Plant Selection

Green Acres has a large shopping area at the corner of Bradshaw and Jackson Highway in Sacramento, but more important to me was knowledgable staff. As agreed with my wife, she'd pick the plants she wanted and I would plant them, give them tender loving care, and water them.

For me, I wanted an automatic watering system that would relieve me on remembering my water duty. Alas, I realized the my box had no convenient access to electricity. Did anyone have a battery powered automatic watering system?   Don't know yet.

We spent an hour with Tom discussing plants. My wife had a preference for lettuce since we learned you can pick the outer leaves and the plant continues to grow. The key here was to avoid the lettuce types that created a head of lettuce.  Things you learn when you ask! I'm reminded to always seek a new passion or hobby, read a different magazine, do something new. You learn and that helps us stay young. Courage and curiosity keep us asking questions and broadening our minds. The lettuce should also be ready in 60-90 days.  Very timely.

We found 4 different types of lettuce and spinach.  Five plants each. I wanted hot peppers but realized they wouldn't grow to maturity by mid-June. We usually leave town for awhile at that time of the year.  Maybe I can find some one to water the plants until I return.  That's another project of another day.

Next up was the herbs.  We learned that mint spreads so plant it separately.  Did you know there is a chocolate mint plant?  We passed on it and just bought spearmint.  We added chives, sweet basil, genovese basil. cilantro and two tomato plants.

The pictures above don't show the tomato plants since I planted them headed down from the planter box. They stretch for the sun and curl toward it. The planter is loaded with sand to keep it stable.  I'm not rotating it. With the start of daylight saving time, the planter should be a few hours of sun as the house isn't set up to receive 6-8 hours of sun.  More like a couple of hours late in the day.

The planting of the lettuce and spinich took just minutes lined up like soldiers in straight rows.  My box area is hidden in with my garbage bins and receives sun but not wind so I need to monitor the heat level and water often, I think.

Well, we've started the journey.  Stay tuned for weekly updates.

Commitment, Week One

The kind UPS deliveryman lugged my 70 pound shipment to my back porch when I wasn't home.  Of course, that meant I had to haul it to my garden site.

I quickly unloaded my package.  I had ordered the 4'x4' mini farm box with an additional level of extension.  I knew this meant buying more dirt and fertilizer to fill it, but also understood that I wouldn't have to bend over so far to plant and pick.

I quickly determined that my watering system wasn't include in the package. What happened? I called Conor Fitzpatrick at MiniFarmBox.  He assured me that watering system was in the mail. We talked about the unique design. W talked about1/4" hardware cloth as ground cover to place at the bottom of the box since I live in Sacramento. He said he was swamped and surprised at the demand generated by the article in Sunset Magazine. He was busier than a one-armed man installing wallpaper.

Assured that the rest of the package was on the way, I hurried off to Home Depot to buy my hardware cloth, fertilizer and dirt.I bought more cloth than I needed so I put 2 layers down. I cut 2 sections of 4x4 cloth and tacked them down.

The assembly of the box couldn't have been easier. Four wood pieces for each layer smoothly interlocked. The provided pins slipped nicely into the corner sections. I added the next two layers within a minute. I made sure the company's logo was upright.  the logo needed to look good in pictures.

I calculated the the box would hold 32 cubic feet of dirt so I bought about 30 cu. ft.  I mixed several kinds together rather than rely on one brand.  Home Depot had a great selection and I chose basically on low price hoping my plant wouldn't notice. To me, dirt is dirt.

After filling 2/3rds of the box and sweating like a Swede in a sauna, I tackled the watering system.  I spread it out on the dirt, cut it to size.  the hardest part of the project was inserting the tubing on the nipples. I oiled the ends after I struggled to get them on.  Five rows of tubing each 4 feet long. I knew I needed a tight fit. Once the hose was attached I gave the whole system a try and 'volia' I had water soaking the dirt. I finished spreading the remainder of the dirt smoothly and stood back.  Conor asked to send him a picture, write a review and maybe start a blog.  Well, Conor, I've started.

My box was complete. it was as easy as passing on the Brussels Sprout at a buffet. 

My wife and I made a special trip to Green Acres gardening center to find the plants we wanted once we talked to gardening regulars about the best place to shop.

We had three requirements at Green Acres:
1. Someone had to explain what we really needed.
2. Most of the growth had to be complete by mid-June
3. We must buy some herbs for my upside-down tomato planter

Nervous

Ever start a new project with no experience?  Where to start looking for advice? Who's your guide? I've always wanted a garden. Not for the fruits of my labor, but the opportunity to create.  Or is it power and control? I didn't used to be a vegetable eater, but since being diagnosed and treated for cancer I'm avoiding meat, daisy and fish. That's another story for another day. I'm now a vegan.
My plan is to start a box garden in a small place at our home in Sacramento in the spring of 2013. But first, some past history from 2005.

My wife and I planted a garden the summer we lived in a rental house inside a Clarksburg vineyard.  We asked our young grandchildren to help pick out seeds at our local Home Depot. Each of the 3 kids picked 5 different packets of seeds.  The house had a greenhouse where they potted the seeds in small containers. We watched them grow. We debated what day we could move them to an outside plot. The hard physical work of preparing the garden occupied an entire weekend with shovel and hoe. No fertilizer, we're going organic!  We made a ceremony of moving the new plants to the outside plot. Boy,when those plants started growing, we were happier than  a cheerleader dating the quarterback.


We has tomatoes,  onions,  cucumbers, carrots and melon. At least I planted watermelon. As Gomer Pyle would say "Surprise",  as squash sprouted where my watermelon was scheduled. We recovered.  We ate squash and bought watermelon. The weeding of the garden wasn't my best effort. Instead of daily weeding management, I'd stall and finally get to the job every couple of weeks. Weeding is a job not a joy. Th grand kids loved picking the plants not always eating what we grew. We tried to use the garden as teaching moments. We had fun with the whole project. I miss living in the country.  There is something special about seeing the far horizon in the early evening. You know what I mean?   

I've missed the garden. My wife surprised me with an upside down tomato planter for my birthday.  The tomatoes were as refreshing as skinny dip in a cool pond. We added herbs that enhanced our salads for two years. I'm recharged.  I went back to Home Depot to see what they stocked in raised gardens. I checked out my daughter-in-laws' super raised garden. I thought out a plan to make my own. I took measurements. Unlike Wyatt Earp I couldn't pull the trigger until I read Sunset Magazine.  They ran a small story on a product with a unique design. I was intrigued. I read the web site. I ordered my raised garden from www.minifarmbox.com owned by Conor Fitzpatrick.