My First Container Garden

Last year, I tried my hand at gardening. It wasn't a complete disaster, but I might've shed a few tears. I jumped right into a ground garden with zero research involved. You just stick some plants in the ground, right?

Not really. We should've tested and amended the soil. Then there's weeding and watering schedules. My elderly parents live right next door and volunteered to do a lot of the hard work--dragging the water hose and pulling weeds. Fighting off the squash bugs and hornworms. Watching for our non-existent harvest.

Um...no.

This year, I did plenty of reading up on how this city girl can attack the need for fresh veggies without losing her mind (or buying stock in Biofreeze). There seemed to be a better solution for someone who only wants a small salad garden. My solution was a container garden.

Container gardens. Here's a list of materials:

• 55-gallon food safe barrels cut into halves
• Twenty 8 ft 2x4s lumber
• nail gun
• box of 10 x 2 1/2 " wood screws
• drill
• saw (I used this Dremel Saw-Max that we bought for another project.)

I found the food safe barrels for $10 apiece on Facebook Marketplace. A lady had the same container garden goals and never got around to it.

If you aren't familiar with Facebook Marketplace, you should be. I'm sorry to introduce you to your newest addiction. So many bargains! Just be careful and always meet in a public parking lot if possible when buying your goods. Or take a friend with you for your purchase.

We used four food safe barrels, cut lengthwise along the seam on the plastic. Food safe is the operative word here because some barrels are used to store dangerous chemicals.

Aren't sure? There is a RIC code marking found at the bottom of the barrel inside a small triangle that identifies the type of resin used in the manufacture of the plastic. Manufacturers ship food in the ones with codes #2, #4 and #5. Or there might be a cup and fork symbol on it.

Ours were used initially to store drink syrup that smelled like pure sugar.

My husband and I watched a half dozen videos on how to build a garden. Click this link to watch a YouTube video that was our inspiration and guide for this project.

This project took a full day to complete. I did silly things like stain the wood and spray paint the barrels. In hindsight, I'd skip doing that because it didn't really improve the aesthetics, and the paint scrapes off easily. I'm not going to include those costs below since I wouldn't recommend doing it.

Difficulty Level: Easy

Time Investment: Weekend Project

Cost: Lumber - $70, Screws - $20, Barrels - $40, polyurethane - $10

Overall, it was a fun project. I hope to have some yummy vegetables on my table very soon.