Backyard Progress #2

Garden boxes galore!  Last time I checked in it was about the planter boxes for where the trees will go.  After I got the tree boxes done we had a spate of rain/I got lazy about the yard.  Then one day last week I stopped off at Orchard Supply Hardware and saw they had a whole new selection of spring veggies out and no wonder - it's April!  So I really had to get my butt gear if I was going to be able to plant things on time!

I had planned for low boxes to fit in between the trees.  Ideally I would love for some vines to go up a trellis against the back wall, although the spot is not ideal - it's in open shade instead of full sun for most of the day, but I have an idea to fix that.  And, it would be OK I think for the cooler weather vegetables.  The fully full sun spots are too hot for the leafy greens to really flourish.

I built the boxes the same was as the previous ones, open on the bottom.  For one of the two boxes I made this weekend I had to build a little guard around an existing, painted column to minimize the contact it will have with dirt and water (as I intend to grow some food plants...ha...I'll be lucky if they produce significant fruit but hey, positive).  Then I put down some weed blocker material, then shoveled in a few inches of bark nuggets for drainage.  I really ought to be using river rocks, but bringing bags of that home turned out to be impractical (read: impossible as I can't lift them by myself) ,then topped up with a mix of dirt, compost, and perlite to help keep the soil aerated.

And BAM!  Instant-o garden box.  In the back there's butternut squash and cantaloupe, since they're bitty I have a bit of time before the trellis needs to go in.  I transplanted some chard from elsewhere into this box because I think they were getting a bit fried from the sun.  (The problem could also be the way I was watering them.  Oh plants!  Why do under and over watering lead to the same result?)

Whew, so the yard is getting there. These boxes are 12" high, verses the 24" of the tree boxes, and 2'x4" large.  It's a significant amount of dirt to haul.  I think perhaps just one more small box of about 2'x2' for an herb corner and that side of the yard will in business.

 I hope the vines will come in!  I think they'll look nice against that cream wall.  All the more funny if they produce any melons/squash.  I hope the trees will do well where they are too...they do look a bit spindly at the moment, don't they?  Sadly this last picture looks just about the same as my last one, but this time the boxes are out together and one has dirt in it.  And itty bitty plants.   Grow, grow!