How to build a square foot table garden

With the coming of Spring, I have decided to have a garden, whether we sell our house or not. So I am building myself some table gardens for square foot gardening. You can do this yourself. This is especially helpful if you do not want to be bending over, or, if you have an extreme bunny rabbit population like I do. First measure the area you wish to put your table garden and see what size will fit there. Then all you need are:

* (2) 2x6" boards, whatever length (for small root plants like radishes and lettuce and spinach)
* (2) 1x6" boards for the end caps (whatever length)
* plywood
* Some type of wood to use for legs
* Scrap wood for braces
* Deck screws
* A good cordless drill
* Some good potting soil and seed

I found some 2x6's 8' long in the garage, so I used those. I also found some scrap 1x6's in the garage about 20" long, already cut into pieces, so I used those.

Then I went to Home Depot and found some 2x2's in the trash in the lumber section. I asked a young man if I could have them and he said yes and he even cut them for me the length I requested for free, but I think Lowes would probably do the same thing, go to whichever one is closest to you. I had him cut them into 29" pieces since that is about the length of my kitchen table legs. However, in retrospect, I should have cut them shorter since I didn't allow for the 6" depth of the boxes, they are actually a tad taller than I really wanted, but that is just fine. I'll take that into account on the next box.

So all I did was screw the ends onto the boards and cut plywood the measurement of the box, then I screwed the plywood onto the box and drilled holes in the bottom for drainage. I also added some scrap wood for braces on each end. As you can see, mine are very rudimentary, but it will serve it's intended purpose, and I can take them with me should we sell the house!

Today I planted my early crop, spinach, lettuce, radishes, small flowers, and some herbs. But in my next box I will plant some of the other veggies that were too early to plant now. I am going to plant a salsa garden, I will keep you updated and even upload photos as my garden grows. If you would like to send me photos of your garden, please do so! I will post them as I receive them, please send smaller files though, as the large ones don't work for such a small configuration. I do realize there are examiners that are specific to gardening, however, frugal living does include gardening, so send those photos anyway. You can send them to marilyn@frugalliving-denver.com thanks. By the way, be sure to check out the Square Foot Garden video.