For awhile now I have wanted to start my own veggie/fruit garden. There are a lot of benefits to doing this (fresh produce, save on costs, you know where it comes from, etc). I am by no means an expert. I have grown up doing this with my parents and this is just what I have done. I took inspiration and tips from all over the internet (including here).

Supplies

Garden stones/brick

Soil Shovel Plants Cardboard Garden gloves (if you don't want to get dirty - I choose not to use any) Plastic Forks Plastic Owl Water Hose Spare 2x4s Screws Drill

Step 1: Setup Garden Stones

I was lucky and I was able to find someone getting rid of quite a large amount of garden stones/bricks for free. L-

Laid out the bricks to create the outside of the garden and to help hold the soil in. I took some of the more decorative stones to put on the border. I just laid this out to the size that I wanted.

Step 2: Lay Down Cardboard

Took spare plain cardboard (without colouring, plastic, etc) and laid it out covering the entire garden bed. After laying it over top, I took a hose to it and soaked it.

The purpose of this is to block/kill the grass and weeds underneath. It will help prevent weeds from regrowing. What is great about this is that it will break down and decompose and help feed the garden.

Step 3: Add Soil

Got a bunch of soil in (did not take any pictures apparently!) Simply just took the soil and filled up the garden with it. I got soil specifically for vegetable gardens.

Step 4: Plant Crops

I got a number of different types of plants from a local place. I spaced out the vegetables accordingly with lots of room to grow.

Blueberry Bush (This was planted beside the garden due to the nature of how it big it grows and is more of a bush)

Celery

Green Beans

Cucumbers

Pickles

Tomato

Strawberries

Lettuce

Step 5: Setup Defenses

I have read many different ways to help protect your garden from various pests and animals.

Plastic Forks - I took a bunch of spare ones that I had and spread them across the garden (pointy ends up). This will help stop rabbits and squirrels

Plastic Owl - I took a plastic owl and created a small ledge using spare 2x4s and mounted it to the fence. This will help prevent birds from getting at the garden

Used Coffee grinds / eggshells - I drink a lot of coffee and we use a lot of eggs in our house. Taking the left over coffee grinds and rinsed, crushed eggshells and spread it throughout the garden, this will help prevent slugs from eating your crops.

Keep the garden watered and watch everything grow!