Warning! Blog blitz ahead.

Here comes a serious blog offensive.  There is no question that I am overdue on my picture and story sharing.  My apologies.  Let me see if I can make it up with an overload of information this weekend.  It is going to be a bit like taking a drink from a fire hose, so be sure to pace yourself.

Why not take it all the way back to get started.  I'm talking spring time.  Now that all the leaves have fallen and some snow flakes have flown, lets remember greener days.  Something that I had fun with this spring was making some plantar boxes so Emma could learn about and experience how things grow.

I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do for them but didn't have any blue prints or diagrams . . . so I did a little online searching.  Surprisingly, I found very little to help other than some pictures.  So I went to the lumbar yard with a sketchpad and measuring tape and came up with a plan.  I'll be damned if it didn't work out!

I started with an 8' 4x4 cedar post and cut them to 22 1/8 inches. These would become the legs.

Next up was taking a 10 ft cedar decking board and cutting them down to 5 feet.  Each box required 4 of these planks.  Three of them went into making the long sides and the remaining plank was cut into 6 18" boards that made the short end of the box.

I put the sides on first starting from the top and working my way down.  Then I did the same with the long sections.

In order to put a base, in I screwed a cedar 2x2 1.5 inches up from the bottom.

For the bottom of the box I cut lengths of cedar fence boards.  They are cheap and did the trick.

I tried to leave a little space, about 1/8 inch between each, for drainage.

The finished product!  Emma approves.

 The beauty of these boxes is that they can be made any length, or width.  The 5 foot x 18 inch configuration gave me the biggest box with the lowest amount of wasted wood.  To finish off the bottom I stapled a weed blocking landscape netting and I've read that you can also use burlap.

Emma, Melissa and I really enjoyed our green thumbery over the summer.  We planted 3 basil plants, 1 chive, 6 lettuce plants (3 of two separate varieties), 3 cilantro, and some strawberries.  The basil and cilantro plants went nuts and we couldn't keep up, so next summer we are planning to only put in one of each.  Unfortunately we got the strawberries in a little late and didn't get any berries but the plant really took over the box.  I'm hopeful for next summer.  Here are some pictures of Emma and Melissa bringing life to the boxes.