Day 2! Today the goal was to build two garden boxes I got from Giant Tiger for a steal of a deal.
Note: Just a note of caution here, please don’t buy these planters until you read ahead because disaster struck.
Then once my garden boxes were built it was time to plant the vegetable and herbs. So naturally, step one was to build the garden boxes. In my house, I’m nicknamed Bob the Builder so I got to work and after an hour or so I had two beautiful wood planter boxes – or so I thought.
For the garden boxes, I purchased chives, parsley, dill, and romaine lettuce because they seemed the most likely to survive the wrath of a new gardener.
To achieve this task, I downloaded the app Planter: Garden Planner to help me sort out the distance of my plants. I decided the best choice would be to put the chives, parsley, and dill in one planter and the lettuce by itself in another. So I poured in my dirt, got out my mini-shovel (I am sure this has an actual name, but mini-shovel is cuter), and started planting. I have found the actual process of planting to be quite easy. I have learned a few tricks though that have been helpful for a beginner like me, but the most important was to rough up the roots before planting.
And I was done! Or so I thought. Even my lovely elderly neighbor came out to tell me how happy she was to see some growth in our backyard finally. I was on cloud nine if you will. After such a hard day of work, I went inside to relax.
That afternoon, I went outside to admire my work to come to find one of my plant boxes collapsed. Thankfully, the herbs survived the calamity and the lettuce box was entirely unharmed, but my bank account cannot say the same.
Prior to this project, I had contemplated buying a garden box from Costco. It was a beautiful plastic Keter brand garden box that would have looked so nice in my yard, but in an effort to be more financially responsible, I decided to go with the more budget-friendly option. But look where that got me? So I took this as a sign from a higher power and got in my car and headed to Costco.
One garden box, and one hotdog later, I was home and ready to build my third garden box of the season. With the new garden box built and the plants replanted I was ready to watch my little babies grow.
I gave them a good water, tucked them in for the night, and went to bed and had nightmares of every garden box in the 20-kilometer radius.
Hopefully, day 3 goes smoothly.
I hope the new planter box is not giving you as much grief as the last one! Always a gamble when things are a suspiciously good deal right?! I can agree with you that the planning/prep part of this learning project is the fun and easy part…but then we have to actually do it and that is when things get a little harry sometimes. Sounds like you adapted quickly and well – a good sign 🙂 Do you have any recipe/cooking plans with what you’re planting? Good luck with everything!
The new planter box is amazing. Costco never fails! My herbs and vegetables are coming up shockingly fast so I am hoping to use the basil and parsley to make a lasagna. And if the lettuce is ready maybe a salad of some sort. Fingers crossed that one of my posts in the future will be me using everything I grew.
I immediately had to read your post when I saw your Bob the Builder picture, so fun! It sounds like you’ve had a rough go so far, but maybe that makes it more interesting?? (or maybe not haha). I am impressed that you have stuck with your original plan and are trying again.
I thought it was neat that you found an app, I had never considered downloading an app for gardening. I will have to check it out! Good luck and I hope you can get some sleep without the planterbox nightmares!
I am all about making the plot of life interesting so I had a good laugh about my steal of a garden box and moved on! You live and learn, am I right? The app is AMAZING – you can even use it for house plants. I love the app some much that I even got the yearly subscription to unlock all the features. So worth it!