This year I want to make a vegetable garden. I looked into square foot gardening because the ground at my house is not suitable for growing a garden. I went to the store and priced a ready made square foot garden. It's 4' X 4' X 3" and cost $40. I need it to be at least 8" deep, so I'd need 2 sets = $80. Ok, so I could make my own with 2 X 4's. This would be about $25 and carpentry is better left for others. This got me to thinking, what can I use that would cost less and be simple (this is my mantra these days). In the past I have used kiddie wading pools to grow plants in, and that worked well. I realized that the larger pools with flexable sides would work well!
The pool is 8' round, which means 4' from any edge to the center. This should be the perfect size to grow my vegetable garden in.
At one point (before Little Monkey) I had over 300 potted plants. Many died over the winters and I saved the soil. I have enough soil to fill the pool and then some. Next, the soil needs to hold water and air, so I ordered Plantation Products Inc G208 Vermiculite 8 Qt
and coconut husks, aka . Coco Garden CCF650 650-Gram Compressed Coco Fiber Growing Medium
While I was at amazon.com ordering, they suggested a mineral mix to add to the soil,2 Lbs of Azomite - Organic Trace Mineral Soil Additive Fertilizer - 67 Trace Minerals: Selenium, Vanadium, Chromium
, so I got that also.
I have an indoor compostor (more about that in a future post), so I will be able to add compost to the garden.
Worms are the next "ingredient", to mix all the soil together, areate it, and mix the compost into the soil. I will order the worms when the other parts arrive and are assembled.
I can hardly wait to get started! Little Monkey loves to play outside while I work and I'll get LilyPad to help. LilyPad is studying the Human Body this year in Science. Learning to grow her own food will tie in nicely to a healthy body.
Happy Gardening!
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