Category Archives: Build

Emilee, one of my readers, gave me the instructions to build some pretty cool tomato cages. You can see from this picture that her tomatoes were over 5′ tall, and still growing, thanks to these supports. Supplies: Steel remesh–I found a roll of 5′x100′ for $100 at Home Depot Bolt cutters–$16-$20 Zip ties–$7 for pack of 100 It’s pretty expensive to tackle this on your own, especially if you don’t need 20 tomato cages. Find some friends and neighbors who are interested in buying some and share the cost! It ends up being about $6.60 each, including the bolt cutters … Continue reading →

Building your own irrigation system is not for everyone, but it’s not as hard as you might think! All you really need is determination and a good plumbing/irrigation supply store. I love my local BJ Plumbing–they are experienced, helpful, and they carry quality parts. While you can buy irrigation supplies at a discount home improvement store, I don’t recommend it. The quality of some of the products is not as good, and the advice is hit and miss. The first part in your irrigation system is a valve dedicated to your garden. If you don’t have a separate valve, you’ll … Continue reading →

This spring my friend Tara and I tackled this project together. Here’s a list of materials and costs: wood  (two 16′ 2×10 boards, one 8′ 2×10 board-$31 total) 16 corner brackets ($.56 each, $9) wood stain (1 can from the “oops” pile-$5) screws ($5) miscellaneous parts ($3) weed mat (free) kite string (free) 1 bale peat moss ($8) 1 bag perlite ($13) 3 bags chicken compost ($11) 11 bags steer compost ($15) 6 gallon bucket of coffee grounds (free) Total Cost: $100 Tools and equipment: electric drill scissors shovel gloves paintbrush First, of course, we made a plan. We visited … Continue reading →

I decided that 6″ was not enough soil for me, so I’m upgrading to 12″ boxes.  I found out my old boxes will not “mix and match” with my new vinyl materials, so basically I’m rebuilding them. They are 4′x4′x12″ (instead of 6″ high). Cost: $27 router (on super sale! at Harbor Freight Tools) ??? bit (need to pay my sister back for this) $223 posts and rails (4-8′ posts, 11-16′ rails, $14 each) $0 borrowed a miter saw $0 jig for routing holes in posts (thanks to my talented brother in law!) Altogether, it will cost about the same to … Continue reading →

Salt Lake Valley SWMF Compost 801-674-6920 6030 W California Ave SLC, UT 84104 $30 for a truck bed full Timpanogos Special Service District 801-756-5231 5050 W 6400 N (Utah County) American Fork UT 84003 $20 for a cubic yard (will not fill your truck bed)

  Since I was setting up my garden by myself, and had limited time before I needed to plant, I took the easy route of ordering my square foot gardens from Mel’s website www.squarefootgardening.com. Since I live in Utah, they were kind enough to arrange a pickup, which saved me shipping costs. Here is what I paid: $75.95 per 4×4 vinyl box, including weed mat, posts, rails, caps, and grid. This included a 5% volume discount, since I ordered three. $28.45 per tomato tower, including rebar, pipes, connectors, and nylon netting. This also included a 5% volume discount, since I … Continue reading →