Now that's a garden!

We're working on clearing and filling the future big garden but there is no way that space will be ready for plants this year. Heck, given how much fill I'm going to have to add coupled with the state that soil will likely be in (read, not fertile), it will likely be two years before it's ready for a crop. I'll spend this year getting it flat and next year amending the soil. And that's okay - I'm not in a hurry. I did however want some darn tomatoes this year. And basil. Basil is a key summer ingredient around here. 

So we decided to build a small box garden. Just big enough for six tomato plants. Plus two small container gardens for basil. Six basil plants will just barely provide enough, but it'll do for this year.

We got some landscape timbers, picked a spot, and knocked it together fairly quickly.

Chris's explaining posture (remember?)  

Dry fitting

We bored holes in the timbers and used rebar to pin them together and into the ground. A few big nails here and there kept the layers together too.

Big nails for the layers

Rebar for the corners

We filled the box with a combination of ground soil, potting soil, and 10-10-10 fertilizer to bring it up to snuff. Then I added tomato starts and some marigolds, put the basil containers on either end, and voila! instant garden.

Growing well

Had a few miscalculations. No gutters on the house yet so it's getting too much rain runoff from the roof. Should have moved it further out. But since the gutters will be up before summer is over, I just rigged a cover (not shown) that deflects most of the runoff. Not pretty, but it's working. I've also got a bit more shade on the west end of the box than I'd expected. Full southern exposure but one big tree is casting afternoon shade so the last plant in the row is a bit stunted. Oh well, it's only for this year anyway.

I can hardly wait for fresh tomatoes. I didn't wait on the basil. As soon as the plants had a good bush I snipped them back and made pesto. Ate it that night with fresh-baked bread and lettuce "stolen" from my Dad's garden. Awesome!