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Day 1: Planting the Eco Garden We set up the garden Friday and needed to let the soil settle for a few days before planting. This meant we’d have to wait until Sunday to plant, so we had a day to decide on and procure our plants. Since it’s a little late in the season (thanks to the snowpocalypse Minnesota experienced in April), we knew some plants might not be available, and others would be past the ideal starting time. With few expectations, we made a list and headed over to Gertens to buy whatever they had. We got pretty lucky; whether they never carried them or were just out, we’re only having to grow three crops from seed. More on that later. Companion Planting Next, we had to determine if there were any plants who didn’t play nicely together. As it turns out, our only contraindicated combinations concerned the beets. Some plants had recommended “growing buddies” so we tried to pair those together as much as possible. And, of course, we wanted to keep families together (multiples, tomatoes, peppers etc.). Google “companion planting” to get recommendations for your own garden. We consulted a few different resources, most of which had similar recommendations but some were contradictory. Case in point: a Google search at this writing revealed a few “oops” combinations which contradicted the book we consulted during planning. C’est la vie… Now, let’s do some math. Eco Garden (and many other reputable sources) recommend the grid method for planting. The garden is 4 x 6 feet, which means we have 24 square feet. We pretty much followed a 1 plant per square foot rule except for the peppers. Without further ado, here are the plants that made the cut: Broccoli (x2) Brussel Sprouts (x2) Red Cabbage Green Pepper Yellow Pepper…

Our garden was delivered today and we wasted no time getting all set up! Honestly, setting up the garden was so easy it felt a little like cheating. Aside from choosing a relatively level location in the yard, there was absolutely NO preliminary work required. No ground to till, no soil to prepare, no worrying whether that soil would be viable for the plants, no fencing to put up to keep out the critters…see what I mean about cheating? It’s certainly a different way to garden – efficient to be sure. I like efficient. I’m over feeling like a cheater now! Minimal assembly required. The garden arrived in a big cardboard box. It’s heavy, so it was all hands on deck to get it moved into position, but it only required three tools to assemble. Once in position, it went together in under 20 minutes. Again, efficiency. First the legs get attached to the base, and six feet get attached to the legs. To reinforce the legs, metal bars get screwed into place in a cross pattern. Full, the container itself will weigh over 1500 pounds so this reinforcement is a must. [vc_gallery type=”flexslider_slide” interval=”3″ images=”5232,5231,5227,5228,5229,5230″ img_size=”medium”] From there we flipped the garden over to its upright position and placed the plastic barrier into place over reservoir area. We assembled and attached the intake ports for water from our hose to fill the water reservoir. Then we attached the drainage port for overflow water to exit the reservoir once it gets full. We also placed the sensor for the reservoir in the “black box” which regulates the watering. This black box is essentially like the tank for your toilet, complete with a “float” that tells the water when to shut off. It can be adjusted so that the box fills…