GAB is Magical...

Sometimes, when people see Garden Anywhere Box for the first time, they dismiss it as "just a

This tomato plant is about six weeks old
and has tomatoes.
 Maybe the boxes are magic. 

tote" or "aquaponics/hydroponics" without taking a few minutes to see how GAB really works (potting mix). Garden Anywhere Box really is an easier way to garden. Words like, "brilliant" and "genius" have been said about GAB...and not just from us... ;),...from other people...lol.

Someone commented to me the other day that there really was no magic to Garden Anywhere Box. They said that there are plans on the internet for grow boxes. There are. They said that you can find plans for a self-watering garden on the internet. You can, but they are not Garden Anywhere Box.

His words are still haunting me... "No Magic"...

I beg to differ. Maybe there is no literal "magic" in GAB, but Garden Anywhere Box is magical to me.

True, you can find plans for grow boxes on the internet. That's how we started. After having success with Earth box, Larry wanted to make his own garden box. He found plans on the internet, made a few boxes and added them to our  "box garden." After one growing season, he found design flaws with the internet plans. He corrected the flaws and made a few more boxes to add to our collection. These boxes were better, but he still saw ways to improve the design after the next growing season. After about three summers,  he was happy with the changes and decided that his design had addressed the problems and was "perfect."

Then the problem arose for me that I was watering 20 boxes by hand every day or two. I asked

Larry if there was an easier way to water because this was not as much fun as I thought...:D

For the next two years, between traveling for his "real" job to support our family, he spent his weekends, through trial and error, looking for a way to make it easier for me to water our garden. That is how our watering system was born. When you see it, you might say, "Well, duh, how simple," or "Brilliant," or "Genius." We've heard them all.

It is also true that there are plans and examples of self-watering gardens on the internet, but they are not GAB.  Garden Anywhere Box is perfect for people who live in cities with small backyards or have a patio or balcony apartment. GAB is also perfect for just about anyone who wants to garden, but has given up due to the summer heat or work involved in gardening. We have 10 acres and garden in a box...because it's easier and more productive. 

The plans that I've seen for self-watering gardens involve big barrels, pvc pipe, possibly electricity and timers or tubes in buckets. Some plans that I've seen involve gardening in buckets, but you still have the issue of watering all of your containers daily. If they are connected, the pictures I've seen don't look very efficient or portable.

The watering system is what I love about Garden Anywhere Box. It allows your garden to be watered for you. No wasted water. Self-watering. Genius. It is a size that will allow most people to be able to grow at least some of their own food.

Garden Anywhere Box is similar to other container gardens out there, but they don't have our watering system. Even the watering system designs on the internet are for the DIYer and not for average people who don't have the time, patience or know-how to make a garden like this. We have done the work and the research for you. We have gardened in a box for seven years and have had our watering system for two years. We know it works. You can grow vegetables. IT IS MAGIC. 

The Rules of Gardening...in a GAB

The Rules of Gardening.

I've been thinking about this topic for a little while. There are some rules to have gardening success with Garden Anywhere Box.

When people buy a GAB and realize that they can actually be successful and garden year round, they are so excited to plant "something". The thing is...there are still gardening rules...even in a Garden Anywhere Box. If you are new to gardening, it is important to educate yourself. Read some books. Search the internet for gardening wisdom.  Learn basic gardening rules. Learn about companion planting. Learn the best times to plant certain veggies to be successful. Gardening is really fun and not that hard, but you've got to know the rules.

Now to the rules about gardening in a GAB...

1. You have to follow the directions.

There are not a lot of rules to follow with a GAB, but there are a few. The first rule of GAB is POTTING MIX. You need to use potting mix and not potting soil. Potting soil is heavy and will not wick up the water from the water reservoir. You might as well be gardening in the ground and watering from above. That is NOT how GAB works. You choose the brand of potting mix. Miracle Grow or Organic. Your choice. Note that you can reuse the same potting mix year after year. You can turn it out and sterilize it every few years if you like and then put it back in your boxes and continue to grow your veggies. You don't have to, but if you want to, you can.

The second rule of GAB is what I call the Trinity of GAB. Dolomite, Fertilizer and Plastic... three things that you need to be successful with GAB. Every growing season, you need to redress your GAB with dolomite, fertilizer and plastic. Dolomite consists of crushed magnesium, calcium and limestone. The dolomite helps to balance the pH of the potting mix. It also helps to prevent blossom end rot. The fertilizer feeds your plants all growing season. It should be 10-10-10, but not higher than 15-15-15. The plastic is VERY important. This is one thing that is different about a GAB compared to a regular container. The plastic keeps the weeds out and moisture in. Don't forget the plastic. You need the plastic.

