Project 365 – #111
Since we’re going to be home on a regular basis for the spring/summer this year, Munchkin and I decided that we would go ahead and plant a garden. We knew that it would need to be a raised bed garden due to the soil conditions, so on Tuesday we headed over to Lowes to pick up some lumber, soil, and plants. Once we arrived home, we started the project.
On Wednesday morning, I decided to complete the project in the morning as I knew that we’d be headed to D’s pre-operation appointment in the afternoon. We still need to add a few more plants to finish things off. I also want to add soaker hose and a timer to make maintenance a bit easier. I just need to figure out how I want to make it work.
We’re going to try to do a few other things to the backyard to make it look a bit nicer. We won’t be going anywhere while D recovers from his back surgery, so I wanted to make the backyard a relaxing place where he can get some fresh air. Having a garden will also be a good thing for Munchkin as D’s surgery has her a bit on edge. She’s pretty excited about having her own plants again. That’s one of the things that she has really missed about our home in Virginia – her garden.
Edited to add: The boxes are very easy to make. I used 1 X 2 X 8 boards (untreated as I didn’t want the chemicals to leach into the soil). The boxes are roughly 4 X 2. I cut the boards into either 2 or 4 pieces depending on if the pieces were for the sides or ends. I used galvanized screws to put the boxes together. I put down newspaper as a weed barrier before filling the boxes with soil.
Instead of using traditional tomato cages, I used 4 ft square wood tree stakes and soft garden twine. To support the tomatoes, I just put two stakes at either end of the box (seen above). Two pieces of twine are strung from each pair of stakes creating a crisscross pattern which supports each individual plant. More twine will be added farther up the stakes as the tomato plants grow.
I plan on adding a trellis on the back of the cucumber planter, so the cucumbers can grow up instead of sprawling out. We may do that for the melons as well, but we’ll wait to see how things go with them. (We’ve never had much luck with growing melons, but there is always a first time. **grin**)
This post has been included in The Christian Home – Issue 12.
Love the orange….great job on the boxes!
They look wonderful! Question – our neighbor bought too many plants, so she gave us a cucumber & a tomato plant. We already put the tomato plant in our topsy turvy planter (it did very well last year, so we are hoping for great results this year too!). However, any tips for the cucumbers? I love them, but have never grown them!
Lori Vann recently posted..Mamavation Monday – It started with a photo
looks good and yum when harvest time comes 🙂
jen recently posted..The Boom Family
Hey you!! Can you tell me EXACTLY what you purchased at lowe’s? Please???? I was going to put a garden in the corner of our yard but that corner wasn’t conducive to it due to all the roots from a nearby tree. Sigh. I’ll have to add another raised flower bed and I don’t want to buy another kit at $40. HELP. email me….
We went to Lowe’s, too! We purchased a 4′ x 4′ cedar bed with trellis for $79 and then bought additional wood to extend our garden to 4′ x 10′. I think our project was under $150 for the lumber and cedar bed kit combined. I have my post linked to this week’s The Christian Home, too, if you want to see my photos and description. We are still planting seeds and plants this week.
Tara, you wouldn’t have to use cedar (which does help repel certain bugs and lasts longer), but as Heather stated, you do want to use untreated lumber.
Michelle Smith recently posted..Gardening Progress