Where’s the Basil Hidin’?

I had been dreaming of setting up a garden at our new residence, but we never had the thyme. Sam and I picked a sunny location for the garden a few years ago and installed power and water when we dug the utility trenches for the whole building. It wasn’t until this year that we sorted out the details for the garden. We came up with a layout that can accommodate six 4’x8′ planters.

Since we already have about 20 unfinished projects (and another 20 in the queue), our goal was to set up only two of the planters this year. We ordered cheap metal planters online as a fast and inexpensive solution. My fingers hurt after tightening 1000 wing nuts (per planter!), but alas the assembly was complete! The planters are more flimsy than heavy duty aluminum foil but they look nice.

As you may have expected, Sam and I quickly turned this into a big project. We spent too many breakfasts discussing our final vision for the garden area and concluded it would be best to make the driveway nicer first.

But before working on the driveway, we buried some irrigation lines. Jackson came over to help dig the trenches.

He gave us an irrigation timer too!

Buster didn’t know what to make of all of this, but he was excited none the less.

Next, we had some gravel delivered. The truck did most of the work for us, as they dumped and spread at the same time.

Sam tuned it up, and then we rented some compaction equipment. Sam ran the turtle around the sensitive areas,

while I rolled and rolled

and rolled. It was actually a fairly quick job!

We had the rental equipment for the whole weekend, so we decided to hit the hot tub area too. Buster helped move the hot tub out of the way but he wasn’t sure where to set it down.

With Smokey’s help, he figured it out. Buster returned to his role as an observer and caught a chipmunk shortly after (and almost lost it behind the hot tub).

It’s a dream to walk to from the shop to the hot tub now! No more twisted ankles!

Back to the planter project… The planters had to be critter-proof. Instead of constructing a big fence around the whole driveway, we made cages with doors around each planter. Figuring out how to do this with our tin foil planters was a little tricky. We made frames with 3/4 inch electrical conduit. A company called “Maker Pipe” makes all sorts of conduit fittings for projects like ours.

Sam machined parts to hold the pipes in the corners of the boxes.

The frame assembly was one of the easiest steps of this project.

Next, we filled the planters. I had heard of Hügelkultur and was intrigued. It’s an old German technique of making beds from rotten logs and plant debris. The spongey matter helps the beds retain water, and as the logs decompose, they release nutrients back into the soil. True Hügelkultur seemed too difficult, so I decided to incorporate some of the techniques- mostly to save 50% of the soil cost. We collected a few truck loads of sticks and logs from old burn piles.

We filled the voids with wood chips, which we already had. We topped that off with a layer of smaller sticks and more wood chips. We stopped about a foot down from the top.

Finally, it was time for dirt. After way too much internet research, we bought a truck load of compost and a few bags of perlite and vermiculite.

We added horse manure and top soil to the mix. Oh yeah, let’s not forget coconut coir, which we had to rehydrate first.

We mixed everything in the bed of the dump truck and shoveled it into the planters. There’s nothing like endless shoveling to keep you warm on a cold, rainy day. Luckily Whitney was around to help with all of this.

Far from complete, I was eager to get my plants outside. My seedlings were getting too big for their little pots inside. I already had to put the bush beans in 1 gallon pots and take them outside most days since they no longer fit under the grow lamps. I moved them around in this fun gardening cart that Sam got me for my birthday. It doubles as a cat wagon, though Smokey prefers to walk.

I felt ridiculous towing my beans (and sometimes tomatoes) around daily, so I was happy to get everything planted.

I thought the cold weather was gone for good but another front blew in, and it threatened to freeze one night! I didn’t want to take any chances, so Sam helped me put up some protection…

The cold weather passed, and no one was harmed. We moved on to the cages. Each planter has four doors for easy access. We made the frames with some fir we had. Sam treated them with su shugi ban- an old Japanese technique of charring wood to preserve it. The charring makes the wood more resistant to fire and water/rot. Plus it looks cool.

Charcoal was getting all over us every time we touched the wood, so we gave it a clear coat as well.

We secured the wood corner posts to the conduit with some clamps. Then we stapled wire mesh to the door frames and to the short sides of the planter boxes. The mesh is black PVC coated steel. It was challenging to stretch it tight enough to lay flat, but we overcame with minimal finger damage.

It wasn’t difficult, but it took awhile to make eight doors. They better last a long time. We hung the doors off the wood corner posts with some black hinges. For the finishing touch, we added matching latches.

The cats approve of the new planters. They provide a nice shady spot for an afternoon nap.

After hand-watering the beds for a few weeks, Sam convinced me it would be in my best interest to spend a few hours on the irrigation system. We had a stash of 1/4″ tubing and drippers, so we put that in one of the boxes. The water distribution didn’t seem great, so we got a “soaker hose” for the other box. It’s a perforated rubber material that water seeps out of. We set the timer and let everything be!

It is officially summer, which means long days of full sunlight!

Our plants took off!

The tomatoes might be overcrowding everything a bit too much.

They’ll continue to grow before they start producing next month, but it doesn’t seem to be a big problem yet. They are providing great shade for our basil forest. We’ve already made pesto a few times!

Our lettuces did well, and the parsley has been providing bowl-fulls of chimichurri!

The bush beans, on the other hand did not fair well. They got too lanky from growing inside and turned into sad string beans. I guess that’s why most people direct sow them. I ripped out the original beans and popped a few seeds in the bed. The new plants look much healthier, although I’m still waiting for beans.

Happy summer harvest! Now we have (a little) time to play and raid other people’s gardens!

Cheers!