Follow the instructions that come with the box. Don't leave out any of the trinity or filling the box as suggested. Doing so may cause you not to be successful.

We also have a video on you tube that shows step by step how to fill your GAB and get it ready to plant.

2. There will always be bugs.
As easy as it is to garden in a GAB, there will always be bugs in the garden. It is disheartening to get excited about being a successful gardener only to find a worm munching on your kale...btdt...

Bugs happen, even in a GAB. This is why you need to educate yourself. Learn about companion planting and what herbs you need to plant with your veggies to ward off these interlopers in your garden. You can use netting to cover some plants to keep bugs, birds and grasshoppers off of your precious plants. You can use organic pest control. Did you know that there are essential oils that you can add to a spray bottle of water to kill aphids and squash bugs?  Learn about these things. 

3. You can't grow plants that need pollination...in the winter...without something to pollinate the plants. 

One of the beautiful features about GAB is that it is portable. You can bring your garden inside and garden year round. You can garden in a greenhouse in the winter or bring your boxes indoors if you have room, heat and light. If you want to grow plants in the winter that are typically summertime plants, you need bees to pollinate them unless you plan on getting a paint brush and doing a little self-pollination. 

4. Have fun.

This isn't really a rule. It's more of a suggestion. You are about to experience a really fun way of gardening. There is no weeding and the boxes are self-watering. Gardening just got a LOT easier. You need to open your mind to the possibilities of being a successful gardener. You can look at seed catalogs and order with wild abandon because you WILL be successful. You will harvest something.

Will everything grow perfectly? No. There will be seeds that don't sprout and plants that get eaten by bugs, but overall, you will be successful and you will harvest something. Here's a blog post from last year about lessons that I learned in the garden. 

I also wrote a blog post in 2012 about lessons learned in the garden.

I haven't written a blog post about the lessons that I've learned this year, but it's coming soon.

 Make sure that you have a good camera...I use my I Phone. You will now be able to enjoy your veggies in a way that you never have before. Instead of gardening being WORK, it will become fun. No more trudging through the mud to weed your garden. You can go out on your back deck, harvest what is ready, take a picture of your gorgeous produce and come back inside where it's cool. 

Find a pretty basket with low sides or a wire mesh basket to arrange your produce. When you are planting, keep in mind the size and color of your veggies. It is nice to have large, medium and small veggies to add to your basket to make it interesting to the eye. 




 Here are just a tiny few pictures that I've taken this year of my daily garden harvests. I have three boards on Pinterest where I post my daily harvest pics.
The first one is from 2013. I harvested an almost daily basket of veggies from mid June to November.  I took over 100 daily harvest pics last year.
This year I have started another board to keep up with my daily harvest pictures. I started harvesting a little earlier this year. Even though we got a late start on our garden, I was still able to harvest some in May. It is now mid August and I've harvested an almost daily basket. The only times I did not harvest was when we had to get out early for appointments. 


I planted sunflowers this year. I love them and will have to be sure and plant them again next year. They add such color to my basket.

Here is a picture of one of my helpers. The kittens seem to like to "help." They get in my shots, bat my tomatoes around like toys and bite my toes, but they are fun to watch and make me smile.

Herbs are very easy to grow in a GAB, but so are tomatoes. Eggplant is something that I tried this year. It is very easy to grow and has been prolific. 

The picture above of the sunflower and bee is one of my favorites from this year. What can I say...Sometimes you just get lucky. 

Waiting for the Rain

Radar indicated that rain was headed our way tonight. Yay!

I went outside to...take pictures...check for squash bugs...yes, there were some...and harvest a few tomatoes while I was outside enjoying the cooler, windy weather. 

Larry, having been without his mower for a few weeks, finally got it fixed. He's been trying to catch up to three weeks of grass growth and decided that he'd better mow while he could. Notice that cool grass catcher? He got it last year. His fancy mower didn't come with a bagger, so we did a search on the internet and found this one...Grass Packer.

 It works great. The neighbor's horses love the extra grass. The funny thing is, we have so much tall grass right now that the Grass Packer has to be emptied about every minute. Plus, the horses actually got tired of all of the grass Larry was bringing them and walked away...:D

Recipes...Pumpkin Pie Soup and White Scallop Squash and Crab Casserole

Not only do I have too many tomatoes on my kitchen table, I also have a couple of pumpkins and some squash calling my name. The eggplant will just have to wait...

Today, I decided that I needed to address the pumpkins and squash.

