Earthly Garden

Mornin’ Earthly Gardeners!

As promised, today I wanted to give you a few ideas for some small raised bed gardens you can make in your own backyard, front yard or small piece of land. One uses common cement blocks you can find at stores like Lowe’s or Home Depot or a masonry supplier. They usually cost less than $1.25 each, last time I checked. The blocks are around 12″ each, so it’s easy to decide how many to buy.

Here’s a photo of my largest cement block garden.

And here’s another view, at the corner.

To make the bed, all I did was find a relatively flat spot in our front yard, stacked the cement blocks end to end until the bed was as long as I wanted it, filled it with a mixture of homemade compost, store bought compost, topsoil and bagged dirt and sand. I mixed it with a hoe, and raked the top smooth. Then I planted! It really was as easy as that. We didn’t have a lawn there, so it was a bit easier. But if you do have lawn, cut it as low as possible, try to dig out the grass, cover the grass with a thick layer of newspapers, then put down the cement blocks and fill with soil.

I told you it was easy! I eventually painted my bed to match the garage that you can see in the background of the corner photo. I used a very watered-down latex paint, leftover from painting the house. It’s been painted for years now, and still looks as good as in the beginning.

One thing I learned is that most smaller plants and vegetables don’t have to be planted in two feet of soil. Over the years, the organic matter has changed the consistency of the soil in these beds, and it’s deeper. But the height of the blocks is sufficient for most things you’d want to grow. I actually have a small fig tree at the end of the bed, and it’s doing fine.

Also, we have a series of cedar board beds, at the other end of the front garden. Here’s a photo of those:

These were a bit more difficult to make, but basically I used 2″ x 12″ untreated cedar boards and screwed them together using butt joints at the corners. It wasn’t hard, but was unwieldy since I didn’t have a workshop set up at the time. I basically assembled them in the garden. Each of those are about 4-feet square and I grow all sorts of things in them: rosemary (seen at the left), lavender and native salvias (at the right in the front), garlic, potatoes, and even a few small crepe myrtle trees for shade in the middle of several of them. Since potatoes require deeper soil, I made a little division in the middle bed at the right side for them using two scraps of pine boards. As the plants grow, I’ll put in more soil in that area.

Neither of these beds take up much room. The cedar beds are in an area that’s smaller than a normal sized backyard. They could also be painted or “colorwashed” to match a fence, or whatever. I just wouldn’t paint on the inside of the boards.

And speaking of small container gardens, here’s a photo of my tomatoes I planted some time back in my new EarthBox. I spied a baby tomato on one of them yesterday! How exciting!

The weather guys are calling for colder temps this weekend. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve had a “late” freeze this time of year. It’s already down in the 60’s (it was 86 yesterday!) so I’m keeping a close eye on the plants! That’s the beauty of the EarthBox, you can wheel it inside the garage, or to a sheltered location, if the weather threatens.

dig it!

bobbi c.
copyright©2007 bobbi a. chukran. All rights to text and photos reserved.

raised bed gardens, cement block gardens, EarthBox, container gardens, cedar board raised beds

Mornin’ earthly gardeners! I thought I’d share a photo of my little Mexican lime tree with you. A friend says it’s the same as the “key lime.” Last year it bloomed off and on all spring and summer, and actually made a handful of fruit. What fun! It sits on a semi-shaded porch, and was doing great until we got a lot of ice last winter. I thought it was dead, but it’s not–it’s coming back! I’m always amazed at the rejuvenation power of plants.

It’s been raining profusely here off and on for the past week or so, and the garden is waterlogged. I’m really anxious to get these seedlings out of the office and into the ground. They aren’t quite ready, but I figure IF the sun comes out, they’ll catch up eventually. That’s the hope, anyway.

I hope some of you others are closer to spring. I haven’t heard the weather reports from other parts of the country in a few days, but I expect some of you are still chillin’. Now is the time to pore over those garden seed catalogs (if you still do the paper thang) or sit and browse through all the online garden seed suppliers.

