From time to time, I get great ideas in my head. Those great ideas usually end up in a lot of work.

I spent the weekend at Menards, pricing out the difference between pine boards, cedar boards, and cement blocks. Turns out, per foot, cement blocks and pine boards are pretty close to the same price. Taking into consideration the weather in Minnesota and number of years that we are (hopefully) going to be gardening, cement blocks win out as a more practical long-term solution. Solution to raised beds, that is.

Two years ago I wrote about the Perennial Beds made with Cement Blocks I put in front of my garden. A year later, I decided to add another raised cement block garden (you can see pictures of that in this post), in which I planted strawberries and asparagus. Of course, my love for concrete blocks prompted what I am going to coin as “The Great Garden Makeover of 2013.”

Cement Block Raised Beds

Cement Block Raised Beds

Cement Block Raised Beds

Cement Block Raised Beds

Six new raised beds, of 44 – 4″ x 8″ x 16″ solid cement blocks. I brought home 44 of these last weekend, and have put all 44 in already. The rest I have on order, to be delivered on May 24th. I’ve actually only put in about 3 hours of work so far, so I’m just hoping to have them all in within a week or two so I can actually grow something in the garden this summer.

I also ordered 1″ x 8″ x 16″ blocks to cover the holes in the blocks outlining the existing beds. Turns out, my cute idea of growing plants in the individual holes turned into an impossible grass weeding situation. Enough with that!

Yes, I am officially insane.

The eventual goal is to get rid of all of that grass and put down wood chips between the rows. I saw a few great photos of raised bed gardens with patio blocks completely surrounding them (want!) – maybe that will be a project for Eveland Tile & Stone one year…

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A slow start…
Crab grass growing in concrete block holes
Covering the Holes

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