Until this point the yard beside our house dropped fairly severely to the street. The ground underneath the overhang of the house on that side wouldn't grow grass or much else due to the shade and dirt quality (or lack thereof). So we decided to extend the ground from the base of that wall out at level about 14 feet for the entire length of the wall (30 feet). We did a sunlight test with our Plantsmart soil and sunlight measurement tool thingy. We made sure to design the planter so that the leading edge was well into the area the sunlight analysis thingy said would foster veggie growth.
The guys that we got to do the work did just excellent work in reinforcing the wall substantially more than was required, with tube steel and concrete anchors. But better safe than sorry.
We raised the sprinkler system up into the box with enough heads to give a full watering in a short 5-10 minutes. On the far side metal stair frames were built and filled with gravel.
The steps are now topped with decomposed granite (that orang-y mashed up rock you see at hipster-centric, yet lovely indoor-outdoor xeriscaped restaurants). The finished box has layers of gravel, sand and vegi-mix soil at the top. Today we planted marigolds and sweet potato vine at the front for color and bug repellent, tomatoes, basil, chives, bell peppers, strawberries, carrots, and different lettuces for eating, rosemary, lavender, hyssop and borage for more bug control, eating and complimenting each other.
The box will quickly oxidize leaving a beautiful orange-red rust all over. Should be gorgeous when that process completes.
The flora should fill in quickly as the Spring continues and we'll see what type of production we get from the veggies. Last year we got five ("5") cherry tomatoes...but that was a lifetime ago! NOW WE ARE ARMED WITH KNOWLEDGE FROM THE LITTLE COMPUTER FLOWER THAT TOLD US IT WAS TOTALLY COOL TO PLANT OUR TOMATOES RIGHT HERE!!!!!
We raised the sprinkler system up into the box with enough heads to give a full watering in a short 5-10 minutes. On the far side metal stair frames were built and filled with gravel.
The steps are now topped with decomposed granite (that orang-y mashed up rock you see at hipster-centric, yet lovely indoor-outdoor xeriscaped restaurants). The finished box has layers of gravel, sand and vegi-mix soil at the top. Today we planted marigolds and sweet potato vine at the front for color and bug repellent, tomatoes, basil, chives, bell peppers, strawberries, carrots, and different lettuces for eating, rosemary, lavender, hyssop and borage for more bug control, eating and complimenting each other.
The box will quickly oxidize leaving a beautiful orange-red rust all over. Should be gorgeous when that process completes.The flora should fill in quickly as the Spring continues and we'll see what type of production we get from the veggies. Last year we got five ("5") cherry tomatoes...but that was a lifetime ago! NOW WE ARE ARMED WITH KNOWLEDGE FROM THE LITTLE COMPUTER FLOWER THAT TOLD US IT WAS TOTALLY COOL TO PLANT OUR TOMATOES RIGHT HERE!!!!!
