We are just back from our Phoenix vacation and it’s time to think about this year’s garden. Fall cleanup never happened last year because of the wetness and the sudden onset of winter in November. Being pre-occupied with kitchen remodeling didn’t help either.

After clean-up, I plan on installing 3 new raised garden beds between the walkway and the fence. I looked at kits or the possibility of building them from cedar but I can’t afford $300. per bed. After a bit of research, I determined that the currently treated lumber should be safe since the copper compounds now used are relatively safe and tend to stay in the wood.

So the plan is a quantity of 3 beds made from 2X12 lumber and concrete corner blocks designed for garden beds. The third bed will be an additional 6 inches higher, and I’ll build a detachable cover with plastic film for that one so it can be used as a cold frame in spring and winter. The others will have detachable chicken wire covers to keep God’s little woodland creatures from dining on my newly emerging seedlings and young plants. There are plenty of tasty dandelions around, so I’m not worried that they will starve. I’ll probably only add 4-6 inches of soil to each of the beds.

I might reconstruct the other two existing raised beds in the same manner if I have time.