Tower Garden Tour January 2019

If you've never grown in the Juice Plus Tower Garden, I highly recommend it, especially if you are tight for space. This is a great unit to get a lot of production for your space! Plus, it's kind of science-y and is really cool for kids! I can't wait to show the boys the awesome root systems that grow inside this amazing aqua-ponic system!

Let me know if you are interested in one of these and I will connect you with someone who can tell you more about how you can make this a part of your home garden!

Installing the Garden Boxes

After what seems like an eternity of planning and planning, we have finally built (at least part way) the garden boxes! I am so excited to start filling up what looks like a wasteland in my back yard. On New Year's Day we went to Lowe's and pick up all the boards to build the boxes and enough dirt to fill the first three. (I'm waiting to fill the main area until the dirt goes on sale.) This week, we built them! Check it out!

OK, I know it's just one of them, but that's when I took the picture. The basic construction of this box is simple. there are 4 (4 x 4 x 1) posts, 4 (2 x 4 x 8) long sides, and 4 (2 x 4 x 4) short sides. We made the posts tall enough to allow space to add another level of 2 x 4s in the future. As the dirt compacts and the boxes settle, I will appreciate the ability to add a little more height. Honestly, we did this to cut down on the initial cost to build everything. I would much rather have the square footage laid out and usable than have taller beds.

To actually build the boxes, Kyle first cut all the pieces to size. To make our boxes we purchased 6 (4 x 4 x 8) boards and 56 (2 x 4 x 8) boards. Based on the configuration of our boxes and the price per foot, this was the most economical way to purchase the boards. It also made for easy cutting. (I ended up making a miscalculation along the way, but we figured out a great solution for this year. More on that later though.)

Kyle cut the (4 x 4)s into 1 foot sections. Then 18 of the (2 x 4)s in half. The rest we left whole.

After all the pieces were cut to size, assembling was easy! For the initial three boxes, construction was as follows:

We decided to assemble the 3 (4 x 8) boxes in the garage and carry them around. The first step was to lay the posts on their sides and attach the long board to make the 8 foot sides.

Then, we stood the long sides up and attached the short sides.

One layer done! Attaching the next layer of boards was simple. We started with the short ends and then the long boards slid in and held themselves in place. I don't think this really matters, but it made it easier to screw the second boards on.

We carried this first one around completed and let me tell you, that was way too heavy!! For the next two, we decided to build the first level so it would be squared and then add the second layer once we got them set in place.

We got this far and RAN OUT OF SCREWS!! Ugh. But it wasn't that big of a deal. All together it only took us a couple of hours to cut all the boards and assemble what we did.

On Sunday afternoon, while I took a nap to try to kick my cold, Kyle finished assembling the 3 boxes. On Monday night, we struggled through putting one of the large, connected boxes together. We tried to work on them while we still had daylight, but the boys weren't content to play in the yard while we worked. We waited til the minions were in bed and headed out with out flashlights to finish up. Part way through the second large box, WE RAN OUT OF SCREWS AGAIN! I can't really blame Kyle for miscounting though, because just when we were almost done, we realized I made a major miscalculation. I really didn't want to admit this to anyone, because I know i'm terrible at math and it's embarrassing, but I had to explain. I basically only calculated for enough long boards for a single layer on the big boxes. I'll tell you more about our solution in a another post and video, but we figured it out. Tuesday afternoon during naptime, I went out and finished the second large box! I'm so glad that is done!

What do you think?

Still a little rough around the edges, but pretty soon those big boxes will be filled with dirt and there will be a beautiful pathway of mulch between the boxes. I'm planning on planting a few cold hardy things this week like peas, lettuce, kale and carrots, so stay tuned for updates on those.

Want to build your own?

For those who are interested in building garden boxes there are a few things to consider:

-How space do you have?

If you have a backyard, odds are you have enough room for one of these boxes. But if you are limited on space, consider containers so container raised beds. Most stores like Lowe's have these and you can find them online as well.

-What type of soil do you have?

