Planter

Today I made this planter. It is a simple 90 cm (35.4 inches) square with no top or bottom. The soil on my property it poor and primarily consists of sticky clay, so I'm gravitating towards raised planters, not to mention it is a more comfortable way to garden. Additionally, raised planters drain well and make it harder for pests to get to your plants.

Now this is a deep planter and you may be wondering how I will fill it all. There is a technique call, hugelkultur. by which you fill the bottom portion of the planter with waste organic matter, like tree trunks, branches, leaves and the like. Most plants only use about 30 cm (12 inches) of soil, so you can fill your planter with refuse organic material and the top 30 cm with high quality soil for planting. The organic refuse material will eventually break down and create a great home for worms and good microbes.

I moved the planter to the back and need to clear an area for it. I have a large growth of Shell Ginger (Getto) to the right of the box that I think I’ll clear for the planter. I’ll dig up the Ginger and keep some, but this is an extreme hardy plant and difficult to kill. I will post about Shell Ginger in a separate post.

I lined the inside with a plastic liner and stapled it down. The planter is made of wood so it will eventually rot, but the stain and inside liner should give me a few extra years of use.