Have you seen the movie "It's Complicated"? I watched it a few years ago and found it mildly amusing until the scenes where Meryl Streep went into her outrageous movie set garden! I sat straight up and rewound a few times so I could take it all in! Oh my...such lushness and beauty...I became obsessed with that garden. I wanted to be Meryl Streep in that garden with my wooden trug, gently picking tomatoes and snipping fresh herbs.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2009/12/the-dirt-on-the-its-complicated-vegetable-garden.html
I wanted to know more about that garden and couldn't get it out of my mind. Once again, my friend Google helped me out. I found picture after picture of that amazing garden. I was slightly disappointed when I realized it was really a "movie set". It was styled after a French potager garden and it was plumped and sprayed and wired to look amazing. Regardless...I STILL love to look at those pictures. Maybe it isn't an attainable garden, maybe it is only a movie set, but looking at those pictures still gives me goosebumps!
I live in a climate with a much shorter and more challenging growing season. We are always waiting and watching for the last frost dates and the final snow flurries. Sometimes that isn't until May. The rule around here is you don't plant flowers or tomatoes or summer crops until after Mother's Day. It's hard not to break that rule. That is...until it proves to be true most every year and you lose your delicate, tender little sprouts to a hard frost.
Last Fall, me and Hubs got the ole wheels turning. We needed a new square foot garden. A big, snazzy garden that we could customize to our needs and wants. We have built several now and we haven't been disappointed yet! Our first square foot garden was a joint effort with our grown kids. We constructed it in a large yard area of the home our boy was living in. It completely exceeded our expectations. (more on that lovely garden in a future blog post)...But now...we wanted one of our very own. One that we can play in everyday of the growing season. A spot we can groom and plant and snip at our leisure. An area we can sit and enjoy and watch the tiny sprouts stretch up towards the sun...bliss.
Since the chickens moved in a few years ago we have been limited on where we could build this perfect garden. Yes, they "rule the roost" around here, no, they won't stay "all cooped up". They staked out their territory early on after their arrival and really, they took over the whole backyard. They co-habitat nicely with their "herding" furry friends. Between those two species roaming the backyard at their leisure a square foot garden would be impossible.
No worries...we will go with the trend "grow food, not grass" and remove a bit of grass so our garden can move in. On the south side of our house. On the other side of the fence confining the roaming, gallivanting chickens and dogs.
We decided to try something a bit different and construct this square foot garden out of wood and steel!
The weather has been surprising this winter and much to our delight February has been mild and dry. This allowed us to get an early start on the new garden! We are at least a month ahead of schedule! Hubs picked up the steel and we unloaded it in the new space. As you can see the chickens want to know what we are up to!
I LOVE the look of the rust on the steel. Kind of organic and industrial at the same time! Can you see where Hubs pre-drilled a hole for screwing it into the wood cross bars? It worked out really well!
The first box went together really slick. The yard slopes gently on this side of our house. To compensate for that the steel is 2" wider on the down slope side. Hubs then recessed it into the slope so it looks flush to the ground. Normally a square foot garden is built with 6" boards. The 8" side will be a good area to plant our carrots. (Although they do fine in 6"!)
This is really a work in progress and will take a few months to completely finish! We originally thought we would take out all the grass and make paths with crushed rocks. Now we aren't so sure! The grass looks quite nice at this point and will be easy to mow between the current boxes. (Of course Hubs made sure there was room for mower clearance!)
After laying the weed barrier cloth we got busy and put in the organic compost/growing medium recommended by the square foot garden method. In our first square foot garden we mixed our own growing medium with the recipe they provided. It was fun and successful but "oh so much work"! For a garden this size it would be a HUGE task. We opted for pre-mixed growing medium this time around. We have used it as well and are very happy with the results.
Can I just say...WOW! I LOVE these...I'm so excited...All this box needs now is the square foot grid.
Hubs working on the 2nd box. Also recessed into the slope. They look amazing! No rush on this one. It's still winter in these parts! I can't believe our good weather fortune! Getting them in this early is such a fun bonus.
We hope to add a few more smaller boxes and some aesthetically pleasing elements before the job is complete! We also want to plant some "bee" friendly flowers and plants to welcome our soon to be new arrivals. This is going to be an exciting year!
I couldn't help myself! I decided to hurry and plant a few cold weather crops. They should be hearty enough to make it through the rest of our winter. A couple lettuce varieties, spinach, radishes, a few carrots and some garlic! I'm giddy and happy and can't wait to see how this new square foot garden turns out! I have a hunch I will be spending a lot of time in this garden! Yay...
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