Growing Vegetables in your back yard HGTV style.

A month ago, I decided to build some growing boxes in my back yard.  The growing boxes will look like very large shoe boxes.  At my farm I have over 35 boxes.  Most of the are rectangular but I have built some square ones as well.  I got the idea for building the boxes from a special on HGTV.  Inspiration and good ideas can come from anywhere.

I have about 1/3 an acre in the back of the house and I needed to think through what I was going to grow and how I was going to lay out the boxes.  Lay out is important since I don’t want to have to move them once they are into their place just because they are not visually appealing and the boxes will most likely stay in their places for the next 8-10 years before they start to disintegrate and rot. 

My first step was to decide what size boxes would work best for the limited space outside.  I thought that several boxes measuring  3′ x 5′ ,  4′ x 6′, and some 3′ x 8′ would be varied enough to give visual interested as well as allow me to grow various foods.

Once I decided on the sizes of the boxes, it was pretty easy to execute the project.  It took about one hour to build the boxes and about 3 hours prepare the boxes and plant my vegetables.

I to my local Lowes Home improvement  store and picked up untreated wood.  I would normally use treated wood if I were building something else outside it lasts for a long time, but I did not want the chemicals in the pressured treated lumber to possibly meandering its way into the vegetables.

If you go to Lowes to buy your wood, as long as the wood is not pressure treated, they will  pre-cut the wood for you as long as it’s just a straight line.  All you have to do is provide the measurements and they will cut it on their machine.  I learned my lesson five years ago when I built my first boxes at my farm. I did not know that they can cut wood for you and I had to hand saw over 25 pieces of wood which took a very long time to get everything cut.  Needles to say the project took longer to finish.

I also picked up weed killer, 30 bags of dirt, 10 bags of compost and some landscaping screen.  I built the boxes using a drill and some screws.

I normally germinate my own seeds to grow during the summer from last years harvest but this year I was not able to germinate my own seedlings.  I purchased all my vegetables from the local growers in Atlanta.

It took about an hour and a half to build the boxes and about 4 hours to prepare the boxes and plant all the vegetables.  I decided to grow some tomatoes and zucchini since they are simple and easy to grow.  I  also will be able to can the tomatoes and pickle the zucchini to be used in martinis or to flavor other dishes.  Now I get to sit back and watch everything grow!