Building a Trellis for the Front Yard

A trellis was made for the front garden bed.  It was made super cheap from 8' pine furring strips, they were on special "buy 25+ for $0.74 each." The end stakes were made from 1.5"X1.5"X8' pine wood, about $1.60 each.  They were first cut to length and then stained so that each end is coated. The stain used was 2TB neem oil/ 1 pint teak oil to help preserve the wood and fancy it up.  The plan is to grow vines such as scarlet runner beans and nasturtiums up the trellis.  In the front left is a sunchoke from IFA. Behind and to the right are two nasturtiums. To the far right is one of the rocky mountain columbines and an Asteraceae.

Cedar Garden Box For the Front Yard

Over the weekend a garden box was built for the front yard. The box was made with cedar fencing and red wood posts.  I used cedar fence boards because they are a $1 each and cedar will resist molding better than other woods.
I finished the wood with teak oil to which I added neem oil at about 3TB neem/pint teak oil. The neem oil acts as a natural fungicide and insecticide.  It dissolved just fine into the teak oil.
The cedar fence boards had the tops cut off to remove the tapered ends.  The length of each board is about 59".  A red wood post was cut for each of the four corners and two for the center to bind the cedar posts.  I screwed another cedar board across the center to prevent the box from bowing out over time.  To add more structural integrity I added a reinforcement piece of cedar fence board at about 29" in from each corner.  The runner boards acting as a seat along the top was made from more cedar fencing screwed in place to the red wood posts and where the cedar reinforcements are located. I lined the bottom with newspaper to keep the weeds down, the earthworms love newspaper and it helps bring them in to the area.  For soil amendments I added 4 bags of composted manure and 6 bags of organic miracle grow garden soil.