Monday, February 6, 2012

That isn't a plastic bag, it's my new "Raised Bed"

My husband gets upset because each year I keep expanding the garden.  He finally told me, "Look, I don't care if you take the whole backyard for your garden, but if you do I am going to rent a sod cutter and not take up all this grass by hand."  I Don't really blame him.  I just always seem to run out of room in the garden space I have.  I see those plants on clearance at the hardware store and they are so inexpensive I just can't help buying more tomato plants than I have room for.  Solution!  Awesome idea I first saw in an article in Mother Earth News Magazine.  Here is a comprehensive article on how to do it that I found on-line...

Basically, the idea is an almost no work solution.  Take a new bag of potting soil.  Lay it down in a sunny spot that gets hit by your sprinkler.  Anywhere you want.  Anywhere.  Now, cut a hole in the top of the bag and stick your new plants directly in the bag.  Voila!  Instant "raised bed!"  You can punch drainage holes in the bottom of the bags if you want (some people like this idea, some don't think it's necessary as long as you don't flood the bags when they get watered).  Happy dance!  Go sip a lemonade - your work is done!  I seriously want to try this this year.  No weeding either!  And at the end of the season, you can get rid of the bag and pour the dirt out to improve your existing soil.  Easy clean up is always a plus. 

The down side of course, is that it's not very aesthetically pleasing.  No one wants these things laying all around their front yard.  Neighbors might have some unpleasant things to say about it.  But, in the back side yard - totally different story.  Definitely worth a try.  And easy.  Yeah.  Totally want to try this. 

No comments:

Post a Comment