I know the title is a little funny but, it’s actually true. Our Mobile (moveable) garden was made out of bed from an Abbey, a Nunn’s bed.
The kids expressions say it all….this was one of the funnest family activities that we have done! Everyone LOVED helping! It was pretty exciting to be making a raised bed (literally a raised bed) garden. LOL
The bed was found at a “two barns full” antique sale that my co-worker let me know about that was just south of me. She gave me the article because she thought I might be interested (thanks Christi ! ). I had a few hours before the kids got home from school and before my husband left with the boys to “Father’s and Sons Campout”. So, I quickly ran by to see what it was all about. The antique’s were “too steep” for me but, I did find this antique bed for $25 and thought it would be a wonderful garden!
I had just been to a gardening class at our church a week earlier and it had me missing our garden but, we are renting a home and couldn’t make a permanent garden. This just seemed perfect! Off the ground where the bunnies can’t get to it and totally collapsible. (The dirt/mulch can be shoveled into bags, the screws all come out, the bed taken apart and folded flat, perfect for a NON-permanent Garden).
The gardener mentioned that you can make the garden beds almost totally out of mulch. That you only need 1 cup of soil to get a plant to sprout and you can grow in mulch (which is lightweight and inexpensive).
A thick piece of plywood was cut to size to fit inside the side rails, headboard and footboard. (We had this cut at the home improvement store for free). The sides were one solid plank of pine. Don’t use treated wood, the chemicals can leach into the food.
The board were cut to fit exactly and had to be tapped down into place before each side was screwed into place.
The kids thought it was so funny that it was a bed. They were really excited to get this garden built! Silly kids!
The holes were pre-drilled and then 3” screws were used to attach the sides.
I loved watching my daughter watch her dad!
Everyone was very interested in how the box was being built! Too cute!
Support bars on the ends were lower than the side rails so we added some screws from the bottom of the plywood up into the sides so that it wouldn’t “bow” or leak out soil.
Drainage holes were added, 12 small holes and three main holes in the center. Each one of the kids got to help dad drill a hole.
Everyone was able to help (some with Dad’s Help, Of Course!)
The three main drainage holes were covered with the herb’s plastic containers so that the water can drain. This was another tip from the gardening class; to NOT use rocks because it makes planters really heavy. So, just re-use the plastic containers that you have from your plants and it helps to drain the water out without adding all the weight of rocks in the bottom. The smaller holes we just left because they were only a half an inch wide. Just to prevent against saturation in one area.
Two-thirds of the box was filled with light weight mulch. It was the most inexpensive kind of mulch and the best for what we wanted; a lightweight, non-colored mulch. Then garden soil was added on the top.
The planning of each vegetable was decided and rows were made so we could plant the seeds in our garden!
The seeds were planted and covered according to the seed packets. The herbs were planted at the end of the rows. Then we cleaned up our bags from the mulch and soil and got the garden watered.
The kids have loved watering their garden (although it has rained a lot lately hindering the kids from watering as much as they want to) LOL
So……you ask……how does your garden grow!!!
BEAUTIFULLY!!! It has been thoroughly thrilling to watch it sprout and watch the kids excitement grow as each different row they planted has sprouted!
