As we continue to add things we want to grow, and wanting more of the things we already grow in our garden, space is becoming a big issue.  We fenced off a corner of the back yard for our garden to keep the chickens and the dog from digging up our produce and now we have filled up that little space with our annual crops and find that we need more space.

Last year, we almost tripled the size or our garden.  We installed permanent fencing around our garden area because we have a line of pine trees that prevent us from expanding the current garden area any farther.  Expanding the fenced in area, as we did last year when we went from a temporary movable fence to our current permanent fence, is no longer an option.

We decided that the next step in adding some more garden space was to install a couple of beds for our tomatoes and peppers.  This would be a simple and easy addition to our gardening area.

First, we cut down a couple small but tall and straight pine trees from our land in an area that we are needing to clear any way.

Nice and straight logs for the edge of our beds.

The next step was simply to till up the area.  Then using a shovel I dug out the spot where the logs would lay to border the bed.  I only dug deep enough to bury about half the log under the level of the ground.  Next I placed the logs in the trenches and added dirt as needed underneath of them to have them sit level just where I wanted them.

The finished tomato bed.

 

The bed for the peppers.  You can see the line of pine trees in the back that prevent expansion in that direction.

Simple and easy.  It will free up one row in our garden by moving the peppers and tomatoes, which shared a row.  So that gives us one more row for something else.  We also may be able to squeeze a few more peppers and tomatoes into the beds by staggering the plants and still keep the needed spacing between the plants.

 

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