Planter Boxes

1st we have gopher removal...

Well, it is greener then running the hose through the holes for hours. That didn't work anyway.


So you have probably figured out, we have a BIG problem in our garden. That's right, gophers! We thought we caught the little critter, but the next day there were more holes. He is just going up and down the rows eating all my cabbage, broccoli and now he has started to attack the strawberries. Oh My Goodness!! This is so frustrating. We have a little fence around the garden to keep the rabbits out. Putting that up was a ton of work. We used a trench digger to dig down about a foot for the fence and it is about 3 feet high. Works great for the rabbits, but not enough of a barrier for the gophers. So, now we are building planter boxes. Only 1 a months so we can afford it.

We used cedar because cedar and red wood are supposed to hold up in the weather. Cedar is less expensive then red wood, so that's what we choose. The wood also has to be untreated so there are no chemicals to get into the soil. We bought the wood for about $80 and we had to line the bottom with tight chicken wire. That cost about $60, but we will get 3 bottoms out of them. The box is 8 x 4 ft. You can buy them ready to be assembled, but I think they are a bit more expensive for a smaller box.


Here are a few pictures of the construction.

We used these 4x4's to connect the corners, holes were drilled then the screws.

The wire mesh or chicken wire was laid across the bottom...

Then it was held in place with staples from a staple gun.

The lovely box is finished, easy. Now to clear the spot in my sad looking garden.

I must give you the excuses about why my garden is so sad right now. The rain made the weeds grow wild and there are SO many weeds. Then after the rain, it got really hot here, about 80 for a while so the broccoli just flowered away. The garden was all confused, winter stuff stopped growing, spring stuff started, then it got cold again. In the 30's at night. So, there you have it... we are between seasons and nothing grows well. Now I will show you a picture of the SAD, sad garden...

Can you see that red cabbage lying upside down? I picked that up to find a big hole where the roots should be.

Ok, so a couple of things are growing well, the chard that I thought was rhubarb and the artichokes.

Here is what I am dealing with...

Ok, now back to our little planter box. We had to get some dirt, some from the store and some from the rows the the gopher is eating...

Fill it up...

Add some worms...

I almost forgot to tell you what the grey stuff is besides the planter box. I took some ash from the fire place and set that along the outside to keep the ants away. Our strawberries have become the ant hill capital of the garden.

And our lovely box is finished. 

Well, almost. It needs the bell pepper plants and a bit more dirt. Not much though. I am still moving my onions out of my rows and taking dirt from that.

I hope you will check back to see the bell peppers growing. We will be buying them at the arboretum sale in 2 weeks. In the mean time, I'm going to get back to sewing. 

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