Hey all,  This is a great story and an easy way to create your own garden. Greg

My Instant Garden
By Parri Willie
Phoenix, AZ

When I was a little girl we lived in New Jersey, and my mom always had a garden — growing green beans and tomatoes among other things. I can remember going out in the summer months and picking the beans and eating them right where I picked them. When I was 25 I moved to Phoenix. Living in the “desert” I didn’t think it was possible to recreate that garden. And then, 2 years ago, after a tour of the Urban Farm I realized it is VERY possible.

My home is a typical Phoenix tract home in a development where every house has colored rock for a yard. To remove the rock and dig up the ground underneath seemed like a huge undertaking and then I could only hope that the dirt there would sustain a garden. It would be much more practical and successful, I thought, to build a raised garden and fill it with proper soil and compost.

Planning to build a raised-bed garden that was 5 foot x 10 foot and 12 inches deep, I enlisted the help of a friend and we purchased three nice quality pieces of pine, 10 foot long x 2 inches wide x 12 inches tall and enough brackets and screws to hold all the sides together. We cut one of the boards in half for the 5 foot ends of the garden and then connected the four sides together securely with the brackets. After raking away much of the rock from our selected area, we set this outer “shell” of our garden down, made sure it was level and then filled it with a mixture of organic soil and compost. After planting my chosen vegetables, I wrapped a wall of chicken wire around the outside of the garden to protect my veggies from our little rabbit visitors. This garden project was fairly easy, cost under $100, and took less than a day to put together.

This past summer I successfully grew tomatoes, zucchini, strawberries and green beans, and, yes, I picked the beans and ate them right there in the yard. Some sections of the garden didn’t grow as well as others so I spent time fertilizing and moving the soil around a bit before getting the fall garden planted. I expect to harvest, red and yellow onions, broccoli, sweet peas, eggplant, tomatoes, 2 kinds of lettuce, spinach and carrots as my winter crop.

Part of the thrill of having my garden is the sense of accomplishment in seeing the plants grow and produce food, but a bigger part is knowing that I am feeding my family healthy, organic food that is full of nutrients and free of pesticides and chemicals. I can definitely see adding another garden box at a later date and doubling my harvest!

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