We already had one existing planter box on our property, so we went ahead and built two more out of cedar. You can check out our build here.
The next step was to plan plan plan. We used this website when we made our first planter box in Virginia, so I knew I wanted to adapt the plans again. I decided to take three off my favorite planter box plans and adapt them out to fit our 4x8 sized planter boxes.
We decided to plan the "Fun for Kids," "Mediterranean," and the "Cooks Choice" garden. We doubled and tripled some plants to fit our larger boxes, but we were happy with the different types of vegetables our boxes would hold. Some plants are even put in two or more boxes because I just didn't want to mess with the system from the gardening website plan. Eeek. Each planter box plan on the site also has a handy dandy planting map and planting guide that you can print. I just went and wrote down the sow dates for each plant and compiled a list of dates of when to plant each. We layered each of our planter boxes with a layer cardboard, then peet moss, cow manure, and topped with soil.
I drew out our 4x8 planter boxes and this is how they ended up being spaced.
So we will end up with the following:
16 corn plants
24 peas
48 carrots
3 melons
10 tomato plants
32 beans
4 celery
4 flowers
1 pumpkin
12 cucumber plants
4 patio zucchini plants
4 eggplant plants
6 sweet pepper plants
2 hot pepper plants
27 onions
scallions
radishes
messculin mix
leaf lettuce
swiss chard
spinach
basil
parsley
cilantro
oregano
Because we are on top of our game this year, we were able to plant a ton from seeds and only need to get a few started plants to round out the garden.
Watch our planting adventures.
