Garden

Now that we have a backyard I'm hoping to be able to grow some veggies. Our last apartment didn't get much sun on the balcony, had squirrels that ate or destroyed everything I tried to plant, and I wasn't very consistent in watering. I think the only thing that actually did well was a jalapeño plant.

The house we are renting has a big backyard but we are limited to what we can do. On one side there is a dirt patch that we were told we could plant stuff in but anything else had to be in containers. I planted some tulip and daffodil bulbs in one section of the dirt area in November and have been trying to decide what to do with the other. The soil is a little iffy. It looks like paint was dumped in one section and who knows what else so I'm hesitant to grow any edibles there.

Last week I decided that we should build a planter box on casters that we could set up in on the patio. The side yard is concrete too and the space isn't bring used so maybe we can do something there as well. I found plans online for a box on casters and we ran by Home Depot this weekend for the supplies. We got home and assembled it and it went fast but the only problem is that it is huge! I wasn't really thinking about the size until it was built!

I think next weekend we will unscrew two sides and cut the boards in half buy a bit more wood and make 2 boxes out of the 1. So instead of 1 4x4 we will have 2 2x4 boxes.

I'm trying to decide what to fill them with. A part of me wants to try a sub irrigation method but it has to be filled with potting mix. At our local nursery I could only find organic potting soil at $11 ( 2 cubic). I'm looking into how much it would be to make our own. Or we could try a lasagna style where you layer cardboard, compost, lawn clippings and soil down. I'm going to research it a bit more and will have to make a decision soon since I'd like to plant in early-mid April.

we also need to decide what to plant...