Build Your Own Garden For $50

This year I really wanted to start a garden. I was a little disappointed when  I realized we didn't have any grass to make this happen. Not to mention I'm sure that the management of my complex probably wouldn't appreciate me tearing up their grass for my garden anyways. And I don't officially know that what I did was OK, but this is 100% easily removable so I don't think their should be any issues. 

So I started digging around on Pinterest for things about container gardening and urban gardening and was liking a lot of the things that I saw. Then I struck gold with this inforgraphic. Then I kept finding more and more great things about urban gardening that I just decided, I had to do it. For more ideas on urban gardeing be sure to check out my gardening pinboard on pinterest. 

So that inforgraphic was a great start but there were a few things I didn't like about it so I used that as a guide and then went and did my own thing. 

What You Need:

(1) 2 x 10 x 16 foot board, cut into (4) 4-foot long pieces (Home Depot will cut it for free for you) $14

(8) 3in screws $3

(1) 5x5 tarp $8

6 cubic feet mixed potting soil $28

Directions:

As stated in the info-graphic, construct the boards together by fastening (2) 3in screws into each corner. Repeat this until you have the square. Then lay the tarp down (I got a cloth organic one in the painting section at Home Depot for $8 which was perfect for this.) Lay the box on top of the tarp and then fill it with all your soil. 

The info-graphic says to buy only 3 cubic feet worth of 3 different kinds of soil and my dad said to just buy the mixed potting soil cause you'll never get it mixed as well as they do in the package. So I bought my 3 cubic ft of mixed soil and it was not enough! As you see in the picture my garden box isn't full and so I'll be running out to the store today to get 3 more cubic feet. Which is calculated in the above price. 

The info-graphic then goes on to say that you should make a grid out of everything so you can divide the space up evenly. While that probably is beneficial, I personally wanted to keep cost down and so I just didn't do that, and I'll just eyeball everything on my own!

Once you put this together you are not ready to plant! You have to let your soil rest and compress as my dad says. If you don't let it do this your plants will not come out that well! You need to let the soil rest and pack it down by watering it everyday for about a week or two. Then you'll be ready to garden! 

If anyone else tries this I would love to hear your feedback on how it went!