering daphne and knocking leaves off. These are year-old plants and doggie shot-cuts was having a deleterious effect upon the plants.

New Doggie Deterent fence.

The longer lattice "fence" (shown below) helps keeps the basketball in the adjacent sport court out of this tiny side plot.

Step 1: dig post holes and place posts

Step 2: lay up latticed pieces and staple together

Step 3: level lattice frame at the top and screw the lattice frame to the posts