This is what we have been up to…building the perfect veggie garden in our backyard.

While we should be inside painting, building a bathroom, building a laundry room….It’s just been too nice outside to be stuck indoors.

We built this Veggie Garden for nearly FREE!

We have become Craigslist stalkers = free supplies!

Our Supply List :

4×4 Fence Posts (14 of them ) recycled from our yard. {saved $105.98}

Fence posts found free from Craigslists. {saved $126}

2″ Wood Nails were recycled from the fence posts. {saved $10.46}

Mulch was Free from the City of Austin . {saved $50}

6 Concrete bags recycled from a previous job we were doing { saved $17.22}

Gate Hinges were bought from Home Depot

Our Veggie seedlings were started inside about 2 months ago. (big savings starting from seed)

Total Savings to Build Our Own Veggie Garden :

$ 309.66

How We Built Our Vegetable Garden:

We were very lucky that the previous owner had built an in ground garden bed, supplied with very good soil. Since most of the ground around Austin has limestone rock, this was a major money saver.

MM recycled the wood posts that were acting as garden edging, to create the fence posts. He anchored these in the ground with concrete. These were spaced out 1 every 6 feet.

At this point I painted all the posts with leftover Turquoise paint {holla}!

Next we used the fence posts to create our fencing around the garden. We chose a vertical pattern because: 1. I think it looks cooler and 2. It created less wood cutting, and utilized more of the fence posts.

I then whitewashed the fence.

Next MM built 2 gates, 1 at each end.

MM then tilled up the entire garden bed 1 more time and created our rows. We went with a horizontal pattern with our main walkway vertical. This seemed to create easier access to the veggies once grown.

I was so excited about our Free Mulch ! This was a huge money saver. Considering cheap mulch is maybe $2 a bag and we would’ve needed around 25 bags to cover this space. {Savings of at least $50}

We placed the mulch in between all the rows and the walkway about 3-4 inches thick.

After the mulch was laid, we planted our seedlings and some seeds.

I found some limestone rock from the backyard and created plant markers with paint.

We {MM} created this awesome walk way into the garden! This stone was in our backyard around the old storage building. I’m loving its kinda morrocan feel!