Before and After Garden Makeover

Amy Lanham
by Amy Lanham
10 Materials
$2000
2 Months
Medium

I’ve always wanted a beautiful backyard garden space. I just think they are a beautiful way to use a backyard space. It’s so nice to have home grown food and I just think they’re beautiful.


I also thought it was important to create this place for the whole family, so we included a dirt pit for the kids, in addition to all the learning they’ll be getting in the garden as well!


We chose a spot in our backyard where the plants would get at least 6+ hours a day of sunlight. It's on the West side of our house, so it gets mid day sun. I'm a little worried for the winter time, but it will be fine!


Our space had a lot of grass and invasive weeds. So we had to rip everything out in order to create a clean area for planting.


Then we leveled the ground, so that the boxes will have a level surface to sit on. We also laid down weed fabric to block the grass and weeds from growing into our boxes.


Once the weed fabric was nailed into place, we gently placed the boxes on top in the spaces that we wanted them. Then laid rock all around.


We chose to make our planters out of redwood and I wanted them to be 18″ high for easy planting and harvesting, with less bending over. We also have a waist high planter and that one is the easiest for planting and harvesting.


When building boxes, make sure they aren’t too big. We chose 2 feet by 4 feet for the majority of our boxes. These are up against a wall and we can’t walk around so we picked only 2 feet wide to make harvesting easy.


We bought a special veggie mix from a local nursery, some top soil mulch, and I also bought veggie mix fertilizer and worm castings.


I really wanted to garden to be fun for the whole family. We we’re going to be spending a lot of time here tending to the garden, so I wanted there to be something fun and special for the kids as well.


This led to me building a little dirt pit for the kids. Since we tore up all the grass anyway, it wasn’t that hard to build. The kids love playing in the dirt/mud pit and it was such a great addition to this space!

What we started with. The planters were completely overgrown and this whole area was just not a joy to be in.

First, we ripped out all the grass and the side planters, then we needed to get the ground as level as possible.

We laid weed fabric to make sure none of those weeds come back! Then placed down our beds.

Then we put down rock and stepping stones.

Now the garden is overflowing with veggies!

Suggested materials:
  • Shovel   (Home Depot)
  • Weed Fabric   (Home Depot)
  • Bagged Rock   (Home Depot)
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Amy Lanham
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  • Julie Julie on Apr 14, 2023

    Did you use different rocks along the sidewalk and what did you use to separate them?

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  • Marilyn Falcone Marilyn Falcone on Apr 06, 2023

    Very nice. I’m ripping out the grass in a section of my yard, because it gets overgrown with weeds. I have the fabric and tiny red stones to lay down. My question is what keeps the stepping stones in place? Would sand be good to use, place the stepping stones and then add the stone? Also, plastic bottle caps will be added around the stepping stones for a pop of color.

    • Amy Lanham Amy Lanham on Apr 14, 2023

      We just compacted the dirt before we laid the fabric down. We didn’t use anything to hold the stepping stones. They’re pretty heavy, so we just placed them on top of the fabric. I believe you can use sand. I love the idea of using plastic caps for a pop of color! I’d love to see it once it’s complete.

  • Marilyn Falcone Marilyn Falcone on Apr 15, 2023

    I’m going to start working on it Amy, but I may limit myself to half of the area. It will depend on the weather. If it’s too hot, I won’t stress to finish. Thank you for your input. My stones are very small.

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