The mini garden I have been wanting to start has been completed. It was super easy, and a lot of fun. To start things off you will need the following:
- Wine boxes
- Soil
- Plant starters/Seeds
- Frost/Critter blanket
- Wooden steaks (if your boxes are flimsy)
- Something to prop the boxes on once complete
- Power tools
- A Manfriend to do the drilling
- Love and patience
If you have sturdy wine boxes, you will not need to reinforce the box like we did. Therefor you will not need a Manfriend, but they are fun to look at so maybe you will.
Drill that box you flannel fox. See that bucket in the background..the clout laundry detergent bucket? That was my front row seat to Manfriends playground working with wood.
As I mentioned, these boxes were collected from Trader Joe’s. We had eight boxes total. Hoarding starts at a young age my friends. This is what the boxes looked like originally.
Now you see why we have eight, these boxes are gorgeous. Despite the boxes good looks, the sides were not very sturdy. Insert woodworking Manfriend to fix the problem.
Those 4 wooden pegs were nailed in to keep the sides from splitting. Now the box is ready to go. Next step-Drill holes in the bottom for drainage.
I am the mastermind behind these six holes. I can be hired with the promise of cookies as my pay.
Now the fun part-Time to get dirty! Pour your soil(s) in to the boxes and plant your goods! We used two different “dirts,” one as a base soil, and one with a fertilizer to nourish the plants. From top to bottom: Walla Walla onions, beets, swiss chard, and carrots!
If you live somewhere that has the potential of getting frost still, like we do in Washington, a frost blanket is suggested. This also acts as an insulation while protecting your goods from creatures, slugs, passing neighbors, and slugs. Did I say slugs? I hate slugs…
Lastly make sure the boxes can drain.
We set the box ends onto left over wood for elevation. I ended up moving the wood under the box near the center more to evenly distribute the weight of the soil within the box.
There you have it, making a wine box garden is THAT easy. You just need to find some sturdy wine boxes and the rest is simple. I do suggest using some form of a label to indicate which vegetables are in which box. You can spend money on something like this:
Or you can be cheap like me and use parts that came inside the boxes, saw them into pieces and use a sharpie to write on the pieces of wood (see upper right corners of completed boxes.) OR you could make something like the poop stick by using a kitchen knife, and a hot glue gun to attach a label to the knife. Perhaps this will be another DIY post for the future.
Growing a mini garden, or growing a small potted plant in your house is both fun and rewarding. Watching your plants grow is like watching your child complete grade school..I think. I don’t have children, except for my cats..but they don’t attend school. Either way it’s extremely satisfying doing this yourself!
Q: Are you planting anything this season? If so..tell me what!
OMG, really?! This is the cutest post of your life. I am literally printing your step by step instructions right now. Love this post! Will I have a green thumb? Probably not. Gwendolyn? Bahahaha.
That thing is awesome!! Our little Christmas tree is still growing. Does that count?
Oh man alive this is so neat!!! I’m jealous of your craft skills, and your poop sign heehee
how cool! What a great idea
I would love to plant something but I’m afraid my pups will destroy them (they don’t exactly have the greatest track record..)
lol “a manfriend to do the drilling”!
WAHOO! definitely “love and patience” is RIGHT. I swear my mom’s garden produce tastes so good because she takes such care to it everyday!
you are DIY inspo!
I love having a garden! Such a sense of accomplishment
I so want to plant with the wine boxes. I read not to forget to lacquer the boxes or at least apply a wood stain to help prevent water damage. And you gotta have that manfriend to help out. One, good eyecandy and two, makes the project 10 x easier … on my part.
That’s so cute! And wicked creative. I never would’ve thought of something like that. I’ve always wanted to have a garden, but I don’t really have anywhere to put one. I can’t wait to have a huge one once I own my own house someday
look at you and your crafty self! Nice work lady
Looks like somebody is quite the crafts(wo)men! Keep it up!
haha I love the poop stick! looks like you two are gettin’ awfully crafty over there… excited to see how this turns out! I’m planting (or Pirate is) zucchini, tomatoes, squash, beans… and I think that is all that is in there for now. But I want to add CUCUMBERS because lets be honest- those little babies are basically my soulmate and staple in life and if I could grow them nearby, I would be the happiest person ever.
And then if I had extra, I could pickle them and mail you a jar. Mason style.
What an awesome project!!
omg your boxes of plants look so cute!!! you’re making me want to start my own garden!
These are adorable! I love the excuse to drink wine and plant veggies
Usually I plant herbs in the summer…I love having fresh herbs to use in recipes!
oooo we can be veggie-growing earth goddess friends together! Love the idea of recycling wine boxes, so cool! It’s great to have a “handy-man” around, huh? Viper is good at the “manly” jobs that involve power tools too
Ha, poop.
this is awesome! you’re inspiring me to start picking up the pace on this gardening thing.
You made this look so so easy!! I want a garden so stinkin bad. My hubby is supposed to be making me a garden soon!
Mini gardens how adorable! I love fresh veggies and grew up on a farm where my dad was always gardening during his spare time.
Sickkkk! So so so cute
These posts about gardening are making me wanna start! I have yet too though
Recycling AND gardening!? A blogger after my heart! Very good idea though- especially for tiny spaces like condo patios and such. I think I could do the drilling without a Manfriend, but I like to look at mine too.
This is SO clever! You are so green!!!
This is absolutely amazing! Looks so professional….shame I dont have the manfriend to come help me with this awesomeness, my garden could do with a little sprucing up!
such a cool DIY!! Love it ! <3 hautepinkpretty.com
Wow—your planting expedition looks amazing and professional!
We’re just gonna throw some seeds in a big plowed dirt area…so I don’t need a manfriend to drill any boxes, but I’m gonna try to get mine to do fun stuff like that anyway. I do enjoy watching him drive the tractor around plowing things like a farmer…he tries to be all classy, but I know where he came from! ha
We can’t plant outside yet because everything would die (or not grow in the first place), but we have some tomato plants started inside. I’m in charge of spritzing them and moving them to sunny spots in the house everyday. It’s a big job.
It’ll be fun to watch your garden grow with you!
I absolutely ADORE this idea!! Gives me an excuse to buy wine, too
This is SOOO cute. I need a wine box! To get that I’d need to buy more wine. I have like 10 bottles so maybe that’s a bad (good) idea…
I so love this concept! Would Trader Joe’s just give me boxes if I ask for them?
The wine that came in these boxes were an opportunity buy, which means we only had them for a limited time. At the store I work at, we don’t have the boxes anymore =(. You could call around and ask (they should just GIVE them to you yes) if they still have the Septima wine that comes in the wooden boxes.
If you can’t get them from TJ’s just keep your eyes open! I’ve been to other foodie like stores and asked for the boxes they had on display, one place said no..and the other place said yes! So now I have one other box that is different from my many Septima boxes. Maybe even from a local liquor store.. I was surprised how many places I saw wine boxes at after I became obsessed! Good luck!
Hmm, I can probably contact my local wine store and ask them too since I have been a regular customer for over 7 years.
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Here is the answer to the wine box gardening question!! I have to try this! So did you take like just a basic gardening type class?
Yup it was a basic gardening class, and to be honest we didn’t learn THAT much..most of our questions were answered from the on site staff. There was also a man that specialized just in answering gardening questions! The class was fun though, and I still recommend going to one (as long as their free!) We sort of just wung it, and were lucky that our harvest turned out!
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