Two Pears in a Bowl: Cheap as Dirt

My hubby and I are cheap...he likes to say frugal... but no matter what you call it, we like to save as much money as possible on things. So, that is why we decided to dig a big hole in the ground with nothing but shovels and some elbow grease. So here is how you can make a cheap vegetable garden in your backyard. Since we are renters, we did not want to invest $100+ on a lifted garden box. We decided to just make our own darn box in the ground. That's what the pioneers did right? Just call me Mrs. Ingalls Wilder.

Step 1: STUFF

Here is what you will need:
-Some poop (James like to say "Compost" because it is more appropriate or something like that). We got ours at a local garden center using a coupon (of course). We bought 3 bags.
-Some shovels. We found that the curved shovel is MUCH more effective versus the flat one.
-GLOVES...all I have to say is, "Ouch!"

Step 2: SPACE

Find an open space of dirt in your yard. Be sure it gets plenty of direct sunlight. We chose a spot smack in the middle of our backyard. There are times in the day where it gets a bit of shade from the trees but they say 6 hours of sun per day is about right for veggies. We measured a 6X5 ish space so that we could put quite a few plants in there but we didn't need it too big.

Step 3: DIG

We found it was much more effective to have 2 people instead of 1 (I'm a genius, I know). Since we are cheap (see a theme yet?) and only had 1 round shovel and bought the cheaper (with a rebate) square shovel we had one person break up the dirt and the other scoop it into a pile.

Break by positioning the shovel and jumping

Scoop by making your husband use his muscles

Break, scoop (husband), break, scoop (husband), break, scoop, break scoop breaks.sdoc...sda...ahhh.... Drink some water

Break, scoop....I think you get the drill

Step 4: MAKE IT PRETTY

Clean up the edges to be sure the sides go straight down. If your sides curve down, anything planted on the edge will hit bad dirt sooner than everyone else.

Measure your hole, it should be at least a foot deep but it is better to go about 2 feet. We went down 1.5 feet and decided the skin on our hands was more important than that last 6 inches.

Also be sure to clean out any large rocks that you find or broken glass or random bones or other weird things that you could only come upon in the Westside. But keep the earthworms, they are GOOD.

Step 5: THE DIRT LASAGNA

Now that we've spent the last 3 hours digging our hole, we are going to fill it back in. WHAT?!?

Start by throwing some dirt from the dirt piles (pasta) back in. Then add a layer of compost (meat) and mix around. Finally add a layer of water (cheese) to the top. (At this point we we're trying to entertain ourselves with as much imagination as possible due to lack of food, water, and energy). Repeat. Repeat. Repeat...

Start out with a thin layer of compost at the bottom and focus most of the compost on the top 8 inches or so of the hole.

Mix the compost with the dirt really well

Use a lot of water

It is also a good idea to break up in large chunks as you go along. The flat shovel worked really well for this.

And Voila! you have a beautiful 6X5X2 foot garden area that cost you about $15 and 4 hours. Of course you can just drop the extra $22 to rent a motorized tiller but what is the fun in that?

Step 6: THE GOOD STUFF

Now it is time to plant! Be sure that you talk to a professional (aka. Not Me) about the types of plants, when to plant them etc etc. We went to a local garden store and they were extremely helpful.

Of course, if you live in a bi-polar state like us sometimes this happens...

So we waited a couple days and planted. Cold weather stuff like carrots, Swiss chard, and onions. We are holding off on the spinach since it is supposed to snow again but everything else should be fine.