I had a couple of pumpkins and decided to roast them. I cut open the pumpkins, scooped out the seeds and roasted the pumpkins on a jelly roll pan until tender. I scooped out the flesh and put it in my Blendec...my most used kitchen appliance.

I decided to make Pumpkin Pie Soup. I figured that there was a recipe out there somewhere. I did a search, but found recipes that involved adding chicken broth. Normally, I love chicken broth. I have a freezer full of homemade broth, but it did not seem right to add it to pumpkin pie (soup). I did find a recipe for Pumpkin Almond soup that used almond milk. That's what I was going for. I could work with that.

After I pureed my pumpkins, I put the puree into a  pan. I make my own almond milk for smoothies and things, so I made a batch of almond milk. I added about two cups to my soup along with a little brown sugar, some Pumpkin Pie spice and 3 T. of Southern Okie Gourmet Pumpkin Spread.

Southern Okie had a booth across from our booth at the OK State Fair last year. We bought several jars of her apple and pumpkin spreads. She has since added peach and pear spreads to her store. You can spread it on toast or use it to enhance your recipes.

The next new recipe for the day involved my white scallop squash.  I had some white scallop squash in the fridge that i wanted to use.  I knew that I wanted some kind of squash and crab casserole. I knew that I wanted it to have cream cheese and sour cream, sauteed onions and celery. I sauteed my onions and celery and added my sliced squash. I was going to hollow them out and stuff them with crab, but this seemed easier. 

I sliced them into wedges along the scallop. Cooked a little until softer. I mixed 2 cans of crab with the sour cream, onions and celery. I would have made the "Holy Trinity" of southern cooking... onions, celery and bell peppers..., but I didn't have any bell peppers. 

I added cream cheese and a bit of shredded cheddar cheese to the crab mix and then added the squash. I mixed lightly and put it into a 9x13 glass baking dish. I would have added a bit of stuffing mix, but didn't have that either. Instead, I did have some Butter Crisp Toasted crackers to crunch on top. I mixed those in a little and baked at 350 for about 30 minutes until the squash was tender, then added a bit more shredded cheddar cheese to the top. 

The squash could have cooked just a bit longer, but the casserole turned out really good if I do say so myself. My husband had two helpings. That's high praise indeed. 

Our Garden Anywhere Box Garden June 1st to the 23rd, 2014

We planted our pool deck garden on June 1, 2014. Here is a side-by-side comparison of the plants on June 1 and then ten days later.

Notice in the first picture, the plants aren't huge. They are either from seed or from seedlings from Lowe's or Earl's nursery. The growth in less than a month is amazing to me. 

I know that there are other gardens out there with plants just as big, but our GAB garden does not have to be weeded and is self-watering. I LOVE GAB!

Can I just SHOUT OUT about our AWESOME Garden Anywhere Box watering system!!! Twenty-eight GAB's hooked up to ONE rain barrel and watering system. This is truly a self-watering garden. You can go on vacation and your garden will be watered while you are gone.

The watering system that Larry invented is amazing! If you don't know the story, here it is...

Pool deck garden June 10, 2014
Ten days after planting.

We used to have a traditional garden, but over the years, I got tired of the heat and weeds. We tried raised beds, but still...heat and weeds...even with mulch. A few years ago, we got some Earth boxes just to see if we could grow anything. Well, they worked. We got tomatoes and a few other things.

Larry decided to try and make his own. He did, but found some design flaws in the plans that he found. Over time...and boxes, he perfected his design until he was satisfied. The problem was that I was watering over 20 boxes by hand...every day! I asked him if there was an easier way to get the job done. He thought about it and decided to find a way.

Pool deck garden June 23, 2014
Twenty-three days after planting. Notice that the plants are up to the railing. 

In his spare time...when he wasn't traveling or working at his job, he set out to solve the problem...and that's how the GAB watering system was born.

Our watering system is what is truly unique and amazing about our GABs. You can hook up multiple boxes to one watering system. It saves water because there is no wasted water. Also, you can go on vacation and your garden will be watered while you are gone. You can either use a rain barrel or hook our watering system up to your outdoor faucet and your garden will be watered automatically.

Here's a video showing how our GABs work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TsHj353w_U

Please share with your friends and help us spread the word about how easy it is to garden in a Garden Anywhere Box. No weeding. Self-Watering. Portable. Btw, those light blue boxes are seven years old and going strong. We sell a better, more rugged GAB now. To order your own Garden Anywhere Box garden with the amazing watering system, go to our website, www.gardenanywherebox.com or call us directly.

