Building our Backyard Botanical Oasis Garden – Raised Vegetable Garden

I am thrilled to announce that I am a Backyard Discovery Brand Ambassador for the second year in a row. Last year, we reviewed the gorgeous Backyard Discovery Patriot Playset that that my kids can’t get enough of. This year, I invite you to join me in an adventure of raised bed gardening with the Backyard Botanical Oasis Garden.

There are many benefits of raised gardens compared to the conventional in-ground gardens. Among those benefits is a higher yield of produce per sq foot, lack of weeds, easy accessibility, less watering, and no more rotor-tilling. The Oasis Garden makes gardening more of a pleasure than a chore.

Building Backyard Botanical Oasis Garden

Building the Oasis Garden was a cinch after my husband installed an entire playset with multiple levels last spring. The instructions state that it takes 2 skilled people 6-8 hours to complete. I’m proud to say that my husband, Matt was able to put this garden together, by himself in just about 6 hours.  Below is one of the two boxes that were delivered to our home. Delivery is included in the price of the Oasis Garden.

The box contains everything you need to build the raised garden including the cedar wood that pre-treated with a water-based stain, hardware, and soaking hose. You’ll need basic tools such as a tape measure, screwdriver, wrench, drill bits, level, and cordless drill.

We build our Oasis Garden right next to our kids’ Backyard Discovery Patriot Playset. Made of the same wood, the two pieces really compliment each other. Plus, the idea is that while my kiddos are playing on the playset, I can tend to the garden. It measures 96″ x 96″.

I added a weed blocker underneath the entire structure. This may not have been necessary since the garden has plastic tubs that sit about 10 inches off of the ground. Better to be safe than sorry though. With raised gardening, the amount of wedding is cut way back. The soil is not compacted so if weeds do end up in the garden, they are easily removed.

The frame of the Oasis Garden went up very quickly! Within the first hour, my husband had the frame up.

The Oasis Garden comes with a rear trellis for climbing plants like tomatoes. The high screens on all sides and gate in the front will help keep critters out. I’m curious to see how they protect the garden from the wildlife we have with our yard surrounded by woods.

We will add mulch to the center of the Oasis Garden. The weed blocker will be especially helpful in this area. Notice all of the mud? With the Spring we’ve had with record rainfall, my husband actually assembled this garden over the course of a week, coming in when it started to rain. As you know, we’ve had rain about every day since the beginning of April!

Soil Mixture for our raised garden

Instead of just a plain topsoil, we went for the good stuff. We ordered a mixture of top soil, compost, peat moss, and sand. This is the rich, nutrient mix that plants will thrive in. We ordered 5 yards because we are adding a lot of flower beds this Spring too as well as filling in many low spaces and filling in ruts throughout our yard. The kids loved playing in the soil mixture and “helping”.

The actual Oasis Garden used about 1-1/2 yards of soil. I recommend getting it delivered but you could also carry it out bag by bag from a home improvement store such as Lowes’ or Home Depot.

With temps in the 40’s this week, we are waiting on a warm up to plant our vegetables. I’m hoping that Friday is a good day to plant. We have healthy Growums seedlings that we started indoors of bok choy, carrots, broccoli, and snap peas. We will also buy tomato plants, various pepper plants, lettuce, herbs, zucchini, and squash plants. Maybe more, we’ll see!

Benefits of Oasis Raised Garden

The biggest benefit that I can immediately see with the Oasis Garden is going to be the easy accessibility. I can just walk right into my garden and tend to the plants on all sides. No more bending down, walking through plants while inadvertently stepping on or breaking plants as I have in previous in-ground gardens. It is going to be such a pleasure to tend to and harvest our vegetables. I can’t wait! Neither can my kids! They are already talking about which vegetables we will be planting.

Another initial benefit is preparing the garden. Assembling the garden was not difficult at all for my husband. The instruction manual was easy to follow and the pieces were easy to find. If it weren’t for the rain, it would have been done in just one Saturday, I’m sure. And I would have helped, even sooner. 🙂 It sure beats rotor-tilling a piece of land and having the continual maintenance that a conventional garden requires.

Once the heat of the summer approaches, another huge benefit that I know I will enjoy and the plants will thrive with is the automatic watering controller. With the soaking hose, my garden will be perfectly watered all summer long.

Buy Backyard Botanical Oasis Garden

You can buy the Backyard Botanical Oasis Garden on the Backyard Discovery website for $549, which includes shipping. Tell them AkronOhioMoms sent you!

This was not a paid post. My own opinions were used based on my perceptions and experience. Thank you to Backyard Discovery who supplied the product for review and the ongoing relationship with AkronOhioMoms.com. Check out the great selection of Wooden Outdoor Playsets, Wooden Backyard Sheds, Play Houses, Dog Houses, Gardens, Swing, Pergola, and Outdoor Accessories from Backyard Discovery at www.swingsetsonline.com.

Cindy

Founder and Lead Blogger at Akron Ohio Moms

Cindy is the top Akron Blogger with her own take on awesome brands for families, where to vacation for families, a beat on local activities and family fun, a knack for getting moms to share , and a house that is always 2 weeks away from a complete remodel!