Anyone have a small garden setup? Id like to do one but dont have the area to do anything big since I live in a subdivision. My fiance mentioned just maybe doing like a 6ft x 6ft box garden. Anyone here maintain something similar?
small home box gardens
- Thread starter 93civEJ1
- Start date
marlin45/70
Well-Known Member
I just built four 6'x8'x12" in my back yard, So far i like the idea. Shoveling the dirt into them was very back breaking work. I also live in a subdivision and limited on space and to me they are going to work great. I have Three rows of beans, three rows of okra, three rows of cucumbers, 1 row tomato, 1 row squash, and and row zuchini(spelling). May be a little close together but i think it will do fine. I'm going to add two more boxes to mine.
WMAn
Well-Known Member
I'm doing the prep work now to get mine ready by next year. I'm going with rectangular shaped boxes instead of square and using rough-saw cedar to build them. I'll have two of them, and they will be 4'x8'x12". Using rectangles and keeping them narrow makes it easier to work them without stepping in the box.
Something else I have learned is you need to prep the location where you are going to build your beds. What I mean is till the ground under the bed before you build the bed and fill it in.
Something else I have learned is you need to prep the location where you are going to build your beds. What I mean is till the ground under the bed before you build the bed and fill it in.
This was my 2' x 12' pair of boxes from when I lived on Mud Island. Obviously, not much room, but enough for cucumbers, tomatoes, a zucchini, green beans, hot peppers, and basil. I used 2x12's to box it in, then hand mixed a 50/50 blend of topsoil and composted manure every year when I planted. I also dug down quite a bit too, as the soil wasn't very good.
WMAn
Well-Known Member
Isn't mud island an island in/on the Mississippi River? Why was the soil no good?
pulplip fiction
Well-Known Member
i built a couple last year - and filled with miracle grow vegetable dirt and top soil - about 50/50. the plants grew perfectly - but there was practically no yield on any plant - like squash, okra, tomota, cucumber, etc.
not sure what happened.
not sure what happened.
WMAn said:
Island below 100-year flood plain
+ Lots of Fill Dirt
= HOUSING DEVELOPMENT!
Between bricks, mortar, treated 2x4's, and other buried construction debris and the fact they trucked in God-knows how much fill dirt, I opted for fresh soil. Besides, there was an asphalt plant on Mud Island at one point, somewhere about where my old house stands now.
You would think it would be great sandy-silt soil that would grow anything, but it really wasn't. I had to dig out a TON of clay just to sink those boards well.
pulplip fiction said:
Lose the Miracle Grow. There's so much vitamins and fertilizer in there that the plants expend all their energy growing stems & leaves....not fruit. It's most especially bad with tomatoes. Surprised you didn't get any squash or okra.
marlin45/70
Well-Known Member
93civej1, here is the ones that i built, again i plan on having two more built before the end of summer.
I've got unlimited garden space on several properties, but I try to build 4-6 raised beds a year for maters, peppers, eggplant, and herbs. 4x12 so that fabric or plastic fits over easily.
Earthboxes are hard to beat, too. I snatch them up whenever I can.
Earthboxes are hard to beat, too. I snatch them up whenever I can.
OldFart
Well-Known Member
Here in CO, I use raised beds in my relatively small back yard. I use concrete blocks. I prefer two blocks high but a couple beds are only 8 in and still work well. My soil is one third peat moss, One third compost and one third sand, actually I cut back a bit on sand as it's dry here and I need to conserve water.
I have modified the soil percentages somewhat by adding homemade compost. If I was in TN, I would use the full one third of sand and prob use boards rather than blocks as I believe the blocks would get the soil too hot and take more water.
As previously mentioned, be very careful not to make the beds too wide, you won't be able to reach into the bed enough. Also,
two blocks high (You can put all sorts of filler in the first 8 in) sure cuts down on the bending over, a real concern as I get older. I have some back and knee problems. Maybe I'll post some pics later. So far I have chard (actually eating chard that came back fm last year, huge leafs already) and turnips and radishes up and 8 tomato plants planted but they have walls of water around them. Out last frost date is 20 May.
Good Gardening! Ray
I have modified the soil percentages somewhat by adding homemade compost. If I was in TN, I would use the full one third of sand and prob use boards rather than blocks as I believe the blocks would get the soil too hot and take more water.
As previously mentioned, be very careful not to make the beds too wide, you won't be able to reach into the bed enough. Also,
two blocks high (You can put all sorts of filler in the first 8 in) sure cuts down on the bending over, a real concern as I get older. I have some back and knee problems. Maybe I'll post some pics later. So far I have chard (actually eating chard that came back fm last year, huge leafs already) and turnips and radishes up and 8 tomato plants planted but they have walls of water around them. Out last frost date is 20 May.
Good Gardening! Ray
Nimrod777
Well-Known Member
OF, would love to see pics of your set up.
Chard! Good man!
Chard! Good man!
OldFart
Well-Known Member
Yes, I also eat the greens, prob more "volume" fm them than the turnips. Like the chard, pick 'em and they just keep coming back.
However, last Thanksgiving, I was still picking chard. And this year, some, actually quite a bit, came back on its own. BTW, I ate some chard tonight. This was cooked, have also been eating chard "raw" in salads.
Last night, I had quite a scare , but the garden survived. We had a hailstorm which knocked a hole 3/4 the size of a baseball in one of my skylights. It also caused a few dents in my truck
and my wife's car. It was never enuf to even get close to covering the ground but the hail was BIG!! It sounded like someone was shooting a gun from my roof top, repeatedly. I saw some pieces about the size of a golf ball. But it was a blessing that the garden survived.
I'll try to post a pic in the next few days.
Thanks, Ray
However, last Thanksgiving, I was still picking chard. And this year, some, actually quite a bit, came back on its own. BTW, I ate some chard tonight. This was cooked, have also been eating chard "raw" in salads.
Last night, I had quite a scare , but the garden survived. We had a hailstorm which knocked a hole 3/4 the size of a baseball in one of my skylights. It also caused a few dents in my truck
and my wife's car. It was never enuf to even get close to covering the ground but the hail was BIG!! It sounded like someone was shooting a gun from my roof top, repeatedly. I saw some pieces about the size of a golf ball. But it was a blessing that the garden survived.
I'll try to post a pic in the next few days.
Thanks, Ray
Nimrod777
Well-Known Member
Wow, makes my hail scare the other night look pretty wussy!
We have loved chard since discovering it quite a few years back, and have had it weather the relatively mild winters here in TN. Makes for a heck of a strong plant second season around.
We have loved chard since discovering it quite a few years back, and have had it weather the relatively mild winters here in TN. Makes for a heck of a strong plant second season around.
