Getting Your GAB Ready to Plant

Here is a tutorial for getting your boxes ready to plant.  To the right is a picture of how your empty box should look once you have installed the hardware.

Step 1

Step 1. Place the platform into the box with the watering tube on the same side as the drainage hole. The two large "wicking chamber" holes will be on the opposite side of the drain hole. Press down to secure. It is okay if there are a few gaps around the edges. The potting mix will hold the platform in place. 

Step 2

Step 2. Put the watering tube (white PVC pipe) in the watering tube hole. The end of the pipe  with the cuts goes into the hole. This allows water to be dispersed into the water reservoir in the bottom of the box. 

Step 3

Step 3. Time for the potting mix.You will need a 2.2 cubic feet bag for each box. Pack the potting mix into the holes, then continue to add more potting mix, packing and watering a bit as you go.  



 When you have filled your box to about 2 inches from the top, it is time to add the dolomite.

~ Although you have been watering your potting mix as you go, you do not want to water the top of the potting mix where you will place your dolomite and fertilizer. 

Step 4

Step 4. Take your bag of dolomite and mix it into the potting mix.

Step 5 

Step 5. Add enough potting mix to fill the box adding a bit extra to make a slight crown lengthwise exceeding the top of the box. Take your fertilizer and pour a line down the middle of the crown of potting mix.

Step 6

Step 6. Take your plastic covering, fold it in half and line it up with the watering tube. Cut a small slit in the plastic to fit over the watering tube. Place the plastic over the watering tube and smooth the plastic over the top of the box. Secure the lid to the box. Insert a hose into the watering tube, making sure that the tubes at the bottom of the box are clamped off if a single box or at the end of a row of boxes. Fill the box until water comes out the overflow signaling that your box is full.

Now you are ready to plant your garden. This will be addressed in the next blog post.

Each growing season you will have to repeat the process of removing the dead plants and adding a little bit of new potting mix to replace what was removed by the roots of the plants. Add new dolomite, fertilizer and plastic and again...you are ready to plant your garden.

We recommend that you buy a bag of dolomite, fertilizer and a roll of plastic. You should be able to get all three for about $30. This should last you a lot of growing seasons.

Geese

For over ten years we've had a family of geese visit our pond each year. They make a nest and have their babies.  Last year the mother goose built her nest too close to the end of the island. The rains came, the pond rose and her nest ended up under water. It was a sad day when we realized that we would not have babies last year.

But here they are...back again. :) This time she has placed her nest in another spot farther into the middle of the island instead of on the end.

There has been a lot of squawking lately as the geese come back together. Parents and several generations gather to determine territory, I suppose.  This morning, while I was outside looking for edible weeds,  I was also entertained by several geese. They were foraging for food when a couple more geese flew onto the grass. Then the show began. Geese were squawking at and chasing each other. Even the parents got involved over on the pond. The only time they were quiet was when they noticed me nearby and stopped squawking long enough to determine if I was a threat or not.