By Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist, Blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

“Play around a bit before deciding on a final design for your raised bed garden.”

What great advice – advice I wish I’d read before I set about in haste to make a raised garden bed.

Last year, my garden efforts didn’t turn out as I’d planned. As a busy, new blogger, I didn’t take the time to spade my garden. And, my container garden didn’t produce as many vegetables as it usually does.

I really wanted to make a big effort this year to grow food this year. Gardens are such a great way for consumers to save money on their grocery bills and cut energy costs because the food doesn’t need to be transported.

When I returned from my vacation to Miami, I thought it over carefully and decided I’d work on my garden every day and make it a fun, no-stress project.

I began spading up my garden and my plan was working well. I worked daily and enjoyed myself without getting tired or straining my back.

Then, after spading the hard, clay-type soil, I decided it would be good to make a raised bed garden. I didn’t think it would be effective to plant seedlings and seeds in the ground even if I enriched the soil.

Since it’s early June and I’d already purchased nearly a dozen plants, I felt a sense of urgency about the project.

I went to Black Lake Organic here in Olympia, Wash., to find out how to build a raised garden bed. The owner showed me his garden with the sides made of cinder blocks stacked three high.

He recommended I put two inches of sand on the bottom of my raised bed to help get the blocks level. If a raised bed garden isn’t level, water puddles, which results in plants that are too wet and too dry.

Cinder blocks sounded like a good idea because I didn’t want to use wood. It could attract wood-destroying insects.

Without doing further research, I rushed to Home Depot and ordered cinder blocks and sand.

Home Depot delivered my cinder blocks yesterday. But instead of six bags of sand, I received six bags of cement mix. Fortunately, the customer service representative who took my order brought the sand out today and removed the cement mix.

When I went to my neighbors’ to borrow a level, I saw his raised bed garden was made of composite wood. Although he said it was expensive, I think it would have been a better choice.

Now I’m stuck with 40 cinder blocks and a huge project of making the ground and the cinder blocks level.

Unfortunately, my garden project isn’t as fun as it was when I started.

Maybe I need to focus on how great it will be when I’m finished. I’ll have a raised bed garden ready to go for a winter garden this year and gardens for years to come.

Here’s information about how to make a raised bed garden:

“Raised Bed Gardens” – About.com

“How to Build a Raised Garden Planting Bed” – The Garden Helper

“How to Build and Install Raised Garden Beds” – Popular Mechanics

“Build a Raised Bed” – University of Illinois Extension

“The Perfect Raised Bed” – Sunset.com

“How to Plan a Raised Bed Garden” – Raised Bed Gardening Tips

“Weekend Project: Make a Raised Bed Garden” – About.com

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