WSJ recently ran an article on the emerging movement of replacing front and back lawns with fruits and vegetables. Some call this effort “mini-farming” or “micro-farming”. Since we have a fraction of a suburban lot, we’re going to call our endeavors “nano-farming”.

Because we are putting vegetable beds in our front yard and want to improve our house’s curb appeal, we decided to splurge on the picket fence and cedar boxes.

building the raised beds
Building the cedar boxes

The actual building of the boxes was not complicated. I used 2×2 cedar as spikes to secure the boxes to the ground. The “spikes” were just cut manually with a circular saw. Deck screws were used to connect the 1×6 cedar planks to the 2×2’s. After the box was built, I set them in the ground with some forceful hammering.

beds in place
Raised beds in place

I build 5 beds in total. Three 4′x6′ beds, a 4′x7′ bed, and a 4′x4′ bed. In the above picture, the box on the bottom left is not set into the ground yet, because I have to work on the concrete step right next to the box. I might not be able to use that bed until late summer.