Monday, April 2, 2012

You might be a redneck if. . . .

You might be a redneck if. . . .you reuse household object to decorate the yard.  So they say, at least. . . . .
I, personally, smile when I see these things - probably because for YEARS both of these types of images welcomed me "home".  :) :) :) :) :)
Picture found here
Picture found here

That being said, we added a household object to our own backyard!  :)

Last week, I found this on Pinterest. I was not deceived - I know that this wouldn't REALLY work because there would be no place for the roots to go - especially since I have dreams of tomatoes. . . often. . . . lots and lots of dreams about lots and lots of tomatoes. . . and tomatoes need LOTS of room for their roots.  But, I figured if I went without the "weed free" part of the promised results - and nixed the weed block, it could be quite a success. 
So, I announced to the world Facebook that I needed pallets.  My sister shared to the rest of the world Facebook and successfully found a few pallet donors!  :) 
{Enter my brillant and ridiculously good-looking husband}
"Baby, instead of pallets, why don't you use that old box spring that we can't get rid of???" You see - Goodwill, John 3:16, the trash man. . . no one wanted this box spring . . . it was bound to become a permanent fixture in the garage place where we store everything, except the car.

So - I sent the boys to soccer and the girl & I headed off to Stringer's Nursery.  I almost lost my mind. . . we wondered around for a very long time.  P pushed the cart through every single row of amazing green-ness while I wiped the drool from my chin.  If you've never been, do yourself a favor. . . GO!!!!!!!!! 

Then - it was off to the house to begin our project!
She's good help - seriously!!!

I mean, seriously - tongue out an all. . . she was working very hard!!!! (Mom was busy taking pics!)

Helping mom remove the material from the frame.

Just another shot - because she's so dang cute - and I couldn't have done it without her! :)

This is after dad returned from the game (after stopping by to pick up the dirt & cages that I didn't have room for in my car!).  He's definitely a keeper! 


At this point, I almost lost my helper - she just about lost it!!!!!!

After 10 bags of various things. . . and help from everyone (including Daisy)

Plants are planted!!!!!

TOMATOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cucumbers, Zucchini, Squash. . . oh my!!!

This morning, Matt pointed out that they were all standing up straight in the garden!  After their first watering, they were kinda limp and sad-looking.  But - seeing them spring back to life gives me hope that I will be very successful this year!  I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :)

**Addition to original post**
The box spring had a piece of cardboard between the frame and the fabric. I kept the cardboard in hopes of providing some extra "water insulation". Oklahoma summers can be brutal - heat and drought are not unheard of. I did put many holes in the cardboard to provide routes for the roots, but left quite a bit of it to serve as a "sponge" or "reservoir" for water. I don't know if this will work, but it's worth trying! :)
Also - the ends (head and foot) are not enclosed, so we wrapped the ends in heavy plastic sheeting so the dirt didn't spill out. I guess you could add additional lumber, but we had the sheeting on hand (used it last year as a pool blanket to prevent the grass from growing through and destroying the above-ground pool).

2 comments:

  1. Billiant!! Hey, can you answer a question for us? We're going to try this but wondered what's on the bottom of the box spring box? It looks like there's a piece of cardboard after all the padding is removed and, then, on the ends, it looks like maybe you've covered it with some black bisqueen. So, please, do tell. This is a great idea!! Feel free to write us at topekawrights@aol.com

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    Replies
    1. Thanks!!! I added a "post script" to the blog. Let me know if you have any other questions. :)

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