Home Garden

In 2025, I set out to build a home garden that would make the most of the backyard that is almost entirely a steep hill. A few notes and what I’m growing this year:

Planning & Preparation

Because of the placement of my neighbors and my houses the only flat part of my backyard gets shade for most of the day. To solve this, I dug out an area by hand and created terraced steps with raised beds, making a hill that was a bear to mow into a usable and pleasant space.

For the raised beds, I used 8in pine boards to make a 8x4ft bed with a couple extra feet for steps and containers on both side. 8in treated lumber or cedar is crazy expensive so I stuck with pine with some extra work to make it last. I did a deep burn on the outer surfaces of the boards inspired by yakisugi then sealed them with tung oil, which will hopefully give me a few extra years while still being food safe.

Before moving the plants outside, I started seeds indoors using a small greenhouse I got as a present, giving everything a head start on the season. One mistake I made this year was the grow lights I got were really underpowered and all of my seedlings came out weak and leggy. Next time around if I can't get better lights I plan on raising the seedlings up to be closer to the lights.

What I’m Growing in 2025

This year’s garden is packed with variety:

Protecting the Garden

To keep deer and other critters at bay, I ended up building a 7ft fence around the garden. I constructed it from salvaged cedar siding planks I got from a bee keeper's barn after he replaced it with new siding and a little treated lumber.