You’re welcome Sherry! How exciting to be looking forward to retirement! Good idea to have your beds built with pavers or stone versus wood…especially if, as you said, your husband doesn’t want to have to do anything over again in the garden. 🙂

Hi Mike, thanks for all of your questions, and hopefully I can answer them! We decided on one big garden because the space allowed for it, and we felt we could fit more in the same amount of space we previously used, minus the walkways in between. For me it is a stretch weeding into the middle area, but my husband is 6’4″ so it’s not an issue. 🙂 The upside is using a soaker hose to water, you only need to use one hose, as opposed to setting up multiple hoses for multiple beds. The weeds DO seem endless this year, partly because of all the rain we’ve had!

Part of the reason we also chose to go bigger is simply the amount of vegetables we can grow is increased. Although I think you need to be smart about this. For example, last year we planted way too many tomato plants. This year, we planted a lot less, and instead chose other vegetables to include.

I was definitely a big fan of our cedar beds, and I think if the wood hadn’t been eaten by the termites, we would have kept the cedar planks but reconfigured them into the same sized bed we have now. I loved the look of the three smaller beds, just from a landscaping view. I think I’d suggest deciding on what you would like to plant first, and then spending some time seeing what likes to grow next to what, and then that may help you decide exactly how big, and how many, beds you’d like to have.

Let me know if you have any additional questions. I hope this helps!

I’ll ask a couple of detailed questions hoping that others will benefit from the answers… I’m curious why you went for one big garden instead of a few smaller? We’ve been considering square foot gardening but it looks like you have tried something similar and have instead now decided to go bigger. What are the upsides of your wide, long, single garden? Does the big garden have any downsides, somehow? (i.e. do you have more/less weeds? Is the average of a 3′ reach for weeding, planting, etc. from each side of the garden any more inconvenient than your shorter reach with your old cedar garden? Thanks for the detailed instructions! Hoping to build something similar soon.

You’re welcome Heather, and I’m with you: I can’t believe it is already the end of May! I have so many outdoor projects yet to start, let alone complete! You’re not alone! 🙂

Why thank you Betsy! I’m looking forward to seeing your gardens on your blog! 🙂

Thanks so much Charlene! (And thanks for the pin, too!)