Did you ever read the book The Secret Garden? I honestly don’t even remember a single thing in that book (lol), but what I DO remember was that it struck a chord deep in my heart. A deep desire for a sacred space in nature. I remember as a little kid, going into my backyard and making little “hideouts” that were surrounded with bushes and trees. The beauty of nature has always drawn me in. It’s where I feel the most connected to the Lord. Just like so many dreams that we have as a little kid… my little garden dream got pushed deep down. There were just too many things to do and not enough time. Too expensive, too time consuming, too hard… you know how it is. Like so many little things that brought us joy when we were little and there wasn’t so much stress, my garden got pushed to the side.

Until…

About a month ago, I got a call from Lee. He had lost his job. The company that he had worked for (who we had loved) had gone bankrupt. Surprisingly, the only feelings we had were peace. We knew God was up to something and I was excited. I know that’s so weird to type because my flesh would have been freaking out normally. (Especially before I was walking in freedom — um hello control issues.) BUT God. He is so good and so kind. The Lord orchestrated so many things and Lee got another job at another incredible company (yes we are staying in Abilene!) but the Lord also basically gave us a gift of Lee getting to be home for about 5 weeks to de-stress after the last year. BUT! To back up a bit, the day after Lee had lost his job, we randomly started talking about my garden beds that I had built last year. Then we started dreaming about a big garden… with lights and climbing vines, fruits and veggies, a sitting bench… a sacred space. I felt like the Lord woke up that dream that I had as a little girl. A sacred garden. We had decided now was the time. Might as well do it right the first time! So on a whim we started drawing up the plans. Below was a sketch that I had done last year when I had only built two garden beds. It was only a glimpse of the dream…a spark that had ignited in my heart. But my dream was now being expanded and released from boundaries. What’s even cooler about this story is that the very next morning, one of my best friends had a dream about a huge door with climbing vines and had texted me and sent a picture — which looked exactly like some of the inspiration photos that I had pinned the night before. I just knew that was from the Lord. This space was going to be a place for me to go and to be filled by the Lord. To recharge. To get in His presence. To till the soil. Physically and spiritually.

So here we are! Knee deep in our Sacred Garden project! I’m excited to take you along on the journey! You may have already been following along on my social media accounts (follow me @britnitatum on instagram if you haven’t already!), but I wanted to put it all in one space. I’ll also have all the dimensions for you if you want to build some raised garden beds like mine!

First, here were some inspiration photos.

Sacred Garden Project

First, we started by moving the beds that I had built from last year and then leveled the ground. We mapped out where we wanted the raised beds to go as well as a couple of in ground beds, and we got to work!

We also hired someone to dig the post holes. It saved us about 3 days work!

After getting the posts set, Lee started working on the piping for the watering system.

All of the plans/dimensions for the raised bed boxes are below!

While Lee was working on the posts, I began working on four more raised garden beds. We decided on six raised beds and two in ground. Organic gardening is a very big deal to me, so I wanted to make sure everything – from the wood to the soil – was high quality without any pesticides/chemicals. I went with cedar boards and untreated pine for the 4x4s. If you decide you want to build your own, make sure you do not get treated wood. The chemicals will leach into the food you are growing. Cedar is a great option because not only does it withstand weather without chemicals, it also is a natural deterrent for bugs/pests… which is perfect for gardening.

Below is what I used to make 1 Raised Bed:

+ 8 – 8′ Cedar Boards (We got these at a local wood supplier – City Lumber (in Abilene, Texas)– because their quality was better. I wanted my beds to last as long as possible so I opted for the ¾” thickness. You can also get these at Lowe’s in the fence building section without the dog ears.)

+ 8 – 4′ Cedar Boards (We actually bought 12′ boards and cut them, but you can also buy extra 8′ boards and cut them in half for these)

+ 6 – 18″ 4×4 Untreated Pine

+ 6 – 42″ 1x2s (I used these for supports under the top piece of the bed)

+ 4 – 10″ (roughly) 1x2s (diagonal supports)

+ Screws

+ Drill

+ Electric Screw Driver (If you have two it’s easier to keep a drill bit in one and the screw tip in the other because you will be going back and forth with them. If you only have one, you can switch out the tips.)

+ Level

First, I made the two ends by drilling 3 of the 4′ boards to 2 of the 4×4 posts. You don’t want the wood to split, so I drilled a hole before screwing in the screws. Use the level often to make sure everything will line up. Once you make the two ends, you can start screwing in the boards on the sides. You will space out another 4×4 post in the middle of the 8′ sides. It should be around 42″ on either side.

You will keep 2 of the 8′ boards and 2 of the 4′ boards to cap off the bed on top. For those boards you will need to cut a 45 degree angle so that they connect.

As you can see in the photo above, I used 1×2 boards (the 2″ side vertically) to frame up the top all the way around so that it would support the top boards. I also used 10″ pieces and cut 45 degree angles to place on the corners for extra support as well so that I could screw the top boards down. (I did these with the 1″ side vertically)

After I finished the beds and we moved them into the garden, we leveled everything and filled everywhere around the beds with rock! We decided to go with the concrete rock. I wasn’t a huge fan of the pea rock because of how small it was, and the concrete rock was only $10 more per yard. We will be getting the slate stepping stones next week along with the soil to fill the beds! There is still a lot of work to do, and I can’t wait show you the final reveal once we are done in part 2!