My Earth Box Garden, Part I

In the midst of all the hoopla that has been our spring, I made time several weeks ago to plant our garden in the Earth Boxes. I enjoy having a garden. We always had one when I was growing up. I remember my father tilling the soil and then planting a multitude of things; sweet corn, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, potatoes. I also remember being sent to the garden with a basket to pick. Green beans. I remember picking green beans - and hating it. After you picked them, then you had to snap them. That was to snap both ends off and then snap the bean in half. My mother and grandmother would "put them up" which is southern for canning. Jars and jars and jars of green beans. To this day I do not like green beans. They also canned many other things. Pickles made from cucumbers. Stewed tomatoes. And the most divine and delicious tomato juice you have ever tasted. My grandmother made the tomato juice. Exquisite. My grandparents had a garden, but they also had a small orchard. In the orchard were cherry trees, peach trees, a crab-apple tree, apple trees, a pear tree and concord grapes. What fond memories this morning. I do not have the advantage of all of that these days. But growing fresh fruits and vegetables is something I enjoy. So here is what I planted this year.

This will give us a nice variety of fruits and vegetables which we can enjoy over the summer and into the fall. I do not can, so we will consume what we harvest and share our bountiful harvest with friends and family. But I will not be standing over a hot stove in July putting up green beans and tomatoes.

This year we bought out fruits and vegetable plants from Lowe's. I have had very good results with the Bonnie Plants from Lowe's in years past. They are usually very healthy and do well once planted. If they do not look particularly healthy at the store, it is not due to poor propagation at Bonnie Plants, but rather from neglect at the store. This year they looked very healthy.

Simply follow the directions on the label, which are very clear. Cut along the dotted line.

Remove the over-wrap.

As the directions state, pull off the bottom of the peat pot.

Then, tear off the top rim of the pot.

You can discard the over-wraps. If you want, you can mix the peat pot scraps back into the soil or toss them into a garden. They will eventually breakdown and amend the soil. Or you can just toss them. As I made my way down the Earth Boxes I tossed everything into a plastic bag. When I was done I recycled the plastic over-wraps and crumbled up the peat pot scraps and added them into the soil before mulching.

The Earth Boxes are designed to take two plants. There is room in each box for at least three plants, but for maximum yield, they suggest only two. So that is what I did. Here, we dug a hole for a tomato plant. I just use my hands to pull back the soil and to make a well for the root ball. I learned last year that tomato plants like to be planted deep, making certain that a part of the stem is actually submerged into the soil, not just the root ball.

So that is what I did. You do not have to bury the stem super deep into the soil, but it should be firmly entrenched by, say one-half to three-quarters of an inch.

A little while later, we had our first tomato plant secured in the soil. I love the smell of tomato plants. If you have never done it, rub a leaf between your index finger and thumb. The scent released is heavenly. Well, it is heavenly if you like tomatoes. I have a cousin who does not like tomatoes, so for him this would not be heavenly. I don't know if there is a large contingent of people who do not like tomatoes. I should do some research on that. Only because it intrigues me. I adore them. I eat tomatoes like they are going out of style.

The next thing was to mulch the boxes. I found my bag of mulch and proceeded to add a nice layer of mulch to all the boxes. Adding mulch adds a visual appeal to them, but it also serves to keep weeds from growing and adds a layer to help keep the moisture in the soil during the hot summer months. I continued down the row until all boxes were mulched. The boxes are in the order as the description of each plant given at the beginning of this post; tomatoes, bell peppers, lettuce, watermelon, cucumbers and strawberries.

So, this is what they looked like the day of planting, in the same order we have been following: