Two years ago, we ambitiously began tilling the soil in a community garden.  We had three plots that were totally overgrown, and it was a huge amount of work.  We put in a number of hours in clearing the soil and finally planted some tomato and pepper plants, in addition to some other seeds.  Then life suddenly got very busy, as we bought a house, the business, and still had our tiny baby (1 month at the time) to take care of.  If the garden had been in our yard, we could have fit in time to continue working on it, but it wasn’t.  So the garden got put to the side, and we never reaped any of the fruits of our labor.

Last summer, we were busy with renovations inside the house, and were too busy to start a garden.  This year, I decided it’s time.  But since the last experience left a negative impression in their minds because of all the work and no harvest, I wanted this one to be something they would feel good about.  That meant doing some research, since my knowledge about gardening is limited to stick the seeds in the ground and hope they grow.  🙂

So I did some online reading, and read about something called square foot gardening.  It takes less space, less time, but the yield is higher than with traditional methods.  Sounded good to me!  It’s recommended to build raise garden beds to do this, and because I wanted to do it inexpensively, I got about ten wood pallets from someone on Craig’s List.  I read that pallets are a good source of cheap lumber since it’s untreated wood – all you have to do is take them apart.

Well, that wasn’t so simple.  The boards were attached very securely and were splintering when taken apart, and it took them ten minute so get just one board off.  The kids were getting frustrated, taking the boards apart was becoming an overwhelming idea, and I decided that as nice as the pallet idea sounded, it wasn’t working out.  So off to Home Depot I went to buy some lumber. 

I don’t have a very large yard, and I want to leave the majority of the yard for the kids to play in, so I decided to build the beds against the fence, two feet deep.  It’s very simple to put them together.  You just make a box, basically, of the size that you predetermine.  In order to maximize the gardening space and use as little lumber as possible, my son planned out one very large U shaped box, that would fit around all three sides of the area where we want it.  Last night he finished putting it together.  Today I think I’ll have some of the other kids build some more with the leftover lumber and scrap pallet wood that’s usable for other parts of the yard.

Then I gave the younger kids piles of newspapers and cardboard to put down to kill the weeds/grass.  One of the premises of square foot gardening is that instead of improving your soil, you fill the boxes with the perfect mix for growing.  I had anticipated that was going to be the biggest expense, since the ingredients for that aren’t cheap.  (That was before I walked out of Home Depot many dollars lighter.) 

Later today I’ll see what seeds we have left in the garage from our past gardening experience.  My husband picked up the gardening books I ordered yesterday (Square Foot Gardening, and Lasagna Gardening), so I’ll read them today and tomorrow.  Once I’ve read that, I can plot out on paper what I want to grow, and where.  On Friday, I’m going to a plant sale for charity and will see what they have.  I’d like to finish buying any seeds and soil ingredients (peat moss, vermiculite, and organic compost)  by Friday so I can start planting on Sunday.

It’s a big project but I’m feeling optimistic about it!

Avivah