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