Garden box – easy to build, even for a girl

Last Saturday I went to my local hardware store, Doody, intentionally avoiding HomeDepot because of the crowds and the usual desire to patronize a smaller establishment, to by a few boards to assemble this lovely garden box that you can see in the picture. I’m going to chart the 1-10 level of “what do you want that for” looks I get from male clerks when buying various things at hardware stores. This shopping trip I got about a 6.5 of doubt and 2.5 of shock after carrying a 10’ x 1’ x ½” board over to the tall aproned Russian boy in the far end of the wood department so he could make a few cuts for me. “You know you have to buy the whole thing” “Yeah – I need three cuts, one four ft piece and three two’s, OK?” “Alright… (he cuts the wood) But let me bring it over to the register for you.” “Thanks.”

Pancho and I worked together the following day to saw the appx. 45 degree angle with a handsaw and then hold the pieces together for each other while drilling and screwing… teamwork is cool. Then I used some sheet gardening techniques: several sheets of very wet newspaper laid right on top of the grass, covering the entire ground inside the box, a layer of sticks and twigs from around the yard, then a mixture of garden soil, organic top soil and compost from the give back on top. I transplanted my tomato and small basil plants (grown from seed – planted first in March) and covered the rest of the soil with the leaves to protect the bed from weeds and to keep moisture in. So the plants have been in for almost a week now and seem to be doing well.