This post represents DAY 1 of the day-by-day documentary of the gardening adventures of a newly-wed first-time gardening couple. They are not only first-time bucket gardeners but first-time any kind of gardeners. The details of their successes and failures will be communicated here so you can follow along with your garden - if you wish. To see links to each of the "days" click here.
Day 1: The Installation
Today it began. That's right folks. We are officially the proud owners of a bucket garden. She began her life May 22, 2010 at 6:38 PM. She is 4'x8' and weighs a ton. We have been lucky to spend almost no time getting ready for her. Here is the step by step for how she was formed.
1) We ordered a 4'x8' garden kit from the garden master AND one jar of nutrient (click here to go to the garden master's website) - cost approx $190.
2) We selected the location for our garden. This was somewhat tricky for us because we are college students living in a basement apartment. Lucky for us, the bucket garden can grow anywhere - on wood, concrete, dirt - you name it. As long as it has exposure to sunlight it will work. Click here for a getting started guide from the Garden Master that has more information on site selection.
3) We got super super super excited.
4) We scheduled an installation with the Janis family. They came up to Utah from Phoenix for a whole week to install gardens for us unlucky folk who live so far away from the action in AZ.
5) We went to our local home improvement store and purchased a sprayer like this. We also purchased some RoundUp and ran to the grocery store for some apple cider vinegar. One Tbsp of apple cider vinegar was added to our 1 gallon of RoundUp and sprayed on the weeds currently occupying the space for our garden. Cost $20.
6) We spent our Friday lunch break picking up a TON of sand. Literally one ton. We got our sand from Geneva Rock. They charged us $40 for as much sand as our truck could hold. The sand you get needs to be a coarse pre-washed concrete or gravel sand w/ less than 15% clay content. It is important that the sand is coarse - you don't want stuff you would want to stick your feet in. For additional info on the sand you need click here.
7) We helped the Janis' install our garden. They had everything we needed that didn't come in the kit. We felt so super lucky to have their help! Here we are wrapping up for the night. Isn't she fabulous - all ready to grow!
Then we left our new garden for the evening to resume our life. I think that will be the greatest thing about this garden, we will enjoy thinking about her while we are living our life rather than allowing her to control our life.
1 comment:
Thank you so much for posting your journey. I can't wait to see how your garden does. I live in Utah too and wanted to know how the garden does. My husband won't let me purchase the garden until he can see that it will do well here in Utah so I am super excited for your posts. I will be watching every one of them.
Post a Comment