I can’t believe it, but it really happened. And every time I glance out into the yard my heart jumps a little and I remember “HEY THAT REALLY HAPPENED.”
{This seems like as good a time as any to thank my husband for his kindness toward me, his willingness toward this project, his longsuffering, and also his ability to plate a Hot Pocket like a James Beard award winner.}
Saturday was The Big Day around here, and to make The Big Day happen we employed The Big Guns.
{The one in the front had no sense of humor at all. Nope. ZERO.}
These were not your average dudes. No, these were men among men. And they were kind and helpful, went above and beyond when it came to precision and craftsmanship, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome. {Also, it probably didn’t hurt that I kept them running on cookies for the better part of the day.}
This project was heavily inspired by Joe Lamp’l’s home garden set created in this episode of Growing a Greener World. {Slightly obsessed with that show…but that’s another post…} David was very pleased with the look of his 6×6 cedar timber beds, and that’s why we decided to go with cedar, albeit 4×4 because HELLO DOLLA DOLLA BILLZ.
The Big Guns set up a plywood structure so they could have the ability to reverse measure due to the odd grade of our property. {Years ago when we looked into having this flattened, it was cost prohibitive.} So enter complicated math:
They set in the first posts, and leveled:
Then began the offset stacking:
As anticipated, the deepest corner was the most complicated to set structurally:
Then they drilled in and set rebar stakes down through the bottom level for added stability.
Yes, that is an aluminum foil “Band-Aid” on his hand. The mom in me can’t talk about it.
From there things started to move pretty fast. As I may have mentioned before: seven dudes.
{Please keep in mind that there is a 100% chance I am grossly over-simplifying this project.}
I knew I didn’t want any portion of any of the beds to be less than 12″ in depth for planting purposes, so the height of each bed had to vary {pretty drastically} based on the wonky slope of the yard.
Shim was cut and placed for the odd-angled corners:
The pick for lining the inside bottom of the beds was landscape fabric:
Like a boss.
While just the inside sides of the beds were lined with a thick plastic to {hopefully} get better life out of the cedar:
{Only thing we almost ran out of on Saturday were tattoos.}
Lastly, everything was secured with super long screws:
Ceremonial first load of dirt:
And then a few more loads of dirt…I’ll spare you the play by play…
Quick check of Instagram:
And they’re finished:
Guys–our family are your #1 fans. We are pulling for you! “But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.” Psalm 73:28
I sure do think they’re pretty.
{The raised beds–not the guys.}
A big thank you to Morris and Stan, and all the guys from Advantage Painting and Home Renovations.
