Sleek, Safe, and Sustainable Garden Boxes: Backyard Boxes + VNC

Backyard Boxes, a company based in Denver, is passionate about creating superior garden boxes using 100% natural cedar. Each garden box is handcrafted with a focus on durability, functionality, and eye-catching design. Backyard Boxes recognizes the significance of sustainability and safety, which is why they use Vermont Natural Coatings for their garden boxes! This eco-friendly and organic-friendly choice ensures that both the environment and the soil remain healthy. PolyWhey Exterior Penetrating Wood Stain from Vermont Natural Coatings aids in extending the life of these gorgeous cedar garden boxes. Backyard Boxes is thrilled to provide gardeners with a safe and sustainably-made solution for their gardening needs! 

Backyard Boxes cedar garden boxes, made in Denver, CO. Stained with Vermont Natural Coatings Exterior penetrating stain Brackish Brown.

Backyard Boxes cedar garden boxes, made in Denver, CO. Stained with Vermont Natural Coatings Exterior penetrating stain Acorn Brown and Caspian Clear.

Backyard Boxes cedar garden boxes, made in Denver, CO. Stained with Vermont Natural Coatings Exterior penetrating stain Caspian Clear

Tell us about the history of Backyard Boxes! How did you get started?  

I made my first garden boxes for my wife so that she could grow our delicious green beans and tomatoes. When I started looking for garden boxes I quickly realized that it was hard to find a quality, long lasting garden box that also looked as nice as my wife wanted them to. So I started researching all types of garden boxes and how to build them. After a lot of discussion with my bride, we landed on our farmhouse style shiplap design that has obviously grown and changed over the years but the foundation is still the same. A garden box that is great to look at and is sturdy enough to last as many seasons as possible without compromising the quality of our crops. That’s why we use all natural cedar and not steel or concrete or pressure treated lumber. We wanted a natural, eco-friendly, organic-friendly garden box that would allow our soil and crops to be healthy and lifegiving. 

How does Vermont Natural Coatings play a part in creating Backyard Boxes premium garden boxes? 

When we decided to start selling our boxes on our etsy store we were so thrilled with the response. We got so many questions about what kind of stain people should use, (originally I didn’t use stain because all natural incense cedar is naturally durable and bug repellent) but our customers wanted to know how they could stain their boxes to make them last even longer. That’s when I found Vermont Natural Coatings. I wanted to offer my community the best, environmentally friendly and organic-friendly option available. We didn’t want a product that uses chemicals that could be bad for the environment or for the soil but it also needed to be durable and stand up to the challenge of all types of weather. Vermont Natural Coatings PolyWhey Exterior Penetrating Stain does just that. We love that we can offer 14 amazing colors to transform the feel of the garden space, coupled with its safe and natural ability to keep water out, our garden boxes last even longer. Long lasting products are also good for the planet.  

How does sustainability and safety factor into Backyard Boxes? 

We purposefully use all natural cedar because it is a long lasting product all by itself and when coupled with our Vermont Natural Coatings stain and sealer it lasts even longer. Wood is roughly 50% carbon by weight which means when you make something out of wood (like garden boxes) that product is sequestering carbon, then when new trees are planted or in selective harvesting, when trees are removed to allow the remaining trees to be stronger and live longer, we can achieve net zero carbon emissions and even better! We love that we are creating a product that not only sequesters carbon and helps with the planet but that is organic friendly and allows people and their neighborhoods a safe place to grow food. Healthy, organic, unprocessed, food.  

What’s one thing you’d like people to know about Backyard Boxes?  

We ship nationwide and we split shipping costs 50/50! 

 What is the application process of the product like? 

We use a sprayer, it goes on in two coats per the instructions and it cleans up really easily with water (which we love)! 

 If there’s one product, finish, or color that you’d like to see from Vermont Natural Coatings, what would it be? 

We would love to see a tinted/colored version of the Juniper Water Proofer! We feel it works best for our garden boxes but it only comes in clear.