Hello hope you will enjoy and benefit from our experience on how to raise a garden the easy way. My name is Ken Elliott and my wife name is Marilou Elliott we live just outside of Rogersville, Missouri 65742 USA.
I have been gardening many years, and like a lot of people I have learned alot the hard way. My Wife and I just love fresh vegetables out of our garden they taste so delicious, unlike some of the vegetables you get in the store. Also it is not just the taste that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, so to speak the cost of vegetables in the store are so high!! So you can do what we have done cut back on buying vegetables and raise your own, it is quick and easy and you don't have to have a lot of space. Some people are raising there vegetables in big flower pots, which does not take up hardly any room or you can do what we are doing and have a little bigger one.
There is nothing like having your own vegetables all year round, all you have to do is pick some of what you are growing and wash them with cold water and let them dry and then put them in a freezer bag and put them in the freezer, save them until you run out of your fresh picked vegetables. The winter here get so cold in November the garden starts to die,so we have to be like the squirrels that live in the woods they pick up nuts and store them in the hollow trees for the cold winter.
When you start raising your own garden you will feel so good about it, watching it grow and all you have to do is make sure the soil around your plant never goes completely dry. And you will have enough vegetables to give to your family and your close friends. My wife and I just gave more than 7, 5 gallon buckets of tomatoes away, and our friends were happy to get them. So it will give you a good feeling in lots of ways when you raise your very own garden. And it is like getting all of your vegetables, ( Free ).
We have a lot of pictures from start of our garden to the harvest, but I will tell you how to raise your very own garden and the cost is so low.
Here in Missouri the ground is so rocky it is hard to dig down deep enough and it will take you a long time to pick out all the rocks that are there, this is why we like a raised garden, I have pictures of our raised garden so you can see what it looks like.
A raised garden has some very good advantages, lots of people here in Missouri had to replant there garden as many 2 to 3 times because we got so much rain, but with our raised garden we did not have to replant, with a raised garden the rain will run out of the bottom of your garden on top of the ground, also your garden will dry out a lot quicker.
Another big reason so many people prefer a raised garden is the soil is so easy to work with, no rocks, no hard packed soil, a raised garden is so easy to work with. You can make your raised garden frame out of 2-inch thick wood and I like my board to be 8-inches wide so I can put 7 to 8 inches of soil in, tomato plants like a lot of soil, but a lot of vegetables do fine with only 3 to 4 inches of soil. Treated wood will last 5-6 years or you can make your raised garden frame out of concrete blocks,or even rocks or cut stone.
The lowest cost to get started will be the 2-inch thick wood, if you are renting or leasing I recommend the 2-inch thick wood. You can cut the wood to what ever size garden you want. I like to go where I get the best deal for my money, the best place that we have found to buy our soil and seeds and all our garden plants is Walmart and if you ever have any problems with anything they will take it back. The wood or any concrete blocks we get at Lowes.
This is what we do, we go to Lowes and buy my wood 2 inch thick treated,make sure you ask for the treated wood it will last a lot longer, also while we are there in Lowes I get a box of 3-inch screws, I like screws better than nails,it makes it a lot easier to use a screw gun than the hammer,also the screws will not pull out like nails do.Ok my next stop will be go to Walmart and I will get a product called weed-x it comes in a box it is in a roll, the roll is about 100 foot long and 3-wide, it is a black plastic with lots of little holes in it, you will put this on the ground first, and then you put your soil on top of the weed-x, weed-x will not let any grass or weeds come up in your garden, this makes it a lot easier on you no weeds or grass in your garden.
The most important thing is your soil, we like to use aged cow manure and compost, we just go to our local dairy farmer down the road and he is happy to give us all the cow manure we want ( Free ), that is a real money saver, most farmers are so kind they are happy to help out just about any way they can. Our local farmer will go and get his big tractor and put 3-big scoops in the back of our pick-up and we have a big load of the best all natural organic fertilizer money can buy for ( Free ).
Our plants do get 2 times bigger and sometimes even bigger than that, as you can see in our pictures this year August of 2011 we had tomato plants over 8-foot tall, by the end of September we had 7-tomato plants 9-foot tall, so many of our friends said they never seen tomato plants that big, we had so many tomatoes. As you can see gardening is a lot of fun and not a lot of work if you do it right. That is why we call it Garden The Easy Way.
After you get home with all you need to build your raised garden the first thing you will do is look for a spot with full sun,or a spot with morning sun, your garden need at least 6-7 hours of sun. Pick out a spot that will be out of your everyday living. Also keep in mind your garden will need water, so make sure the spot you pick, you will be able to get water to it.
If you do not plant a raised garden, and decide to plant in the ground, keep in mind never to plant in a low spot if you do every time you get a lot of rain your garden will be under water, and it could die or just set their and not grow, or you might have to transplant the whole garden, ( So-Never Plant In A Low Spot ).