Garden Anywhere Box is committed to helping you discover an easier way to garden. No weeding. Self-watering. Portable. Garden Anywhere Box...turning brown thumbs green.

Power Outages, Blessings and Bugs

Last night we were minding our own business, watching the end of the PGA golf tournament, when the power went out. It does that sometimes during a storm, but there was no storm. We waited for it to come back on (fast) since it was quite hot outside. It was about 6:30pm.  Not knowing when it would be back on, we called our son who works at a nearby Sheraton to see if he had any rooms available.  He did. Yay! We decided that we could take a chance that the power would come back on or act then to get settled just in case it was going to be a long, hot dark night.

We needed to run GAB errands today in town, so we decided to opt for the hotel last night.
We discovered later that a car hit a transformer and had taken out power to over 21,000 homes. The power was back on in about an hour (thanks OG&E), but the decision to leave had already been made.


We drove into town and got the VIP treatment from our son and the rest of the staff. Our room was lovely and cool. We were treated to a buffet of shredded beef enchiladas with the fixings and cheesecake for dessert. 

We brought one of our baskets of tomatoes to share with anyone who might want some. We didn't have any trouble giving away tomatoes. ;)




We had the parking lot practically to ourselves. That was great since I was driving the "boat"  (that's what I affectionately call the van and trailer). I don't like driving it, but since Larry is losing his vision to macular degeneration, I do all of the driving. 

As the sun set slowly over the Walmart, we settled in for a cool and comfortable sleep. 


We had a great little "vacation", got up early to run errands run and came back home to do a garden harvest...and feed the cats. They were very happy to see us. 

Here is the harvest that was waiting for me today! For perspective, the small basket on the right is what I used a lot of last year. It is about 8 inches long. Sometimes I had to break out the bigger basket (on the left). It is about 13 inches long. This year,  I have needed the big basket almost daily. I harvest almost 10 pounds of food a day. Today I needed the 16 inch basket. It is full of tomatoes that you can't even see. Plus the big basket has the ones that could not fit into the biggest basket. This harvest weighed 20+ pounds. Granted, we have accumulated about 50 boxes over 7 years time, but still...we are having a bumper crop this year.

I have a Pinterest page where I catalog, date and share pictures of my daily harvests. I took over 100 daily harvest pics last year from June to November.

This year I didn't want to wait until November to start cataloging my pictures, so I started my 2014 Garden Harvest  Pinterest page earlier and add to it daily.  I started harvesting and taking pics in May. It is August and we are harvesting like crazy. We have 56 tomato plants plus assorted other plants. I've planted squash three times this year. As one batch would be going strong, I'd plant another few plants. I'm on my third planting and wonder who will win...the squash bugs or me...?

They have been relentless the past few days. I have a squash bug spray that works to kill them dead, but I have to be diligent, checking sometimes twice a day. I killed a bunch yesterday and came home to find more squash having a party and laying eggs on my new squash plants. Grrr!

In the Garden Today...

Harvest before the arranging.

Garden Harvest...August 8, 2014

Tomatoes. peppers, eggplant, okra, cucumbers, white scallop squash, lemon balm, kale

Excited to find one more German Queen tomato. We harvested 17 tomatoes earlier and then she had to recharge. There are several more tomatoes coming on again. Yay!

August 8, 2014

There are several more tomatoes left in the lady. 
I was also happy to discover one more white scallop squash. The plant was plagued with mold. I picked off the offending blossoms and tossed them. I wondered about pulling the plant, but there were male blossoms attracting the bees, so I decided to leave it alone. I'm glad that I did. 

Baby Eggplant

This is my first year to grow eggplant. It has been so prolific. I wish I had grown it before now. One Japanese eggplant plant put off quite a few eggplants and then stopped. It's back producing again with two baby eggplants and several flowers. I also have a few Black Beauty eggplants. I am harvesting an eggplant or two a day. 

Today there were several interesting things to see in the garden.

We have a kitten that we call, "Count Rugen"  because he has six "fingers" on his front paws. He loves to climb the corn...sigh...






I also found in the garden today, the Good, the Bad, the Ugly... and the dead...

When my sunflowers first started blooming, I saw these pesky little bugs on them. When I harvested the flowers, the bugs followed the flowers to my basket. I didn't realize until I saw a picture that these are actually Mason bees. This is a "good bug" for the garden. I posted an article earlier about how to make a Mason Bee house and attract your own pollinators to your garden.

While checking my plants, I discovered that worms had eaten almost all of my kohlrabi leaves overnight. GRRR! I checked it yesterday and removed a few worms. I looked up an organic pest control for cabbage worms and decided that I would try it today. Whoops! Too Late!  

