Making something out of Nothing, garden style.

Two years ago, I was just learning to walk again with the help of crutches or a cane but I was still unable to bend, so I started looking for a tall, raised garden for me to plant in.  The catch is, I was on a super tight budget.  In comes Missy to the rescue!  She introduced me to a wonderful women, who I now consider a friend.  She had two wooden shipping boxes that she did not need and she gave them to me to turn into a tall garden box.  It was perfect!  She also gave me some 2x4 to use to reinforce the walls of the garden box.  

My husband helped screw the 2x4s to the sides and corners and then drilled holes in the bottom of the container, lined it with 6mil plastic and poked holes in the bottom for drainage.  I then had some left over Styrofoam insulation that I put between the wood sides and the plastic.  We finally finished by having my kids help stain it.  They actually looked a lot better than I expected, plus, they were the perfect height to allow me to garden without bending.  However, up came the next problem...;..How on earth are we supposed to fill both of these large boxes?!?!  Well, in comes Missy, again.  Her and I had a date to go to the feed store here.  She needed to pick up some feed for chicken and rabbits and I wanted to see if they had anything that I could use to help fill the garden boxes.  The solution that she helped me come up with, a big bale of alfalfa to put on the bottom.  It was still well before garden season, so it had time to break down quite a bit.  So, what I did, the larger box got 3/4th of the alfalfa on the bottom and the smaller one got 1/4.  My husband and kids broke the bales up and then we covered them in some compost, and a few bags of store bought soil. I watered it daily and once a week, I had my husband "stir" it. It heated up nice and broke down.  Come planting season, it was still slightly warm, but it actually helped my seedlings stay nice and warm, even when it fell below freezing.  The plus, we left a foot of 2X4s sticking up from the top of the garden, to allow me to staple 6mil plastic over it to help keep my seedlings warm.

Much to my surprise, this garden just thrived!  I could not believe how well that it did and the best part, I was able to do ALL of the gardening once we got it set up because everything was within reach and I did not have to bend.  

Once the growing season was over, I used the larger box as a compost bin over the winter.  Come the next spring we realized that it was just too difficult for me to handle all of the steps at our house, so we ended up buying a new home and sadly, I could not bring my beloved garden box with me, however, I will have a whole blog post dedicated to moving with soil and how to clone special plants.  So stay tuned :)