Demystifying the DIY Garden
THE DAY HAS FINALLY COME. I started my own vegetable and herb garden! This is something I've been wanting to do for a while, but I never knew where to start. All the information online about DIY gardens always intimidated me, and I know absolutely NOTHING about gardening except how to put starter plants into the ground. My project turned out to be much easier and more simple than anything I read online. If you're hesitant about trying to grow your own food, just give it a shot. You can build a garden anywhere and out of almost anything.
1. The Conceptualization
My "yard" consists of a small area covered in gravel - so, not exactly ideal gardening conditions. After some digging online, I decided that I did NOT want to attempt to build a raised garden bed out of wooden planks. I'm not much of a carpenter. Instead, I wanted to find a few wooden crates that I could buy and use to simulate a garden bed.
2. Gathering My Materials
Low and behold, after some Craigslist perusing, I found a guy near LAX who sells vintage wooden wine crates for $13 each. I bought 3 big ones and two small ones.
My second stop was Home Depot. Based on my research, I knew that that bare minimum I needed was:
A good organic soil, like Miracle-Gro Nature's Path "Organic Raised Bed Soil"
Organic plant food, like Miracle-Gro Nature's Path "Organic & Natural Vegetable, Fruit, and Flower Food"
Starter plants!
I got 3 bags of soil and a bottle of plant food, then went a bit overboard on the plants... I chose (all organic):
italian parsley
mint
sweet basil
cilantro
onion chives
strawberries
roma tomatoes
spaghetti squash (this was a gamble)
I didn't exactly pay attention to the labels on the plants that tell you things like how much sun they need and how far apart they should be from their neighbors, but since it's my first garden, I figured I'm allowed to wing it a little on the details. We'll see how that works out.
3. The Execution
One tidbit that I learned from my online research was that the boxes you use as planters should have holes in the bottom so the moisture in the soil doesn't get trapped and essentially suffocate the plant roots. Once I got home, I drilled holes in the bottom of my wine crates about 1-2 inches apart.
Then, I filled my crates with the soil up to the top. I filled them loosely, careful not to pack the soil too tightly.
