The sun is shining, almost every day! It feels so good, and I’ve been itching to get my hands dirty. So when I came across a low budget DIY veggie garden on Pinterest, it was the perfect project to finally get me outside. I called a friend, grabbed a few beers, and a few hours later my patio got the face lift it’s been needing!

Here is what you will need:

-$40 to buy:

10 cinder blocks ($1.55 each at Home Depot)
2 bags of planting soil
2 cans of spray paint
1 roll painters tape
Seeds of your choice

STEP 1: PICK A LAYOUT AND PAINT

Stack them, lay them out in a line, make a square and fill it in- whatever is going to work best for your space! My patio is really long in length and really narrow in width, so a corner stack was the best solution for my space. Once you have it arranged to your liking, take your painters tape and mark out some patterns! Get creative! Remember: where there’s tape there will be white space! I bought two cans of black spray paint, and only ended up using one; but the options for colors and designs really are limitless. Once it’s all taped off, find a spray paint safe environment, lay down a tarp and get to painting!

STEP 2: ADD SOIL AND PLANTS

Once your paint has dried, finalize your layout and grab those bags of soil! When making my garden, I lined the inside of my cinder blocks with plastic to prevent all the soil from getting washed out by rain/watering the plants every day. Depending on where your building your garden that might not be necessary- just be mindful, especially for rental properties and apartment complexes. Plastic, or no plastic, fill those cinder blocks with planting soil! All the way to the top so your roots will have enough room to grow, and the leaves will be able to get to the sun! By the time I decided to make this garden I had already started my seedlings inside, so once the soil was in I just moved what was already growing and replanted them outside. Going through this process, however, has taught me that I would much rather plant my seeds straight into the soil they will be maturing in. All of my vegetables have suffered a little bit due to the stress of the move.

STEP 3: STAND BACK, ENJOY, AND DON’T FORGET WATER

It really is that easy. 2 hours, and you’ll have a really adorable little vegetable garden. A few last notes- most vegetables need 6-8 hours of sunlight a day, so make sure whatever location you pick has decent exposure to the sun. Make sure to check your seed packets for specific growing needs for individual plants. Water once a day, and make sure that soil stays moist.