Raised Planter Boxes

Yes, we have our first demo box up at Dimond Greenhouses. If you get a chance, swing by and take a look. It’s inside and to your left as you enter the greenhouse.

One of the things that I worked hard on was designing the box in a way that it could be easily assembled on the site with a minimum of tools and people. I had a crew of two that required a screw gun and a hammer to put together this 5′ x3′ exterior dimension box in just over thirty minutes. Not too bad I think.

Below are the steps to assemble the Raised Insulated Garden Box on site.

The first step is to assemble the insulated box. Start with attaching the sides. Make sure they line up at the bottom. Attach with single screws in each corner

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Next place the bottom panel in place. Make sure it’s seated into place on all sides. Loosen the corner screws a little if necessary.

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Continue screwing the bottom and sides together.

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Once the insulated box is assembled it’s time to move on to assembling the outside frame.

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As you can see even the 5′ long panels can be moved easily.

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The first step in assembling the outer frame panels is to set the cross members into place. They should be a snug fit and will set the width for the end panels.

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With the cross members in place the end panels are set into position using the brackets already in place on the corner posts. The end pieces are then screwed to the corner posts.

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The insulated box is set into place and now the top caps can be set in place and attached with galvanized finishing nails.

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There you have it. The raised insulated garden box is now ready for filling and planting.

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I’m very excited to be an OFFICIAL part of the Spenard Farmer’s Market starting tomorrow.  No more guerrilla tactics – that didn’t work anyway.

I talked to one of the organizers and it sounds like a great place to be.  They have food and  entertainment, a Master Gardner to answer questions, fresh vegetables, plants and crafts and well why don’t you just come on down and see us.

It’s located at 26th and Spenard Road in the windmill lot in beautiful, downtown Spenard, Alaska. The market will run from 10-3.

This weekend I’m going to give 10% off on any box if you buy a plant from one of the other vendors at the Spenard Farmer’s Market.  We may have some surprises in store to, but you’ll have to be there to find out.

In addition to the Garden and Flower boxes from recycled wood products, I’ll have the small model of our insulated box, plus a non-insulated raised box that is new to our offerings.

Hope to see you here.

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We’ve gathered wood from a variety of sources to be recycled.  Much of it comes from shipping pallets, some from wood packing crates and a little from demolition projects like decks.  Couple of things we’ve learned is that when we are taking apart pallets and crates we want to keep the pieces grouped together, so that when we are starting a new box project we can find enough similar material to complete the project.  We spent too much time going through stacks of materials to be used together, but on the other hand we came up with some pretty interesting combinations as well as you see below.

Another thing we were concerned and aware of in using these recycled materials is that we tried to make sure to keep a barrier that would be between the wood and the growing medium.  We also decided to leave these boxes unfinished, because of the different types of woods, surfaces and textures would be lost.

Something we hadn’t considered was the additional time it takes to work with recycled wood.  It’s warped, cracked, has varied widths and depths, and all of that can be on a single board.  So we had to adjust our tolerance for what was close enough considering the material.  One trick we learned was to use the plywood from the packing crates on the interior of the boxes and used boards from pallets as siding for appearances and structural supports.  It also provided a good surface to wrap with our heavy black plastic membrane.

Clicking on the photos below will give you a better look.  If you want a really good look our Guerrilla  Retail Truck will be found in an empty lot East of Home Depot on Tudor, Behind KTUU News office and West of Brown Jug Warehouse. Stop by and say hello if you’re in the area. I plan to be there from about 10am to 2pm or until the boxes are gone or I get run off.
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Great harvest from a haul of wood pallets and crates. Time consuming process but worth it. Word is gremlins and fairies are supposed to magically sort and organize this mess in the night. We shall see.

The second Raised Insulated Garden Box has been setup at Sutton’s Brown Thumb Greenhouse. If you plan on going to Sutton’s (please do), approach from the east on Tudor to avoid the construction at Tudor and Lake Otis.

Early comments have been that the box seems to be “overbuilt”. I do have a tendency to go overboard, believing that if I’m going to make an error, I want to make it on the side of too much rather than too little.

If you are out and about in this beautiful weather we are having I hope you take a moment and visit Sutton’s and let me know what you think.

I had intended to make the first post here about our successful set up of our first Raised Insulated Garden Box at Dimond Greenhouses here in Anchorage. Well, as luck would have it the very afternoon we were set to go, Mother Nature, decided we needed one more good snow fall, just in case anyone forgot who was in charge of such things. Normally, something like a spring snow wouldn’t stop any Alaskan worth their salt from much of anything. In this case however, my all volunteer staff declared they weren’t getting paid enough to work in the snow. Since they weren’t being paid at all, I really couldn’t argue the point. Truth is, I wanted to get good pictures of the process from delivery through the easy set up process. I didn’t think taking pictures through heavy snow would be ideal for showing off the product with the grimacing faces being forced to work against their wishes. So we’ll set a day and time early next week with suitable weather.

But isn’t that the nature of gardening? We are constantly at odds with the weather. It’s too cold, too hot, too wet, too dry, not the right soil, not the right sun exposure, all things out of our direct control mostly. We just deal with it and move on, there’s always something to be working on when weather doesn’t permit.

In my case, I took the opportunity to work on a new product set to be on display at Sutton’s Brown Thumb Greenhouse also sometime next week.

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This is two piece box. The lower box is one of our standard raised insulated garden boxes. Setting on top of that is basically a cold frame. It’s not insulate although it could be for winter use with some artificial heat source. At the very least it will help shelter plants and soil from snow pack and give you a jump on spring.

Another good feature is that the top can be removed and place directly on the ground to use as a traditional cold frame, while the box is in production phase.

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Here’s a little closer look. I’m not satisfied with the poly lid. I’m trying to get a good seal and latch system. I’m investigating the idea of using double wall poly panels It would increase the cost but may save me in time. I’m a little concerned about the weight of the lid with the amount of wood framing I’m using.

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The cold frame rests on those 2”x2” (recycled from a deck demolition) sitting on top of the lower box while fitting snug and past the edge of the insulated box.

The size of this box is 18″ wide, 24″ long, 12″ deep. The top of the planter is 32″. The top box is 18″ high in the back to 5″ in the front which is close to 22 degrees. In the future, I’ll look at increasing the slope degrees. From what I’ve read the ideal slope should be between 40-45 degrees.

While the lid is functional as is, aesthetically it leaves a lot to be desired. The hinges in back (not pictured) may be sufficient, but I think I’ll use heavier gauge either on this box, or the next.

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We’ve also chosen to finish this box with a stain and then clear coat over the top. The first one we used two coats of clear coat.

If you haven’t already, please take a moment and read the About Gardenboxes page. I’d love to get your thoughts. What you like, what you don’t. Any questions or suggestions you have. I’ll be working on my links and blog roll, so if you have a garden website or blog let me know and I’ll take a look to see if it’s something that would be a good fit here.