 I still tried it on the existing worms. I used salt water. That seemed to wake them up, but what got to them was the spray that I use on squash bugs. I mix 1 tsp. Dawn dish soap, 1 tsp. olive oil to a quart spray bottle of water. This year I learned that if I add a few drops of lemon essential oil to the mix, it will kill aphids. Notice the picture in the corner with the yellow cucumber flower? Aphids! Seriously! And squash bugs on my NEW squash plants. Thanks to my squash bug killer, the bad and the ugly are...the dead. 

Grapevine Wreaths and Dolmas

Three years ago we bought some grape plants from Walmart. It sounded fun to try to grow grapes. We planted them in our GABs. The first year we had lots of vines, but no grapes. I'd read that this was normal since it might take a few years for them to produce grapes.

The vines grew like crazy up and over our pergola. In the fall, the leaves turned brown and fell off. I was left with a pergola of vines. I don't know much about pruning, but I decided that I needed to prune back the vines.

I did some research on the internet and decided that I would take a chance and prune. I was left with grape stumps and lots of grape vines. I looked up how to make grape vine wreaths. I learned that the vines bend a lot easier if they are wet, so I carried batches of vines to my bathtub to soften them. Boy, that was a sight. I had to weigh them down with shampoo bottles and other things so that all of the vines would be submerged. But, it worked. They became pliable. Now the fun part...wrangling grape vines into a wreath...

It was a lot easier than I thought. A bit wet and messy, but fun. I felt so creative. Not only had I made my own grape vine wreathes, but I actually grew my own grape vines. How cool was that?!!!

I ended up making quite a few and giving them away as Christmas presents. 

 
The next year I was excited to grow my own grape vines for wreathes again, but it was not to be Aphids attacked my plants. I had to cut most of them back severely. If only I'd known what I learned this summer about aphids... lemon oil kills them...I could have saved my vines. I harvested enough to make about 4 wreathes, but I was sure hoping for more.

This year, the vines started growing again. I even had a few grapes, but something ate them..sigh...but I still have the vines. They are growing like crazy again...and no aphids.

While I was out walking through my back deck garden, I was looking at the grape leaves and wondering about making stuffed grape leaves or dolma. I looked up a recipe...there are many to choose from...to see what was recommended. I learned that I need to harvest small to medium tender leaves. Some of the leaves are pretty big, but tomorrow, I'll go out and see what I can harvest. It'll be fun trying a new recipe with grape leaves that I grew myself.

Here is a video with step-by-step instructions for making your own stuffed grape leaves.

Here is an article about the nutritional value of grape leaves.

Consider growing grapes in your GAB so that you can experience harvesting your own vines and making your own dolmas.

Dehydrators...The Saga Continues...

 

I have an old brown, round Nesco dehydrator that I really like. It's quiet. The heating source is a coil at the bottom of the unit. It works great...except that it's a bit tricky to make fruit roll-ups.

A few years ago, I decided to bite the bullet and buy an Excalibur Nine-Tray Dehydrator. I thought that this would allow me more dehydrating room and square trays for making my own fruit roll-ups.

The first time I used the Excalibur, I discovered how noisy it was compared to my quiet little Nesco. It did not take me long to abandon the noise for the quiet...even if it meant misshapen fruit roll-ups.

Fast forward to today. With so many tomatoes needing attention, I noticed that my Nesco was having a bit of trouble with hot spots. Some parts of the trays were getting too done, while others were not close to dry.

I decided to get out the Excalibur and use it with my Nesco to help me get more done. Eight trays of tomatoes ready to dry. I plugged it in and turned it on. Noisy, but if it is more effecient,  then it's worth it. I noticed right off that the air was blowing 

cool. I wondered about that, but thought that it 

just needed to warm up.

I kept checking on it. The air was still cool. I turned up the heating knob to the highest setting instead of the vegetable setting that was recommended. No change. After a day and a half and no progress, I discovered mold on my tomatoes. Yikes!

What a disappointment! Eight trays of tomatoes that had to be tossed and a practically brand new (used twice) dehydrator that does not work. I've had it too long for it to be under warranty. I'll have to decide whether to pay $30 something dollars to replace the heating element or modify it some other way.

I found a video on how one lady replaced the heating element in her Excalibur.  Apparently, I'm not the only one with this issue...

I looked into building my own dehydrator. There are lots of options out there from basic to complex. Not sure what direction I'll go. Stay tuned.

I found an article about dehydrating and dehydrators. I think I'll save it for reference.