keeps out weeds and pests attractive has self watering system
I have been obsessively planning a garden in the past few months. We have a huge yard and I cook constantly so it only makes sense to plan an organic herb and veggie garden. We went so far as to meet with several landscapers but found some listened than came back with a totally different drawing or some overcharged etc.
We had abandoned the garden idea and began planning a waterfall pond and certified wildlife habitat in the yard. I kid you not. We live on what is left of the Blackland Prarie and gourds yucca etc still grow from when the Indians were there. We decided to build on that history rather than change it.
So just as that got underway I figured there was no way to mix small creatures being welcomed into our yard and stream (which will occur by water shelter and landscaping with native plants especially with prarie grasses surrounding us)with also adding veggies for us that they would want to eat. Then I found this. Shazam.
I actually got it for about a hundred bucks less direct from their website since it's on sale there right now...I am not sure if that is temporary but you might compare prices as well. Amazon is cheaper 95% of the time but in this case they (the same exact seller) still had free shipping and no tax and a big discount if bought off their site...so since prices can change on both sites double check on that first prior to ordering since it's shipped from the same seller anyway.
Positives: Attractive cedar sealed with a water base
hinged front door to easily allow you in but that with the added height keeps the critters out.
The height also keeps weeds out.
It has an automatic watering system you can set to a timer. Monitor this if it rains for a spell though or you'll get overwatering. For us in sunny and hot Austin TX this was awesome though.
The tall part you see in the back is for climbers like tomatoes. You can't tell it from the photo but it has a screen on it. That makes them climb easy and easy for you to attatch em. No ugly stakes.
There are no rows that you need to plant between your veggies so you can plant more and have less weeds because this kind of kicks any weeds that may get in via soaring through the air out.
You don't have to bend down at all to garden. It's all built up in front of you. There is room in the little enclosed porch area for a chair if you want to sit and meditate with some flowers or simply sit and prune depending upon height of chair.
We have a sloped yard but because this is enclosed we just built up one side with limestone rather than having a sloped small bed It's easy to make it level. Enclosure also keeps out our dog who is tall and goes in the backyard.
All you need to do is fill it with good dirt...and plant some seeds or if you are like us do mostly veggies and some seeds.
Incidentally I learned that planting marigolds in front of the tomato vines ceeps even more bugs away. They don't like the smell.
Veggies love to be sprayed with seaweed spray once per week. The nutrients really made a difference...any gardening place should have this especially an organic gardening one.
We figure what we save in buying veggies pays for this pretty quickly. But we buy a ton of veggies so that's all relative! Organic veggies aren't cheap. But they do taste better in addition to being better for you. With this we KNOW how they were grown.
Negatives: Don't expect this to arrive on a big truck already put together. Set aside a few hours. It's in several pieces. I did it myself...but I could see someone buying this as a gift for a retired parent out of love since there is no bending in order to garden with this and...well lets just say there is quite a bit of assembly required and you might need to plan that too if they aren't nearby. If you want to know just how much you can download the manual from their website and see it step by step. I did read that first and this chick was undaunted and I did it so it's not that it's hard you should just know this going in that there is some brain power and time you need to plan for.
Delivery: I assume it is always shipped the same way but this was shipped because its so dang big via freight carrier. They called me 2 days before it was to arrive and asked me to pick whether I wanted it on Thursday or Friday. Then they said they could give me a time to be there for delivery or they could call me with either a 30 minute or 1 hour window to meet them at my house. So I had them call me an hour prior to it's arrival I left work met them and got it to the backyard and got back to work. Nice...I wondered how the heck they'd do that since it's not like you can leave it on a doorstep! They were EXTREMELY accomodating in getting it where I wanted it and at a convenient date and time.
Conclusion: Although this is still new for us it's lovely to know when "there isn't a thing to eat" in the fridge there's a whole bin of goodies in the backyard. Salad heaven. Broccoli casserole potatoes on the grill better health because we can throw fresh organic veggies on things we never thought of before like various pizzas stuffed peppers etc. I swear they taste better when you grow em and you eat more of em.
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