Excavation

     After figuring out the basic design for the raised bed garden, it was time to hammer out the details of how to make it happen.  We wanted to build it ourselves, but neither of us had any experience with masonry!  So we spent a good deal of time researching what we would need to do.  Early on it became clear that if you want to build a brick wall in Minnesota that withstands frost heaving in the winter it will require a foundation.  To get below the frost line in the Twin Cities one has to dig deeper than 48 inches.  We ultimately settled on a 24 inch deep, rebar reinforced foundation with twelve 16 inch diameter piers extending 6 feet underground.  Given the amount of digging required for the foundation we decided to rent a Bobcat Excavator to help with the job!  We also decided while we had the excavator it was time to dig a trench for a crushed limestone underlayment of our new walk, and to regrade the yard as it sloped into the house creating moisture problems in the basement.

Here is the yard marked off (in white and orange) where we will dig the garden foundation.  On the right side is our dog Emma.

Excavation is about to begin.  The pile of concrete on the right was from the sidewalk we took out prior to excavation.

 

The excavator did a great job and as you can see we really tore our yard up.  From the perspective of the ground it was a pretty scary sight having the digging arm coming down at you!  

After a couple days of smoothing out the rough edges (the excavator did nothing gently), this is what our yard looked like.  It was a long time before we would be sitting and relaxing in the back yard.  While it was too late to turn back, we definetly questioned what we had gotten ourselves into!