Self-watering planter - setting up the pieces

To set up the box, I leveled a pad and covered it with small pea gravel.

Next I collected the walls to assemble. Of course the box was too long!

After trimming the long faces, I attached the faces together.

Once assembled, I placed it on the pad and adjusted it until it was well seated. 

Worldwide Pinhole Day

Timing a shot of Loveland pass with a Holga pinhole camera.

Self-watering planter box - getting started

Here are the raw materials for the box. Everything is standard cedar used for fences. 

The planter is basically a four sided box, with both the floor and top open. The shell consists of two 2x6's sandwiched around a 2x4. Each long face takes two 2x6's and one 2x4. And the two short edges together take the same material as a long edge, making the total lumber six 2x6's and three 2x4's. An additional two 2x4's were needed for the internal framing.

The separate pieces of wood are held together by 2x2's. I only needed one for the short edges, and used four for the log edges. Everything is secured together with 3" outdoor wood decking screws. A power drill made assembly a snap.

Self-watering planter box

We've had a beautiful, although dry, spring here, and it has motivated me to get out into the yard rather than spending time blogging. 


 About a month ago I saw an article about self-watering planter boxes. Since we spent a lot of time last summer watering the summer vegetables, I thought it would be worth the trying one of these planters for this summers crop. 


 Here is the finished box, with squash seedlings already in place. It was constructed out of cedar 2x4's and 2x6's. Over the next week, I'll share my experience building them.

A Bit of Reorganization........

We've been undergoing a bit of reorganization.  Thanks for sticking with us.  Regular postings will resume in May, as Kelly becomes the major contributor for this Blog.

See You Next Week.........

Coming Soon: Worldwide Pinhole Day

Are You Ready?

http://www.pinholeday.org/

Time to Retire Winter

We had that bit of snow last week.  But things are greening up.  So we've changed to a Spring Banner, and we are retiring wWinter:

Last Spring Snow?

We've been having a drought, so this really helped the vegetation.  Not too cold and just enough moisture.