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I just bought paint at the dollar store - regular/cheap indoor/outdoor spray paint.
I also used 4x4s for corners of my bed boxes cut to the same length as the boards in case I want to move them someday and the lumber was scrap lumber or reject boards from the renovation that was going on at our home. There was already a huge pile of garden soil that some prior owner had dumped in our front pasture which had grown grass and weeds but I just dug it up and hauled it to my garden and mixed it with chicken coop and stable cleanouts and old barn floor diggings (the old barn is 100 years old and hadn't been used since the early 70s but still had hay in the storage lofts and wonderfully broken down hay/manure on floor. So, I did my garden for pretty cheap. I also pulled up old beams and posts that were used in old fencing and lined the fence with that to make a border and filled that. I grow all climbing vines on that - cucumbers, squash, peas, beans and even plant tomatoes next to the fence and tie them to the fence. Well I did until the peacocks discovered the garden this year and ate the outside half of all my tomatoes so now they can't go next to a fence.
I'm now in the process of moving an old clawfoot tub, wash basin, toilet and sink to the garden and planting in them. I'll probably make the tub a water garden since I like to mix flowers with my vegetables and herbs. I'm going to plant grapes on the trellis wall and other climbing vines. On the back side, since it will be shade, I'll be able to grow lettuce in the summer time. I like my garden to be fun and creative and a relaxing place to be. I've also added a picnic table under a tree in the back corner which makes a great place to work.
Have fun with your garden - there are no rules. I knew zilch about gardening when I started my garden last year. Still don't know a lot but I know if you plant a seed in good rich soil full of chicken poop - it will grow. And, like was posted, you don't even need soil. I grew a potato patch by piling all the hay from the stable floors that I clean out against a fence and planted in that. It has enough poop in it to fertilize.
My garden is all organic. I don't use pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides. I plant fragrant herbs along the sides of the beds because they repel most insects.
You will be amazed at how much you can grow in one bed. I got 4 dozen ears of sweet candy corn from that one bed. I plant everything very close together and don't waste a single spot. If there's an empty spot I plant something in it so lots of things are planted in the same bed. I spaced my beds so that I can sit/kneel inbetween the two beds and reach the center of each one and work on both at same time without having to move. I just recently laid weed cloth between the beds and covered with hay and grass clippings because I got tired of trying to get the weedeater in there to cut the grass that grew. The other thing about raised beds is you only have to water the beds so the walkways and rest of the garden don't have to be watered.
I keep one bed empty so that I can dump the coop clean out directly in it and let it compost right there - then after awhile of turning it, I plant again so no need to buy more soil.
I just bought paint at the dollar store - regular/cheap indoor/outdoor spray paint.
I also used 4x4s for corners of my bed boxes cut to the same length as the boards in case I want to move them someday and the lumber was scrap lumber or reject boards from the renovation that was going on at our home. There was already a huge pile of garden soil that some prior owner had dumped in our front pasture which had grown grass and weeds but I just dug it up and hauled it to my garden and mixed it with chicken coop and stable cleanouts and old barn floor diggings (the old barn is 100 years old and hadn't been used since the early 70s but still had hay in the storage lofts and wonderfully broken down hay/manure on floor. So, I did my garden for pretty cheap. I also pulled up old beams and posts that were used in old fencing and lined the fence with that to make a border and filled that. I grow all climbing vines on that - cucumbers, squash, peas, beans and even plant tomatoes next to the fence and tie them to the fence. Well I did until the peacocks discovered the garden this year and ate the outside half of all my tomatoes so now they can't go next to a fence.
I'm now in the process of moving an old clawfoot tub, wash basin, toilet and sink to the garden and planting in them. I'll probably make the tub a water garden since I like to mix flowers with my vegetables and herbs. I'm going to plant grapes on the trellis wall and other climbing vines. On the back side, since it will be shade, I'll be able to grow lettuce in the summer time. I like my garden to be fun and creative and a relaxing place to be. I've also added a picnic table under a tree in the back corner which makes a great place to work.
Have fun with your garden - there are no rules. I knew zilch about gardening when I started my garden last year. Still don't know a lot but I know if you plant a seed in good rich soil full of chicken poop - it will grow. And, like was posted, you don't even need soil. I grew a potato patch by piling all the hay from the stable floors that I clean out against a fence and planted in that. It has enough poop in it to fertilize.
My garden is all organic. I don't use pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides. I plant fragrant herbs along the sides of the beds because they repel most insects.
You will be amazed at how much you can grow in one bed. I got 4 dozen ears of sweet candy corn from that one bed. I plant everything very close together and don't waste a single spot. If there's an empty spot I plant something in it so lots of things are planted in the same bed. I spaced my beds so that I can sit/kneel inbetween the two beds and reach the center of each one and work on both at same time without having to move. I just recently laid weed cloth between the beds and covered with hay and grass clippings because I got tired of trying to get the weedeater in there to cut the grass that grew. The other thing about raised beds is you only have to water the beds so the walkways and rest of the garden don't have to be watered.
I keep one bed empty so that I can dump the coop clean out directly in it and let it compost right there - then after awhile of turning it, I plant again so no need to buy more soil.
