Five Lessons I Learned Building A Kitchen Garden
Lesson #1: Measure First. My original plans for my mom’s bed was to build it 8’x4’ using four two-by-sixes cut in half and eight full-size. Before the associate at Home Depot made the first cut, I wondered how I’d fit an 8-foot board in my mom’s car. So, we ended up taking a couple of 2’x 6’x 12’ boards and cutting them into two 6-foot chunks and four 3-foot chunks each.
But even this was too big in the end for the space I had picked out. A 5’x 2’ bed would have been best for her particular spot. If it were my house, I’d move the flowers and bushes to make room for the bigger bed, not the other way around. However, my mom hadn’t tasted the homegrown veggies we were going to grow yet. She was still not entirely sold on the value of a deep bed or growing your own, as she thought the farmers’ market was convenient enough.
#2: Level ~ level ~ level
I ended up pulling this bed apart and putting it back together, not one, not two, not three, but four times before I could plant it, because I didn’t take the time to level the bed properly in the first place. 
#3: Obtaining soil
I can’t tell you how many people I have talked to about the first step to building a garden starts way before you are ready to plant, but with saving scraps and building a compost bin to create your own healthy soil. Deciding where to locate your soil and planning for extra soil when needed is essential. 
Someone had told me I could get soil at the local dump, but when I headed over with my garbage can, shovel, and some pots, the dump said they hadn’t done that in years. There were also concerns about the soil’s origin and whether it would come from lawns treated with weed and feed chemicals—nothing I want in my mom’s vegetable beds.
I ended up using the hugelkulture method of filling the bed with branches that had blown down in a storm, some old rotting firewood, a couple of bags of leaves and grass clippings my mom had saved, and topped it off with a little bit of compost and fresh soil from around her beds but it could use more.
#4: Watering your beds
The closer to a spigot you can be, the better. One of the benefits of a kitchen garden are that you can fill a watering can from your sink. I was surprised how easy I could get a couple of watering cans delivered right to the door on sale from Home Depot when I ordered my screws to put the beds together.
#5: Getting seeds and starts
I’m shocked by how expensive seeds have become, even a packet of them. Seeds are the way to go, but that takes a lot of early-season preparation, room, and care, which isn’t always feasible for everyone. So if you have to resort to starts for things like broccoli, tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers, etc., choose wisely. Try to get organic if possible. Things that you want to start from seeds would be quick-growing vegetables like lettuce, peas, and radishes. And there’s nothing like fresh sugar snap peas on the Fourth of July.
Overall, I’m thrilled with the first official garden bed I built all by myself, and I’m confident that if I can do it, you can too!
About the author, Jackie Marie
I'm an artist and educator. I live at the "Organic Oasis" with my husband Mike where we practice earth friendly techniques in our garden nestled in the mountains of Montana.