Mel Bartholomew’s book, Square Foot Gardening is an essential resource to check out from the library, borrow from a friend or buy for your own. His website is chock full of interesting things, too.
Photo Credit: The Hip Girls Guide to Homemaking
Outdoors
DIY Garden Dresser Drawer Raised Beds
by The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking
We were out walking the dog a couple months back during bulk trash pick-up days in our nabe and we discovered a few streets over someone was getting rid of a wooden dresser. We didn’t need a defunct dresser, but the drawers were solid wood, possibly oak. At that point we hadn’t figured out if we were going to be able to buy a house right away or if we needed to rent for a while, so a compact, potentially portable garden scenario was precisely what appeared before me on trash day. Pre-assembled garden beds!
View the gallery above to reclaim roadside trash for your own contained garden.
Photo Credit: The Hip Girls Guide to Homemaking
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If you’re growing food, untreated (real) wood is a must, no particleboard. Standard variety paints and sealants have all sorts of nasty chemicals that I presume you don’t want diffused into your soil, plant roots and leafy greens. Remove any drawer-function hardware, like shown in the picture.
Photo Credit: The Hip Girls Guide to Homemaking
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Dust off your drill because you’re going to need some drainage (if you don’t want to just pop the bottom of the drawer out completely). I used my biggest drill bit, the 1/4” one.
Photo Credit: The Hip Girls Guide to Homemaking
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Position your ‘beds’ where you want them since moving them is feasible, though not desirable. Once you water, they get heavy! Cover the bottoms with a layer of rocks to help out in the drainage/non-compacting department.
Photo Credit: The Hip Girls Guide to Homemaking
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For best results use an (organic) potting soil mix. The key to growing food in shallow beds is keeping the soil light and fluffy so root systems can spread easily. A regular garden mix will be too dense for your drawers. That said, I bought garden mix in bulk at my fave garden store on the planet for $4 per 10-gallon bag and lightened it up with a super-light seed starting soil mix. Do as your budget allows.
Photo Credit: The Hip Girls Guide to Homemaking
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Plant your seeds, or starts. Spacing will depend entirely on what you’re growing. The seed packet info is generally written for people who have real space to garden; consult Mel for the best advice on spacing/thinning seeds in your small-plot system.
Photo Credit: The Hip Girls Guide to Homemaking
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Mulch! Once you’ve got what you want where you want it, find a straw or as-light-weight-as-possible mulch to cover your topsoil. If you’re using a wood mixture mulch, don’t lay it on too thickly or else it could smoosh down your light fluffy soil. This will help keep moisture in during peak sun hours and makes for a fine enclosed atmosphere for your soil bacteria.
Photo Credit: The Hip Girls Guide to Homemaking
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Water daily and proceed with life as usual, eating things as they pop up.
Photo Credit: The Hip Girls Guide to Homemaking
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