315 replies to this topic

[rancho_gordo]

And, pray tell, what are you now doing in your laundry room with the mirrored walls? Mean old French ladies exclusively? Or could I give it go when next I am out there?

By the time you get out here, it's going to be a photo studio, complete with music, wine and a wind machine. I'm going to be a top model! Is Scavullo still kicking?

[mongo_jones]

seriously mixed messages here.

i have 4 tomato plants, 4 pepper plants, 2 basil plants and 1 sage plant. not doing anything more this summer. direct into soil or still raised bed? if the latter please explain in great detail how the box is to be built.

the season starts later here--given that we got snow in early may this year.

[rancho_gordo]

I've said my piece. I'm a man of few words.

[porkwah]

why not just get some big pots full of purchased soil and set them out above ground?

[The Scream]

why not just get some big pots full of purchased soil and set them out above ground?

This is what I would do or dig 10" deep x whatever circumferene holes in the ground and fill them up with grow-o-matic soil and excrement of choice.

[Jaymes]

seriously mixed messages here.

i have 4 tomato plants, 4 pepper plants, 2 basil plants and 1 sage plant. not doing anything more this summer. direct into soil or still raised bed? if the latter please explain in great detail how the box is to be built.

the season starts later here--given that we got snow in early may this year.

Well, I, too, like RG, am a person of few words, but I'll make an exception in this case and repeat myself.



I'd still suggest you figure out about how much space you need...and I'd think at an absolute minimum you'd need one square foot for each of the tomato plants; a little less, but not much less, for each of the pepper plants; and about 1 square foot total for your herbs. I'd go to the nursery and see if they have any railroad ties specifically for bordering flower beds and raised gardens and the like, take them home, lay them out, fill in with your good dirt that you have also purchased, set in your plants and start watering.

That seems to me to be the best, quickest and easiest solution. You won't have to spend the summer weeding anything, or building anything, or digging any damn holes, which is my personal least favorite aspect of gardening, and you'll get everything off to a good start. And next year, if it turns out you've enjoyed gardening, it will be easy to rearrange your ties and buy more, expanding your little plot as the mood strikes.

But that's just me. And I'm no expert and have not recently been pm'd by any, either. So what do I know.

[Jaymes]

Here is some good info that might be of help: Gardener's network, raised beds.

[fml]

the season starts later here--given that we got snow in early may this year.

And ends earlier. And it's dry this year. Very dry.

I'm a fanatic gardener, but I don't do vegetables living here in Boulder County. It takes real dedication in our climate to grow vegetables. And a whole lot of water. And even more luck. There are the rabbits, the winds, the squirrels, the prairie dogs, and the occasional hail. And (for me) it's ultimately not worth the effort for the results, when the farmer's market is available, and all the grocery stores do carry local/Colorado produce in season. Unless of course, you dream of dedicating much of your life to a tomato.

I do have perennial herbs in my garden including oregano, chives, thyme, tarragon, and rosemary. (Rosemary's not supposed to survive the winter in our climate, but mine's in its 9th year.) And lots of mint; I let it take over an area of my garden where nothing else wants to grow; it's so dry and sunny. Perennial herbs do well once established.

[tanabutler]

I'm a fanatic gardener, but I don't do vegetables living here in Boulder County. It takes real dedication in our climate to grow vegetables. And a whole lot of water. And even more luck. There are the rabbits, the winds, the squirrels, the prairie dogs, and the occasional hail. And (for me) it's ultimately not worth the effort for the results, when the farmer's market is available, and all the grocery stores do carry local/Colorado produce in season. Unless of course, you dream of dedicating much of your life to a tomato.

$64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden.

[Jaymes]

But on the other hand, my nephew and his wife live in Loveland CO, and she's managed to grow enough vegetables just along the 2' x 12' strips of land that flank her driveway at their townhouse, to keep her little family of four in melons, snap beans, peppers, tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, strawberries, and even corn (which she does say takes up too much room and she isn't going to do again), lettuces, carrots, and a bunch of other things too numerous to mention, and even sells enough of it to the neighbors to bring in a small supplemental income.

She's a very down-to-earth person, and I'm sure hasn't spent much on this project. She does compost and mulch everything, and starts everything from seed.

So it can be done.

[GG Mora]

Given the small number of plants you have, one 4 x 8 bed should do you fine.

You can do an Insta-garden like this: Order these raised bed corners in the 10" height. Go to Hell's Depot. Buy two 12-ft. lengths of 2" x 10" lumber* – the cheapest stuff they have. Get them to cut each board (I know for a fact they offer this service) into one 4-ft. and one 8-ft. length. Go home and put the bed together using your magic mail-order corners. Lay the bed on the ground and fill it with bagged dirt from a garden center. Stick your plants in the dirt.

If it's fun and rewarding, you'll have the whole winter to plan next year's paradise.

* 2" x 10" is the girth of the board (thickness x width); think of it as the board's waist size. You've heard of a 2 x 4? This is like that, only wider. You specify the girth of the board, then the length. So what you want are two 2" x 10" x 12' boards. Wanna sound like a real guy? Go into (lumber dealer of your choice) and tell 'em you want “a couple-a two-by-ten-by-twelves, in some cheap ass wood for garden beds”. It helps if you grab your nuts while saying this.

[The Scream]

I hate to jump in here, but how many plants do you have? Building raised beds to see if you like gardening seems extreme. If you have one or two or six tomato plants, I'd just plant them, maybe use some red plastic for mulch (I think you said these were tomatoes, right?), use a generic vegetable fertilizer and then water as needed, barely once they bear fruit. If you haven't been gardening it's likely the soil is fine and doesn't need a lot of amendments.

It just strikes me as late in the season and you you may end up not even enjoying the task. If it's a hoot, then build the frames and spend the winter drooling over catalogues. I turned my laundry room into a "dance studio" with mirrors and balance bar and I have 7 tutus and and it turns out I don't enjoy dancing. I do like the mean old French lady who beats we with a stick when I fail at my pirouettes, but that's a different tale.

I think he should get a green house.

[rancho_gordo]

I think he should get a green house.

And a tractor. Don't even think about it without a tractor!

[Abbylovi]

And a donkey.

[g.johnson]

I think he should get a green house.

No ambition. With one of these he could grow mangoes.