Garden Project Part I

We finally did it! For years we've been fantasizing about running away, growing our own produce, gathering eggs, milking our own cows and starting a commune "The Village" style (minus all the creepy parts). Well, ok, all we did was build a garden...but we do live on a commune (ok fine! It's a military base!)...but still, it's a step. Honestly, I don't know why we've been putting it off for so long, it was relatively cheap and pretty easy. We go to a farmers market every weekend and drop about $20 on fresh, organic produce and I always feel kinda let down when I get home. I spent $20 on 2 bunches of greens, a container of strawberries, and 5 tomatoes??? I always think, "There's got to be a better way". There is. Yes, it costs some money up front, and yes, it will be a lot of work. But, I think it will be rewarding to plant, water, weed and harvest from MY garden. I can watch my kids play in the yard while I care for MY garden. I can eat delicious fruits and vegetables from MY garden. It means alot.

All told, we spent $136. We spent $108 on buckets, cinder blocks, wood, soil, a shovel and rake and landscaping fabric. If you took your time, you could probably get free wood from craigslist, but we're impatient people. Then we spent another $28 on organic seeds, but you can do WAY better than that. We got a little overexcited the other night while dreaming of our luscious garden and bought way too many seeds from a very expensive online retailer and had to pay shipping. We've learned our lesson, and you could get a more reasonable amount of seeds for about $16.

First we decided what we wanted to grow, then we looked at our region and the climate and growing seasons, reevaluated based on that and mapped out our boxes. We'll be planting our tomatoes, green beans and strawberries in round planters with a big trellis on the backs. Basil, thyme and sage are going in a windowsill style planter. The actual boxes we made today are two 2'x4' boxes and will be the home of 18 onion plants, 32 carrots, 2 bell pepper plants, 2 watermelon vines, 1 summer squash, 1 butternut squash and 4 collard greens. Most of these will be planted in April, a few earlier, a few later. Lucky for us, we can plant carrots now! So, as soon as I get those seeds, we're ready to start.

Next, we took a trip to Home Depot to buy all of the supplies.

Our supplies:

- pine 2x12x12 that we had them cut down to two 4' lengths and two 2' lengths (2). You're supposed to use cedar or redwood because they won't rot as quickly, but we'll be using ours for 2 years tops, so we went the cheap route with pine.

-2x4 piece of plywood (2)

-DO NOT buy pressure treated wood. It's chock full of chemicals, and that's exactly what we're trying to avoid

-8 CMU blocks

-Soil: 1/3 blended compost, 1/3 Peat Moss, 1/3 Coarse Vermiculite

-Roll of Landscapers fabric

First, lay out two 2' lengths and two 4' lengths to form a rectangle and screw together

We used bracing in the corners ^^ because it's a raised box, but it isn't necessary if you're doing a box on the ground.

Next, screw  the 2x4 piece of plywood across the bottom of the box.

Screw holes every 2 inches all over the bottom of the box.

 Almost done! 

 Put the CMU blocks on the ground where you want your box to be and make sure it's nice and level.

^^ Aren't they precious?

Then, measure the landscaping fabric so that it goes up about an inch on each of the sides and staple into the bottom of the box.

 Add the 3 types of soil and mix it all up really well

Our little helper

I swear I took a picture of it completed, but apparently not. I'll get to it first thing tomorrow and post it. Anyways, now it's ready for planting! As soon as I get those seeds this week, I'll post with how it goes.

A little side note: If you've always wanted to do something like this, but haven't...DO IT! It was so much simpler than I thought and you can do it for a pretty reasonable amount of money. It will pay for itself in just one season. Happy Planting!