Tuesday, April 2, 2013

The Imperfect Way To: Build a Pallet Garden

Just about every morning, before I get out of bed, I check in with my self. I ask me what I need to do to nurture me today... I always answer with something different... A pedicure... an aromatherapy bath... yoga... chocolate...
Today... I answered with gardening... some time spent grounding myself by burying my hands in the ground.

I have had this old pallet sitting in my back yard for almost a year now. I knew I wanted to make a pallet garden I just wasn't sure how... Then it got to hot... then it got to cold... then it rained...
Now it is the first week in April and I have almost missed the Spring planting time for my arid climate! 

Even though there are about 75 other things I could be doing... I took myself out the back door to soak up some vitamin D and set up my garden!
Mavis over at One Hundred Dollars a Month has a wonderful pallet garden tutorial here and a vertical pallet garden tutorial here... she is my hero...
Anyway... I have this old pallet...

Materials you will need:
A pallet
Something to back your pallet with
Scissors
Staple gun
Staples
Garden soil
Seeds
Water


I don't have any garden fabric... Which is recommended... and getting some is not in the budget... so I am improvising! I am using a double layer of plastic sheeting that we bought to mask off areas during our construction.
Take your backing of choice and staple it really good to the back of your pallet... I meant to take pictures of it all stapled but was to excited... forgive me?
 

I bought this bag of organic soil at my local Home Depot. It is a 3 cubic feet bag and cost under $8.00 

Cut a hole in the top of the bag and dump it in!
(You can plant right in the bag... a topic for future gardening fun..)

Here it is with all the soil smoothed out. You have to be sure and push the dirt under the rungs of your pallet... The roots of your plants will need to spread more sideways than normal so you want to be sure to have the soil even.


Here is what I planted:

In the very back section:
Snap peas
Tomatoes

The first narrow row:
Bell peppers

The next narrow row:
Celery

The front wide section:
Onion sets
Spinach
 Calendula

I am taking a chance with the celery and spinach... I am late in planting them... But gardening should be a fun case of trial and error! 
My plan is for the peas to grow up the side of the chicken coup and the calendula will act as a shade for the spinach. 
I will need to water this probably twice a day. It is shallow and the sun just sucks the moisture out of everything around here!
Now... we wait and see what develops...