My Kind of Garden

I don't garden in the ground. I garden in boxes. I used to have a traditional garden. For years, my husband would till the ground, we'd weed and all of the traditional garden things...until I just got tired of it. I was never a "green thumb" gardener. I never had high yields. Plus, I don't like to weed and the Oklahoma heat can be brutal. I had given up on gardening, but still wished that I could grow at least some tomatoes.

That is when we started gardening in boxes. The first year I was successful. I got tomatoes and cucumbers and I didn't have to weed the garden. I was hooked! The picture on the left is our first attempt to grow tomatoes in a box. The picture on the right is two months later. 

That was eight years ago. My husband started making boxes to expand our garden. About five years ago, I had about 20 boxes that I was watering by hand...in Oklahoma, and he was working in Chicago. I asked him if there was an easier way to water everything besides dragging the hose around to every box. He thought about it and through trial and error, invented a watering system that would water all of the boxes at once. 

Our watering system is what is unique about this type of container garden. All of our boxes are connected by tubing. The watering system hooks up to an outdoor faucet or rain barrel. The watering system senses when the water level is low in the boxes, comes on, waters everything and shuts off. It uses gravity, not electricity. Plus, you can go on vacation and your garden will be watered while you are gone. A lot of people ask if this is hydroponics or aquaponics. It is neither. Just potting mix.

We liked this way of gardening so much that we felt that we needed to share this with others. This led to us starting a business to share an easier way of gardening.

We call our company, Garden Anywhere Box. No weeding. Self-watering. Portable.

We also say, "Garden Anywhere Box...Turning Brown Thumbs Green."

Garden Harvest...May 21, 2015

The portable part is how I am able to have a garden year 'round.  My husband built a simple greenhouse onto our house. Most of the produce was started this winter in about January. As it got warmer, we moved the boxes outside. Now, with the the heavy rains and flooding that we've had recently, our garden is protected in boxes with plastic over the top. When some gardens are getting drowned and washing away, mine is staying put.

I always felt like a failure in the garden. Every year I would try and hope that my garden would be successful, and then, by July, it would be too hot and weedy to care anymore. I never really enjoyed weeding. Some people love the whole process of gardening. I'm not one of those people, but I do love the harvest. I've just found an easier way to go about it.

Here's a picture of our pool deck garden from last June. No weeding. Self-watering. Portable. This is a pic of three weeks worth of growth. We planted June 1. This pic was taken 23 days later. We travel to farmers markets, fairs and expos in Oklahoma sharing our easier way of gardening.

There will always be traditional gardeners who love the process, but there are others like me who either have never gardened before because it's a daunting task or who've given up. This is an alternative. And, if you love the traditional way, GAB is an option. You can still have your garden in the ground, but can also have one in a GAB.

You can garden year round. When it's cold outside or the weather is unpredictable like where you are, start your garden indoors, bring it out when the weather is warm. When your ground can be worked, plant a traditional garden along with your GAB, and then when the weather turns cold and your garden in the ground is done for the winter, bring your GABs back inside and continue gardening. The best of both worlds. I believe that that a traditional garden is the ideal way to garden. Composting and replenishing the soil, but if you can't do that, do you do nothing? I believe GAB is an alternative for those who don't have the time, space or ability to have a traditional garden.

This is a picture of Miss Gloria's garden. She is 80 years old and had never gardened before. Now she's growing tomatoes and harvesting lettuce. 

I love GAB so much. It has given me joy in the garden. That is what I want to share with others.  

Visit our website to see more harvest pictures and to learn more about GAB. 

www.gardenanywherebox.com