It feels like we’ve had a slow start this year, but summer seems to be here in the Okanagan and Sam’s been enjoying his little backyard truck garden again!
Here’s what inspired us creating a truck garden… This hilly corner of our yard filled with dirt, rocks, and loads of debris discarded by our big old tree. Now if we knew that this home was our forever home, we’d probably do something different, but without wanting to invest a whole lot of time, energy, or money, a truck garden turned out to be a fantastic solution.
Of course every yard is going to be different, but I do think the truck garden concept could be adapted to many different spaces, hilled or flat.
Another fun part of this project? Other than the little orange pilons and some paint, we only used things we already had on hand to put it together.
First up were these road bricks… They started out as regular old bricks left in the yard by the previous home owners, so I painted them grey with a sample of outdoor paint I picked up and then added some little yellow dashes freehand using some acrylic craft paint from the art cupboard. More than a year later, these have held up super well. What I love about them is that they can be moved and configured how ever Sam likes, and they give him an opportunity to do some heavy lifting.
The other little upcycle / repurpose project we did was turning some wood and flooring scraps into these road planks.
I had previously seen this idea on my friend Chelsey’s site, Buggy and Buddy, and when I found a bunch of wood scraps left in one of the sheds, I knew it would be perfect.
I just painted the boards a charcoal-y black colour using an outdoor paint we already had, then freehanded the white dashes using a small paintbrush, some acrylic craft paint, and an old metre stick as a guide. And voila – wooden roads and ramps!!
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Then we added all of the fun stuff… Our kids’ garden tool set for raking up branches, creating dirt mounds, etc., a big bin of DIY blocks Brad and his dad made using some 2×4 and 2×8 scraps that were also left in our yard, and Sam’s collection of Green Toys and Wonder Wheels trucks. All of these have been gifted to him over the years and they’ve seen endless hours of play. They’re big, sturdy, and made from recycled plastic. These are the ones he has currently:
I also created a little picnic space at the top of the truck garden using our kids’ picnic table from Ikea and a little black and white striped umbrella, but I didn’t find that it got used a whole lot last summer, so I skipped it this summer and kept those items on our patio below instead.
It was a cute little set up though!
Possibly the biggest hit of the space? This little sit-on excavator we got during a campaign I did with Canadian Tire. Sam just LOVES it and could spend ages scooping up loose dirt and moving it to a different space or filling a bucket.
I can’t tell you how much play this little space has seen!
Here’s a look at the whole thing… It’s certainly not the prettiest thing, but it’s such a great spot for playing in the dirt, getting filthy, and enjoying trucks.
One final addition that’s also been a favourite? These PVC pipe ramps! While this wasn’t something I felt comfortable taking on myself, I took advantage of my brother being in town and he helped me pick up the largest piece of PVC pipe Home Depot carried and then cut it in half vertically. We sanded the edges and created these ramps that smaller cars can ZOOM down!
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