| We decided to go with 1x8 for the dimensions and they were kind enough to cut it for us free of charge (They carried up to 20 foot long pieces). We also decided to do two boxes, both 4x3 feet. I measured our backyard area for the garden beds and it made the most sense for the space we had.
Charlotte points to the 1x8 non treated cedar that we chose to build our box from. Cedar repels bugs and stands up pretty well over time. I can't tell you how exiciting the whole process was for her.
We bought some nails as well and the total coast for the wood and nails was $50. Not bad for two beds since the very nice ones online are as much as $250 each!
Our next stop was right next door actually at the Laguna Hills Nursery. It was perfect and I knew we needed to get our soil. But I got schooled, let me tell you by a wonderful employee named Gary. He took the time to talk to me etc.
His first suggestion was to buy sand. Don't bother with the expensive soils since it would have to be replaced every six months to a year. Didn't know that, never heard of sand as a means to grow vegetables. I told him about gravel as our bottom layer for drainage and he said, nope sand. It's finer, it will drain better and your plants will flourish.
Sand? Well, I knew right off Gary being sincere because well, he wasn't trying to sell me anything they had at their store. And it was a third cheaper than their soil that they had in stock. Gary took the time to explain to me about studies he'd read and personal success he'd had with using sand. His suggestion was to use washed plaster sand and then put a topsoil over it. Since we didn't have our compost ready, it would allow us to plant right away. As the topsoil degrades we can continue to ad our own compost.
I also asked about marigolds. He also said that from what he had read, it's a wash between the space you use to plant the marigolds and if you plant more vegetable instead. You see, you have to use room in order plant your marigolds and if you plant more veggies, you get about the same amount of food in the end. Does that make sense? So since we have so little room, we decided against marigolds to guard off pests.
While we were there Charlotte insisted on corn. Not sure how well that's going to do but it did say it was for the "urban gardener". So we bought corn and Gary, my husband, picked out some herbs. He's the resident cook, we've got to keep the cook happy. So he got some basil, cilantro and mint. We also had Charlotte's green beans to plant.
So, we didn't spend much at all at the nursery but we knew we would be back. They have gardening classes (Free of charge) and anything we might need in the future, we were so impressed with how willing they were to help us and how patient Gary was with my questions.
The next stop? Lowes. Um, sand is very heavy. We actually bought a lower amount than we thought we would need. Cubic feet is a pain in the ass to calculate and I knew for the whole thing if we wanted to fill our garden boxes, the total cubic feet per box would be around 24 12 cubic feet. We didn't want to do the whole thing with sand though and we started off with a modest amount of just 8 bags. Each bag was half a cubic foot and FIFTY pounds. My GOD. :)
So if we did 4 inches it in theory we would need 24 bags! What? I must suck at this math stuff. I figured out cubic footage out by multiplying 36 inches by 48 inches and then by 2/3's since our sides went up only 8 inches, 2/3's of a foot. That gives 24 cubic square feet, if we just go with 4 inches of sand, that would be 12 cubic square feet.
h/t Ernest T Bass
36 inches is 3 feet
48 inches is 4 feet
Your container is 3 feet x 4 feet = 12 square feet
You want to fill it with 4 inches of sand?
4 inches of sand is one-third of a foot.
12 square feet multiplied by one-third of a foot is 4 cubic feet.
You would need 4 cubic feet of sand.
WE actually only used 5 bags of sand. We didn't pack it down, so I'm wondering if that was an issue. How could our measurements be so far off! I know someone here will explain it to me. Must I remind you I was an English Major and a Film Minor?
We then purchased some organic top soil. Yes, I went with the brand name, which wasn't expensive. Between the soil and the sand we spent just $22 per container with a grand total of $47.
Can you tell we're seriously winging this! But we had it all put together and then realized, does this get enough sun? Does anywhere in our backyard get enough sun? It was frustrating. So, we only put one garden box together (Gary did the hammering I helped hold the wood together, it took just ten minutes) and decided to try another spot for the other garden bed to see what does best. We're holding off until we have more to plant.
Here is the end result with sand and top soil...
Seems a bit anti-climatic but Charlotte was thrilled. I was tired and sore (What was I thinking carrying a fifty pound bag of sand?) and Gary wanted to plant something RIGHT NOW.
I waited until the next morning to do the actual planting but awoke with a migraine so Gary and Charlotte planted our veggies and herbs and did quite a nice job at it.
When Charlotte got home from school we watered our "garden" and Charlotte played her "instrument" for the plants afterwards. Yes she did. It made her happy and it certainly didn't hurt the plants. Our neighbors might start to complain though. |