Sure hope we have been helpful here today on Garden The Easy Way. Have a lot of fun and Good Gardening Always Ken & Marilou
There is nothing like having your own vegetables all year round, all you have to do is pick some of what you are growing and wash them with cold water and let them dry and then put them in a freezer bag and put them in the freezer, save them until you run out of your fresh picked vegetables. The winter here get so cold in November the garden starts to die,so we have to be like the squirrels that live in the woods they pick up nuts and store them in the hollow trees for the cold winter.
When you start raising your own garden you will feel so good about it, watching it grow and all you have to do is make sure the soil around your plant never goes completely dry. And you will have enough vegetables to give to your family and your close friends. My wife and I just gave more than 7, 5 gallon buckets of tomatoes away, and our friends were happy to get them. So it will give you a good feeling in lots of ways when you raise your very own garden. And it is like getting all of your vegetables, ( Free ).
We have a lot of pictures from start of our garden to the harvest, but I will tell you how to raise your very own garden and the cost is so low.
Here in Missouri the ground is so rocky it is hard to dig down deep enough and it will take you a long time to pick out all the rocks that are there, this is why we like a raised garden, I have pictures of our raised garden so you can see what it looks like.
A raised garden has some very good advantages, lots of people here in Missouri had to replant there garden as many 2 to 3 times because we got so much rain, but with our raised garden we did not have to replant, with a raised garden the rain will run out of the bottom of your garden on top of the ground, also your garden will dry out a lot quicker.
Another big reason so many people prefer a raised garden is the soil is so easy to work with, no rocks, no hard packed soil, a raised garden is so easy to work with. You can make your raised garden frame out of 2-inch thick wood and I like my board to be 8-inches wide so I can put 7 to 8 inches of soil in, tomato plants like a lot of soil, but a lot of vegetables do fine with only 3 to 4 inches of soil. Treated wood will last 5-6 years or you can make your raised garden frame out of concrete blocks,or even rocks or cut stone.
The lowest cost to get started will be the 2-inch thick wood, if you are renting or leasing I recommend the 2-inch thick wood. You can cut the wood to what ever size garden you want. I like to go where I get the best deal for my money, the best place that we have found to buy our soil and seeds and all our garden plants is Walmart and if you ever have any problems with anything they will take it back. The wood or any concrete blocks we get at Lowes.
This is what we do, we go to Lowes and buy my wood 2 inch thick treated,make sure you ask for the treated wood it will last a lot longer, also while we are there in Lowes I get a box of 3-inch screws, I like screws better than nails,it makes it a lot easier to use a screw gun than the hammer,also the screws will not pull out like nails do.Ok my next stop will be go to Walmart and I will get a product called weed-x it comes in a box it is in a roll, the roll is about 100 foot long and 3-wide, it is a black plastic with lots of little holes in it, you will put this on the ground first, and then you put your soil on top of the weed-x, weed-x will not let any grass or weeds come up in your garden, this makes it a lot easier on you no weeds or grass in your garden.
The most important thing is your soil, we like to use aged cow manure and compost, we just go to our local dairy farmer down the road and he is happy to give us all the cow manure we want ( Free ), that is a real money saver, most farmers are so kind they are happy to help out just about any way they can. Our local farmer will go and get his big tractor and put 3-big scoops in the back of our pick-up and we have a big load of the best all natural organic fertilizer money can buy for ( Free ).
Our plants do get 2 times bigger and sometimes even bigger than that, as you can see in our pictures this year August of 2011 we had tomato plants over 8-foot tall, by the end of September we had 7-tomato plants 9-foot tall, so many of our friends said they never seen tomato plants that big, we had so many tomatoes. As you can see gardening is a lot of fun and not a lot of work if you do it right. That is why we call it Garden The Easy Way.
After you get home with all you need to build your raised garden the first thing you will do is look for a spot with full sun,or a spot with morning sun, your garden need at least 6-7 hours of sun. Pick out a spot that will be out of your everyday living. Also keep in mind your garden will need water, so make sure the spot you pick, you will be able to get water to it.
If you do not plant a raised garden, and decide to plant in the ground, keep in mind never to plant in a low spot if you do every time you get a lot of rain your garden will be under water, and it could die or just set their and not grow, or you might have to transplant the whole garden, ( So-Never Plant In A Low Spot ).
- Build your frame first, keep in mind the bigger the frame the more soil it will take.
- After you made your frame put it down in the best spot, out of your way and lots of sunshine.
- Put your weed-x down first inside of your frame.
- Add some dark rich soil, ( 1/2 Full ) add some aged cow or horse manure, ( 1/4 Full ) add some compost ( 1/4 Full ). Mix up well.
- Ok now you are ready to plant, this is very important always read the planting instruction on the label on what ever you are planting.
Sure hope we have been helpful here today on Garden The Easy Way. Have a lot of fun and Good Gardening Always Ken & Marilou
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