If you haven’t started seedlings yet, there’s still time. My new idea is to set out a few at a time, spaced a few days apart. I don’t really have room for all these seedlings, so some will have to go into containers. Speaking of containers, the tomatoes in the EarthBox are doing fabulously, as are the two remaining tomato plants out in the raised beds.

Next week, I’ll talk about using raised beds in your garden, and tell you how you can build an easy, fast, almost instant garden anywhere! Really! So until then, do a Google for “small raised bed gardens” and get some ideas. And have a good weekend…

Until then, dig it!

bobbi c.
Copyright ©2007 Bobbi A. Chukran. All rights to photos and text reserved.

raised bed gardening, rain, tomatoes, small space gardens, easy gardens

Mornin’ gardeners!

I mentioned a while back that I had bought an EarthBox for my birthday. I finally got around to setting it up last weekend, and so far, I’m very happy with it. The EarthBox is an ingenious system that’s sort of a hybrid hydroponic/soil-based system, that allows you to grow flowers, herbs or vegetables anywhere. These are especially good for folks who don’t have a real garden….people who grow things on balconies, patios, decks, places where the soil is bad or non-existent, etc. It’s basically a large, self-watering container garden.

I got the terra cotta colored one (it also comes in dark green), and it fits in well with the other clay pots and objects in my garden. The idea behind the EarthBox is that you fill the bottom with water, insert a screen thing, then fill the rest with any potting soil. I used two bags of organic potting soil I found at the local garden center. You add a line of organic fertilizer (provided with the box) along the top of the box, put on a plastic “mulch” over the top, then cut holes in that and plant. The plastic fits over the top snugly like a shower cap, with elastic around the edges. The fertilizer will last all season; you don’t have to add more until after the harvest.

After a while, you do have to add water (through a convenient pipe that sticks out the top) but there’s an overflow hole so you never over-water. That’s always a problem with tomatoes. We had a hard, driving rainstorm, and the whole thing, including plastic mulch top, is still intact. I have mine sitting out in the front garden by the porch. It has casters on the bottom so you can roll it around easily. I wish I could put it up on the wooden porch, but that area just doesn’t get enough sun.

The two plants I put in the EarthBox last weekend already look better than the two I planted out into the garden several weeks ago.

It’s raining now, but eventually I’ll get some photos and include them here. I love experimenting with new garden “systems” and am curious to see how this works for us. The EarthBox website has more information, and a great forum there for folks who use these in all sorts of situations.

The only thing I didn’t like about the EarthBox was the fact that I had to stick my hands through the holes in the plastic mulch to plant the tomatoes. I would much rather plant, then add the mulch over the top, but I see why that wouldn’t work so well unless you were very careful. Also, I used large plants….using smaller seedlings is recommended, and would be much easier to deal with, too.

Some online users have expressed dismay at the customer service when ordering directly from the company. I bought my box at a local garden center, so that wasn’t a problem for me. I would suggest calling or e-mailing the company to make sure the boxes are in stock before ordering.

There are lots of links online to alternatives to the EarthBox. Just do a search for “self-watering containers” and you should find plenty of information and ideas.

dig it!

bobbi c.
Copyright©2007 Bobbi A. Chukran. All rights reserved.

EarthBox, self-watering container, gardening in containers, hydroponic system, container gardening

Mornin’ all!

I picked up the current issue of Mother Earth News magazine the other day, and this particular issue is chock full of great articles. It includes a great article about how to grow tomatoes all year long, how to grow cherries and asparagus, and an especially important feature on “Real Food…Why Growing Your Own is Best.” Pick it up on the newstand, check it out in a library, or subscribe. I find it a valuable resource for organic gardening and general DIY projects.

Thanks to Susan from my Writing the West writing group for her tip about using a heat mat. She says that she uses one in CO when starting tomato and basil seedlings, and that the extra heat underneath the plants makes for a stronger root system. Thanks, Susan, I’m going to add a heat mat to my “things I have to have” list!

Speaking of things I have to have, I finally bought an Earthbox this weekend. I’m looking forward to using it and testing it here in my garden. An Earthbox is a container gardening system, self-watering and highly efficient.

Dig it!

bobbi c.

Mother Earth News, garden magazine, Writing the West, Earthbox, container gardening, self-watering plant container