Yes, I’ve done a bit of relaxing during Silver week.But I also used the time to do some necessary outdoor work.Some years ago I made a raised garden bed in our back yard using a wood frame. The garden bed was long and narrow, which I liked, but it was also low, which I didn’t like. The cost of making it higher above the ground was too expensive at the time, so we made do with our design. Another unfortunate problem with the low level of the garden was that neighbourhood cats would visit and go to the toilet there, and our own dog, Muffin, would jump in and eat the vegetables.I vowed that the next time we re-made the garden, it would be higher. Recently the wood frame from the garden bed had been breaking apart due to water and insect damage and the time was coming for a new garden bed.My first thought was to make the garden much smaller, but taller using 2x4’s. Rough calculations again showed me that it would still be an expensive project if made out of wood. After some thinking, I reasoned that cement blocks could do the trick, if I could think of some method of keeping them together.The first raised bed I wanted to make, closer to the house, would be built above water drainage pipes, installed under ground. If I used metal posts, stuck into the ground to keep the block structure together, I could accidentally damage the pipes.After more thinking I came up with the idea I finally used. 2x4’s fit into the holes of the cement blocks, and these 2x4’s are all attached to a frame on top of the garden bed. The structure keeps its shape, and it has a nice top on which you can lean or sit.The overall cost was much lower than using just 2x4’s, and the blocks should last for a long, long time. Plus, if we decide at some point to move or get rid of the garden, it is easily dismantled.After this first garden bed was finished, and seeing as I still had free time left in Silver week, I built two more garden beds. Now it’s time to buy some plants for the garden.