Not enough space???

So, the idea of growing your own veggies and herbs sounds so great! Right? I mean who doesn't want to step out into their perfectly manicured vegetable garden to grab a few tomatoes, clip a few herbs and return to the kitchen to make homemade salsa, or spaghetti sauce? A garden requires LOTS of time, space, money and a green thumb though... right? WRONG! Ok, so let me tell you about my amazing little garden that was about $25.00 to completely make, plant and grow- seriously! So, I live in a suburb with a good sized house and a teeny tiny yard... like about 10x10 feet. I don't get much sunlight in the backyard- thanks to the shadow of the house, and again my yard isn't really very big. So, I knew I needed to do a box garden, and I wanted it to be cheap! I kept an eye out on craigslist (or you can check classifieds, ask furniture stores and moving companies as well) for a shipping crate. I wasn't picky about shape or size- I, after all was going to fill it with old milk jugs, juice bottles and then put dirt in it. So, I found one for free! I sent my partner in crime to pick it up and we had a little left over paint and walla!!!!- a beautiful little garden box and it only cost the gas to pick it up!

 
So let me run down the simple steps to the garden box... First you do want a box that will be deep enough for the plants to spread their roots- at least 18 inches is best.

Secondly- if your box is pretty deep- don't waste money on extra potting soil- instead line the bottom layer of your box with plastic milk cartons, juice jugs, coffee cans... or any other bulky plastic container you aren't using. I saved my milk and juice containers for a bit so we would have enough.

Third- if you have some wood chips or bark to layer on top of the jugs (or if your container was shallow enough not to need the milk jugs, the wood  chips will be your first layer)- this will help the water drain and not rot the roots. It's also another filler to save cost on soil.

Fourth- soil- I bought large bags of potting soil and poured right on top of the wood chips. You can buy pretty much any brand of soil.

Fifth- Plants... plan your plants according to their full grown size- not their starting size! I know this seems like common sense- but you would be surprised! Also- think vertically- some plants actually grow better when they climb a trellace, and this leave you space on the surface for more plants. Don't forget to "weed" your veggies once they begin to sprout- if you have too many veggies so close together they won't do well.


Sixth- Watering and feeding- I simply watered my plants. I didn't want extra chemicals from plant food- however there are probably good organic plant foods on the market. I also chose to just water the plants to save money. I watered my plants early in the morning and then again in early evening- depending on where you live, you will water when the sun isn't beaming down on the plants.

Seven- harvest!!!... so it seems simple to "know" when veggies are ripe, but I found it was a little tricky for some of the veggies. Broccoli can be harvested before it begins to flower, however, if you see the little yellow flowers begin to pop out of the head- go ahead and harvest them then- you can cook the flowers as well- or use them in salads! Broccoli will often times produce twice in the same season- bonus! Tomatoes are another one that can be surprising- often if your temperatures are too mild it takes so long for them to ripen that they actually begin to rot on the vine- so go ahead and pick them early if you notice this happening. Tomatoes will continue to ripen once picked- just set them in a window sill and in a few days you will have a ripe tomato.

I know I have this picture twice- I just wanted to take a second to tell you what all is growing in this box- mind you it's about 2 feet wide by about 5 feet long and it's about 18 inches deep... I keep saying about because I didn't want to go measure it! I have sugar snap peas growing up the trellace on the far end, 5 broccoli plants that each produced twice and multiple heads on each plant, two zuchinni sqaush plants each produced about 6 medium/large squash, two rows of fingerling carrots, one row of little white onions, two bell pepper plants and then one tomato plant growing up the trellace on the near end. I bought the broccoli, zuchinni and tomatoes already growing but planted the rest from seeds.

Herb gardening!

I have strawberries in the pot on the ground- they did well except that our little nature friends ate them before we could! I have an italian herb basket- basil, oregano, parsley. I have a hodg-podge basket of lemon thyme, lemon grass, and sage. Then I also have a basket with cilantro, chives and rosemary.

So... start thinking now- start looking for your box and by the time planting season is here, you can have a garden too!