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For the last two years, I've been wanting a raised garden, and friends, this week my dream came true.

Granted, I am no horticulture expert, but I kept a tomato plant alive last year, and that was enough for me to do the whole thing this year.

I've always loved the idea of just going outside and picking some fresh produce. Not that I want to live completely off the land, but it would be nice to grow my own summer veggies. So this year, I'm doing it.

And because I am who I am, I had to go big.

I wanted a large bed, so that there would be plenty of room for lots of veggies, and I wanted to keep the costs low.

We built a 4x8 bed, almost 20 inches tall, for around $200, and here's how!

Start Seeds.

Back in early March, I guess, I started some seeds in an egg carton. Just enough for three of each vegetable I wanted to grow. They didn't sprout right away (I think it was too dry), so I moved them to one of those seed starter trays you can find at Home Depot, or here, if you like online shopping. Most of them sprouted within a day of being moved to the tray, and they've been doing great soaking in the sunshine. If some don't work out, I can always pick up some small plants to make up the difference.

Get Supplies.

For our 4 X 8 raised bed, we used treated lumber, because it was cost effective. I wanted this to be a budget project and try to spend as little as possible to get a high quality garden. If you look online, everyone will tell you to use cedar or redwood, not treated lumber because it has chemicals in it that you don't want in your food. Well, if cedar was available and cost effective, I would have gotten it, but it wasn't, so I bought some plastic to line the lumber and voila! Same effect.

For our 4x8 bed, we needed:

• 3 - 2 x 10 x 16 boards (you can use whatever width you want, I just wanted a taller bed, so I went with 2x10s)

• 1 - 4 x 4 x 8

• 2 boxes of deck screws

• 1 roll of plastic sheeting

• Landscaping fabric

• Newspaper, cardboard or paper bags

• Soil - For ours, I got a cubic yard of topsoil from a local landscaping materials store, and also got a few bags of gardening soil to mix in the top to fill it up.

*Note - I got my boards cut at Lowe's, two 2x10s cut into 8ft boards (4 total), and the third was cut into 4 4ft pieces. They won't cut the 4x4s, so we had to do that ourselves - into 4, 2 ft pieces. Do double check that it was cut correctly, ours weren't 100% consistent, but we made it work!

Our trip to Lowe's was around $130, the cubic yard of topsoil was $33, and the bags of gardening soil were around $40, so the entire project was around $200.

Prep the Area.

In order for everything to lay flat and level, I did dig up a little trench for the outline of the bed. You’ll notice my trend of “oh man I forgot a before/after photo! Let’s just grab one halfway!”

Then we started building. I don't have pictures of the actual progress, but here is the "halfway there" progress. I laid the landscape fabric under it and I'll trim it later.

Since we had to trim a few of the boards, we finished up the box the next day, and reinforced it with some leftover 2x4s we had in the shed. You can also use rebar to support the outside, if that suits your fancy.

Then I lined the box with plastic, and laid down a layer of paper bags, and thoroughly wet it to lock in moisture for the base.

And then, we filled her up! This photo was before we finished mixing all the garden soil in the very top, but you get the idea.

And that’s that! I still have to wait a few weeks to plant all my little friends, but the bed is ready to go! Hoping for a bountiful harvest this summer, and maybe even enough to share! Huge shout-outs to my mom who helped me get my seeds started, my dad for helping us trim our boards, and my incredible husband for helping me every step of the way.

If you’re an expert gardener, and have any tips or tricks, PLEASE leave them below! I’m new to this and could use all the help I can get.

“For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.” Isaiah 61:11

“Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies will have their fill of poverty.” Proverbs 28:19