At this very moment, there are tomatoes ripening on the vine. Potatoes are growing under the soil, strawberries are bursting with color and Honeydew melons are sweetening by the day. that is how it will go till the end of summer unless I have to contend with … the massacre. The massacre is the influx of voles, raccoons, rabbits and cabbage moth. I’ve done everything possible to stop all the pests. It was hard work to do what needed to be done, but it’ll pay off by saving me vegetables later.

Let’s start with the design of the garden. I went with traditional rows as opposed to the trendier 4′ x 4′ square foot raised beds because I could fit more in this way and because I actually prefer the look and feel of long rows in a garden. It feels nostalgic to me.

My garden consists of a path that runs from the front gate to the back so I can access things I have beyond the garden fence like a compost bin, building materials, and my raspberry bushes.

As you can see, the beds are raised but they are not boxed in with wood. The advantage of this is cost and effort. Boxing in huge raised beds would cost tons of dollars and they’d all start to rot in a few years. I’d have to deconstruct the beds and buy more and rebuild the beds.

the soil falls around the edges so you can’t plant close to the edges as you can in a traditional, boxed raised bed. The only disadvantage though is that weeds grow on the sides of the beds so it’s a lot more weeding.

I’ll think about gradually turning them into boxed in beds if it all gets into my nerves this year, otherwise, I’ll stick with the raised, boxless beds.