Over the last dozen years, I’ve given y’all lots of ideas for gardening in any climate with anything available! Well, here we are in Alabama. The rain is glorious- something we had little of in Colorado- and this morning the whole world is green outside my window. The trees leafed out overnight! I’ve thus far written two blog posts in the last few months telling y’all what I’m gonna do in this year’s garden. So we should call this post, “Spring Planting: Take 3.”

The deer are plentiful- to my great delight- around here so gardening in the front yard was going to be impractical. We fenced in the back yard with a six foot wood fence for our dog, Prairie Rose, who is half Pyrenees, but has rejected her ancestry and despises being outside unless she is on a walk with a leash and her faux diamond collar. She much prefers to look out upon the world from the sofa. I decided to garden along the inside of the fence if she wasn’t going to use the yard anyway! I did a few feet of experimental garden a few weeks ago. The soil is clay and I am certain if I had remained in my Ceramics class, I could have made a whole dinner set by now with the soil in my yard. The plants are coming up fine with amendments, but the soil is quite thick and the weeds are plentiful.

Though my mind is willing (and thinks it’s twenty) and has great plans, my body wants to join Prairie Rose on the sofa. I could not fool myself into thinking I would be able to dig up all the space I needed, nor tend it properly and keep up with the weeds. I wracked my brain for an inexpensive, no-build way to create raised beds. I thought back to my neighbor in Penrose and how he gardened in storage bins.

So off to Walmart we went to get raised beds. At less than $7 a piece, we were able to fill the cart with storage bins, top soil, and organic gardening soil.

I drilled holes in the bottom for drainage (the most I know how to do when it comes to tools, I’m afraid) and placed them along the fence. I partially filled them with pieces of wood to create a hügelkultur environment where the wood creates drainage whilst holding water in its structure to slowly release, breaks down and feeds the soil, and in this case, helps save on soil by filling up space that the roots do not need. I didn’t put any wood in the bin that I planted potatoes in.

I filled the bins with half top soil and half organic gardening soil and watered. I planted my spring crops and labeled the bins with the contents. I think painting them would be great fun too!

I can use dowels to create rows for the peas to climb or I can use them to drape over netting or quilts.

Last night, we had enough rain that the boxes would have flooded, so I just popped the lids on! I will remove them later this morning so they can get the lighter rain.

I will get more bins for my summer crops and probably do my trench planting method for the three sisters. I’ll write more about that next month! In the meantime, I hope its springtime where you are and that your nails are starting to get dirty for the season! Happy planting!