Gardening in Small Spaces

Today we officially launched our first masonry project - a stone-wall raised planting bed for a small vegetable garden. I am pretty excited about it. I have always wanted a vegetable garden but living out here in the burbs I can't exactly have a full-fledged farm in the backyard. So, I decided to get creative and marked off a spot for an 8x4 foot raised planting bed. This is something that anyone can do...even people with the smallest yards. I wanted it to look nicer than a plan wooden bed and incorporate it into the backyard, so I decided on colonial greenstone as the medium. The stones are so pretty - greenish, grey bluestone - and blend well with the color of the house, and will also blend nicely with the bluestone patio once that goes in. Since we have such a small back yard, our goal is to make it as usable and private as possible.

It was actually easier than I thought. We dug out the top soil in the area marked for the planter, laid a foundation of crushed stone, then layered the stones with Quick-crete mortar. We got about 1/2 way done today and are hoping to finish tomorrow if the rain holds off. I'll post pictures and an update on the project tomorrow.