If you have good soil, go for a shallow bed, just enough to give a good topsoil for your plants. If you have sand, like we do, you might want to go a little deeper. I have grow in the Florida Panhandle with anyway from 6 inch to 12 inch raised beds and have had great success with all of those sizes. We are starting with 8 inch beds and will probably add to make them 12 inches deep in the next couple of years.

-What do you want to grow?

The depth of your boxes is also something to consider when you are picking our your seeds. Tomatoes, peppers and potatoes enjoy deeper soil, while things like lettuce and short carrots don't need as much depth to grow. Check out those seed packets and base your box sizes off that.

-How much are you willing to spend?

There is a wide range of box styles out there. Anything from pallet wood to beautiful stained cedar. Our boxes are very simple and not decorative, but they are very economical. To give you an idea, I'll give you a price break down for one of the individual boxes.

This box is a 4' x 8' x 8".

The materials required for a single box this size are as follows:

-6 (2 x 4 x 8) $4.27 (sale price $3.98) each

-1 (4 x 4 x 8) $7.37 each (You won't use all of this, but it's cheaper to purchase an 8 ft board than a 6 ft board. I don't know why, that's just the prices listed.)

-2 screws per connection, so for this you will want 32 (2 1/2 inch screws) minimum. These are probably around $6 for this amount.

**These should all be pressure treated since you are putting them outside.

A grand total of right about $40. Not bad!

The last thing you need before you can plant is soil. I prefer to use garden soil from bags from the hardware store. This is the third time I have build a raised bed garden in my third location. The first time i used a combination of topsoil and manure. This mixture was ok, but really took a couple of years to build up to be rich soil. The second garden I built I used the Sta-Green garden soil from Lowe's and that is what I will be using again. It is the least expensive soil that I feel is a good quality. If you want to go organic, that will be more expensive, but that is up to you. I like to wait until the 1 cubic foot bags of the Sta-green goes on sale for $2. This is the cheapest way to fill my raised beds. This year, we did go ahead and get enough to fill our 3 smaller boxes so I could get started in those.

For a 4' x 8' x 8" box, you will need about 20 cubic feet of soil. after the first year, you might need to top it off as the soil settles, but this is a great starting point. Once you have your box assembled and your soil in place, you are ready to get planting!

Stay tuned for more updates as we start to piece together this very important part of our homestead. I will have a few video updates releasing shortly as we get things done. I am so excited and honored to share this journey with all of you. Thank you for your support and if you enjoy this, please share with your friends!

God bless! Talk to you soon!

Picture [Im]perfect

It is very rare that I get to actually be in a picture with my kiddos because I am usually the one taking the pictures. I have learned to just ask someone to take a picture. We don't all have to be perfectly positioned, and we rarely will be with my three little monsters, but I cherish those imperfect moments that are captured for me to look at forever!

This is one of those moments at the strawberry patch last week. My sweet toddler had eaten his weight in strawberries by the time it was all said and done. He had smeared the juicy remnants of his favorite snack all over his sweatshirt, but hey, at least he was happy, right?

I'm thankful for pictures like these. They show the perfect imperfections of my journey through motherhood. When I look at this I see what many people don't see: the enormous, beast of a stroller that I can only take on outdoors adventures such as these because it doesn't fit in normal everyday spaces. My two little guys who probably should have had more layers on considering how windy it was, but I just kept tucking the blanket around them. The sandals that Raylen is almost too big for, but I don't have the brain capacity or the spacial awareness to safely take all 3 kids into a Walmart to buy him a bigger size. None of the boys are smiling and my mouth is open because I'm trying to encourage Raylen to look at the camera. My wind blown hair, makeup-less face and baggy clothes because I'm [a] still trying to figure out how to dress my postpartum self and [b] just want to be comfortable.

But then, if I just take a minute to stop fussing and running through all the 'wrong' things in the picture, I see what really matters. Me and my boys. We went on an adventure and had a blast. It didn't matter what we looked like or how we got there, just that we did. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Well, that's all for my sappy little post. Hope this encourages you to jsut take the picture and not get caught up in the [im]perfections! Have a blessed day!

[As a side note, I did successfully get the stains out of the sweatshirt.]