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.