Our first box (upside down). I got the corner posts drilled by two people in our ward who have drill presses (Brother Hill let me operate it myself, which was kind of fun.)
Dean Simmons came over one Saturday morning and spent a few hours helping us assemble boxes. HUGE help. (I was short on washers, so we didn't quite get everything together, but I was able to finish most of it on my own after this.)
Once the boxes were put together, I had to dig out the spots for them. I found an old Douglas Fir stump just below ground level. It was very rotten and soft, so I just hacked it with the shovel and got a lot of it out. (Hacking stumps is fun--it's therapeutic!)
Digging the spot for the last box. Our best sun is along the south edge of the yard, right by the neighbor's driveway. (We left the Red Hot Poker plant in the middle, because we like it.)
Two cubic yards of garden soil in our driveway. (On a cool and misty Garbage Day morning.) We didn't actually need the full two yards but they wouldn't deliver less than that. I got the 50/50 garden soil mix from McClain Soil Supply. I did find a lot of foreign bits of shredded plasticky stuff in the dirt, and even a couple of pieces of broken glass, so I can't really vouch for the overall quality, but the plants do seem happy with it.
First plant in the ground!
Our four boxes all in a row, with tomato plants. Yay! Big job. I learned some things, and got to use power tools. Lots of hard work, lots of two-shower days. The white pipes on the sides are to hold trellis frames. I haven't gotten those made yet. (I need to find someone who can bend EMT conduit to specified dimensions.)
I was hoping to have this all done by the beginning of May, but hey, it's done, and we'll have it for next year. And it's awesome.
Baby pictures! The Chocolate Cherry had me worried for a bit (it kept going droopy), but it has rallied nicely. All plants are happy and growing well.
I won't be able to grow twelve tomato plants every year, because of soil rotation needs, but we're just going crazy with them this year. We may have tomatoes before August. Can't wait!
