My dad gave me a suggestion to look into square foot gardening. We setup three 4' x4' boxes in the front, and two 4'x2' boxes in the back. The basic idea is that you get a great soil mixture (1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 compost) - and you put it in a box about 6-8 inches deep, and divide it into one foot square sections. Plant accordingly. I spent about $100 on the soil mixture, which filled way more than the original 3 boxes. and about $100 on the cedar (8 inch high/wide) and screws and brackets for the front boxes. In the future, the idea is to just top up the soil with compost for nutrients, as the peat and vermiculite are just soil conditioners. The boxes in the back were made with leftover 6 inch wide spruce planks.
The 2 units in the back (16 squares) have mostly tomato plants, and pepper plants.
Here are photos of the 3 in the front:
The 48 squares have things like...
12 flower squares: Geraniums, marigolds, and more...
Herb squares: mint, basil, cilatro, parsley, rosemary, marjoram, chives
Vegetables squares: carrots, beans, tomatos, pepper, lettuce, green onions, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli.
We have one that 'almost' followed the rules, it is against our fence at the end of the driveway, and is about 20 inches x 5 feet. I divided it in half and planted 2 rows of beans, about half are growing...
-André
