A botanist?

A few weeks back I decided I wanted to plant a garden… mostly just to see if I could do it. And because veggies and fruits are yummy.

Since we live in a second story condo, planting space is pretty limited. But we have a small 5′x10′ balcony that we don’t really use, so I figured I could build a box up there and it would work out for us. After a few weeks’ work, I finally finished it yesterday (and planted some carrots, onions, lettuce, peas, and broccoli today). I made it out of 1×10 boards, and used 2×4s in all the corners. I also had some 1×4s for bracing in the middle, and I used 3/4″ PVC pipe for drainage — I just drilled holes into the pipe.

And the dirt. I put a 2-3″ layer of rock gravel at the bottom, followed by about 3-5″ of sand on top of that, followed by about a foot of potting soil (it smells like poo… seriously). That was about 13,000 bags of rocks, 15,000 bags of sand, and 20,000 bags of soil. No not really, but it felt that way when I was hefting it all up the freaking stairs.

Pictures below. And I’m sure more will follow once the little seedlings start showing their sprouts: