Archives: Eco Friendly Gardening

With gardening on the brain I wanted to re post an article Andy wrote on  5/19/10 about using repurposed wood to build a raised garden bed.  If you plan on building some raised beds this year, please consider using old materials, rather than purchasing new. 

Using Repurposed Wood For a Backyard Veggie Garden

I grew up in central Iowa where growing food is a big deal. I was raised in the burbs but I still have family that farms to this day. My parents always had a huge garden. I remember planting rows and rows of corn, carrots, radishes, tomatoes, and many other wonderful veggies.

When we moved into our current house, 5 years ago, I knew I wanted to have a huge garden. But now that I live in Colorado there is a lot more involved in gardening. It is much dryer here and the soil doesn’t even compare to the fertile soils of the midwest. Here it is necessary to build a raised bed to provide enough good soil for your veggies to grow.

The first summer we lived in our house, I built a small 4’x8’ garden. I wanted more but I decided to start slow. The following year I built an additional 8’x8’ garden. This kept me pretty happy for a while and with a membership to a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) we had access to plenty of locally grown organic food, but I still want more.

This weekend the weather was nice and the desire to grow even more food took over. I decided that this time I wanted to build a more sustainable garden. In the past I had walked into a chain lumber store and spent a bunch of money on new lumber. This time it was going to be different.

I visited Uncle Benny’s, a local family owned business that buys sells and trades used building materials. Stepping into the world of Uncle Benny’s was way too much fun for me. They have so many awesome items that are previously used but are still very usable. This business is not only saving all of these building materials from going into the landfill, but they are also offering some screaming deals on great products.

I spotted many projects that I would like to take on but decided to stick to the new garden project for this weekend. I purchased repurposed 2”x6” Redwood decking boards. These boards are beautiful. They were previously used for a deck but all of the screws had been removed. I sanded them down and they are like new. I would have never spent the money on brand new redwood so I am so pleased with how this turned out.

With just a couple hours of effort I was able to turn a small grassy area of our yard into a food producing garden plus I was able to support an awesome family business and keep some building materials out of the landfill. This was a very easy project. I definitely encourage you to grow some of your own food and/or purchase reclaimed materials. These are easy and simple changes you can do to be a little more eco-friendly.

~Andy

*Check out Andy's Nature Blog at Kids Loving Nature where he writes about getting your kids outdoors and tips on how to make it fun for everyone!

Archives: Eco Friendly Gardening