Timberline Homestead A self sufficient homesteading life
I’ve been busy planning away for the next 2 seasons in the garden. It took very little time to realize that in order to grow the variety of crops we envision we will need more growing space. I’m not surprised we outgrew our small garden so quickly, which is why I allowed for room for expansion when we put the fence up this last spring. To get the most out of the remaining fenced in space the 2 new beds need to be a different shape than the first 3.
The first bed is a two tiered raised bed that I was fortunate enough to be able to piece together with recycled and scrap wood ( I love keeping the cost of projects low). We had some weathered 16 foot douglas fur boards that were begging to be used. The final size of the beds is roughly 5′ by 7′. I cut my douglas fur boards down to size and cut my corner posts out of a scrap 4 x 4 and some tree limbs from trees that came down on the property. The height of the beds was determined by the wood we have available which is 9 inches.
I laid out the boards about where they’d sit when the project is complete. I spent some time clearing out small rocks and quickly passing the area over with a pickaxe to loosen things up.
I used the 9 inch boards for the bottom layer and some 6 inch boards for the second tier. 2 1/2″ wood screws were lying around in the garage so they were recruited for the project. I debated adding a divider in the bottom level to keep the soil separate and whether that was necessary . I ultimately decided to go ahead and add it. I’ve basically got 2 beds connected.
The second bed is the same dimensions minus the second tier. I used the same douglas fur boards for this and the remainder of the tree limb cut to size. Again, I spent a bit of time knocking down the high spots where the bed will call home and picking out rocks.
Haven’t yet had a chance to dig this bed into the ground an inch or 2 and they both need soil, but the hard work is complete! I’ve got big plans for these 2 beds and am a bit relieved that we have more beds to rotate crops through. We’ll see how long it takes until I’m ready to expand again.
