Todd Boardman wrote:

i want to establish a vegie patch for my parents, but their land is so steep
and uneven i have thought a planter box might be the way to go.

any advice on size (depth), and also soil mix recommended.

any other help would be well appreciated

thanks, todd

I have no specific advice regarding soils etc, but when I was at
University, I had an *extremely* successful veggie garden in styrofoam
fruit boxes (the sort that come with lids). I punched in some decent
drainage holes and then just used K-Mart-cheap-and-nasty potting mix
with a handful of osmacote. I grew tomatoes, beans, snow peas and
zucchini in the first year and the yield was remarkable! Have a go at
it! Your parents will love it! :-)
--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

"Trish Brown" wrote in message
...
Todd Boardman wrote:

i want to establish a vegie patch for my parents, but their land is so
steep
and uneven i have thought a planter box might be the way to go.

any advice on size (depth), and also soil mix recommended.

any other help would be well appreciated

thanks, todd

I have no specific advice regarding soils etc, but when I was at
University, I had an *extremely* successful veggie garden in styrofoam
fruit boxes (the sort that come with lids). I punched in some decent
drainage holes and then just used K-Mart-cheap-and-nasty potting mix
with a handful of osmacote. I grew tomatoes, beans, snow peas and
zucchini in the first year and the yield was remarkable! Have a go at
it! Your parents will love it! :-)

I wish I knew this earlier--I used premium potting mix from Waldecks (you
know, with the red ticks). Yes, I did the same, I used those largish
styrofoam fruit boxes, heated up a poker and poked in lots of drainage
holes. Very successful with chillies, herbs like basil, parsley, oregano,
and never lacked for lettuces for a long time too. I just started a new
lot--neglected them a bit for the last few months, so needed to do some
replanting.

My tomato yield was okay, not fantastic considering the time I spent trying
to eradicate flies and watering them. My broccoli didn't head much--planted
them in early spring, maybe the WA weather at this time is too hot or
perhaps because I put them in a narrower box than the other plants (only a
foot wide in contrast to the others, which are very roughly about 2 1/2 feet
wide, about 3 - 3 1/2 feet long, 2 feet deep).

Todd Boardman wrote:

i want to establish a vegie patch for my parents, but their land is so steep
and uneven i have thought a planter box might be the way to go.

any advice on size (depth), and also soil mix recommended.

any other help would be well appreciated

thanks, todd

yeah i grow veggies in planter boxes; this stuff called perpetual
spinach, rather like english spinach, in neat rows; cos lettuce, and
tons of herbs. I decided to move the broccoli into earth because they
wanted more room for their roots, which the other stuff could cope with.
There's tom thum tomato plants in too, and they seem to be OK but i
don't plant too much on top of them.

they got a worm farm yet? i mix some of the worm casings with organic
potting mix (as i read the cheap and nasty stuff can have elements of
heavy metal in it) and powdered cowpoo (break it up with spade and soak
the big bits left then spade up again}. At this time of year too i used
the leaves pruned from the grape vine, maybe leaving them out till
they're dry and then breaking them up by hand.

Then of course it's picking a location where it's easy for them to look
after the plants and pick them; and if tons of melon or pumpkin
seedlings come up from the compost you could even try and see if they'd
spraw over their steep and uneven land!

--
::::~~~~rOOth~~~~::::