Did you read my post on building a redwood planter box? If so, you're already halfway done. You still need to anchor the box, level it, fill it with soil, and plant it. Read on for my list of suggestions on how to do it.
- Move your box to the area you want to permanently place it. Since the area in my yard was on a slight incline, I had to dig the box in further on one side than on the other. In any case, you're going to want to dig a perimeter trench for the box, and then place it in the trench.
- Use a level to make sure that your box is sitting evenly.
- You can stand on the four corners and jump up and down a bit to make sure it's anchored well, too.
- Now, break the soil that you dug out of the trenches and use it to stuff into the sides of the box to fill in any holes.
- Then, use a pitchfork or shovel to dig up and turn over the grass and soil inside the box.
- Spread a layer of black and white (not colored) newspaper over the clods of dirt. This will suppress weed growth, and the newspaper will naturally decompose and enrich the soil.
- If you have any compost that's pretty thoroughly decomposed, use it to cover the newspaper.
- Next, cover the newspaper and compost with gardening soil. We hauled in four bags of Local Hero blend soil from American Soil in Richmond, which specializes in different soil mixtures for gardening and landscaping. If you're not sure how much soil you'll need, here's an easy way to estimate.
- Smooth and level the soil.
- Now you're ready to plant! I used a mixture of seeds and seedlings, and planted everything from a row of carrots to a a row of zinnias. I planted trellising plants, such as squashes and cucumbers, against the edge of the box. This way I can anchor a trellis outside of the box, which will give me more room for growing plants.
- Enjoy!
For the rest of the directions, just read more.
Geox
Golden Goose
StyleBop
i'm so doing this. it looks awesome
1This is going to be my weekend project. Thanks and good luck with your plants!
2I think that this is one of the best ways to garden. The soil is always good, it takes up less space and uses much less water.
3woohoo!!!
4Awesome!
5this looks so much more manageable than the last garden I sowed. about four times that size and all I got were dried out broccoli and a ton of tomatoes.
6oh yes, and I forgot my squash.
7Cant' seem to find redwood board here in Austin. Options here include whiteboard, pine, cedar (3/4 inch width) or red oak--what is best? Also what is the width of the boards you use--is it one inch or two? Thanks.
8Your soil looks to only be about 6-8 inches thick? Is that enough soil in the box or should it be deeper? THANKS
9You can use Cedar to build the box as it will naturally keep insects away and ages nice. I wouldn't even stain it.
6-8 inches of soil is ok - but don't forget the roots will also continue to grow into the ground, you should probably break up the grass and toss it before throwing in fresh soil.
10do you have to remove the grass? can you cover it with something to kill it and keep it from regrowing. also we have a lot of clover in the grass. we are trying to reduce the work because are plants are ready to go and our time is limited. thanks
11Nice! What if you want to build a water reservoir beneath the soil, for the roots (like the "earth boxes" do)? Do you know of any way to add that step? Anyone seen any comparable instructions for this?
12Can this be done on a cement slab? There would be no way of anchoring it, especially since we are in a mid-rise building & our association won't allow us to drill into the cement. How would I go about building a garden box on cement and securing it? Would it have to be deeper than 6-8 inches to allow more room for roots?
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