Saturday, April 21, 2007

front yard planter boxes

Here are my planter boxes that we have put in the front yard. Mike built them out of plywood and I painted them, moved all the dirt around to fill them with dirt, and then I put about 6 inches of manure and garden soil in so there would be decent dirt on top for plants.
Here you can see the cement paver blocks we also put in, and the pine bark mulch around the blocks and planters. I definately don't want to weed around the planters.
This is the view out our front door, the planters mirror the driveway, side walk, and the little cement patio in the front near the front door. The bottom picture is from the yard, and most of the front yard looks like the scattered grass and dirt. I plan on just making it more of my garden, as it seems a waste of water to get grass to grow. The plants you see in the bottom corner are sunflowers. So far in the planters I have: Tomatoes, bell pepper, eggplant, onion, carrot, chives, carrot, basil, and some medicinal herbs: Catnip, hyssop, valerian, Calendula, lemonBalm, Self Heal, Skullcap, Arnica, yarrow, and Astragalus. I have a separate little planter with lavendar and peppermint growing as well.
It's been a fun project, and I just keep planning on expanding it. I have more yard to cover, and have 4 rows of corn planted, and also plan on planting some watermelon and pumpkins in the front yard. I do have flowers and some bushes as well, but again, trying to get the most use out of the water that I have to buy to put on these plants, I believe is in my best interest, as well as my families, and the environments. I am also not using any fertilizers, other than compost, or pesticides on these plants. As I gain a harvest, I also plan on selling what I can't use, composting anything that is wasted, and any annuals will continue with a fall planting and winter havesting plants for Florida.

2 comments:

Portable Graffiti said...

These planters are awesome. The thing about you, Donna, is that you talk about some great ideas, and then you actually accomplish them. You just told me about this idea of yours in March and here is just April and you have it done already!!

Jennifer said...

Looks super!