Real small Garden for the Kids

[Greg Parnell 6]

My son wanted a garden this year so we decided to try the square foot garden method and it's doing good.

We built a 3ft x 4ft box, bought some seeds and garden soil. We planted a few seeds of corn, squash, broccoli, okra, carrots, peas and a watermelon in the squares of the garden and put a fence around it to keep the critters out.

We won't fill up the freezer with this but we sure will get a few good meals out of it and the kids love it. We also have some tomatoes in another garden thats doing good too.

Here's a picture of the little garden

[bmuone 15]

"From little acorns grow..." I bet your son will have a biggg garden someday. Thats great Greg!

[JimD 3,347]

Real nice project for the kids! :D

[stoneman 10]

greg . . . the plants look great. and a great project for the kids. i can't tell from the pictures, but i just wanted to make sure that the frame you made is not treated lumber. if so, it can be very toxic. you don't need to replace it if it is, you do need to put a plastic barrier between the wood and the dirt. happy gardening. :D

[Greg Parnell 6]

stoneman, It is treated lumber and I didn't consider it being toxic. Some of the square foot gardening websites recommended using treated lumber so I thought it was OK. I'll see about adding a barrier but I sure hope I don't mess up the plants.

Next year I won't use treated lumber.

[rickv1957 74]

Nice little garden for the kids!,Rick

[stoneman 10]

stoneman, It is treated lumber and I didn't consider it being toxic. Some of the square foot gardening websites recommended using treated lumber so I thought it was OK. I'll see about adding a barrier but I sure hope I don't mess up the plants.

Next year I won't use treated lumber.

just to further explain, the toxins in the treated lumber are absorbed through the root system of the plants. although the plants will grow fine and appear healthy, they are NOT safe to eat unless you have a protective barrier (plastic) between the boards and the dirt. you can use the treated lumber as long as you do that. white oak works well in that type of application. :D

[Nick 13]

The plants look to be doing real nice.

As far as the treated lumber you would have to look into that. Todays treated lumber process was changed several years ago so that some of those possibly harmful chemicals were removed.

[Gene_S 93]

Greg the lil garden is very cute. Here is a link with some good reading and explanation on the dangers of treated wood stoneman speaks of.

http://www.finegardening.com/design/articl...od-in-beds.aspx