Square Foot Gardens

Day 123: Square Foot Gardens

These square foot gardens are a testament to how even the most eco-friendly intentions can end up in the landfill. I bought these two as kits from the botanical gardens' plant sale eight years ago, in part to benefit Growing Hope (whose volunteers made the kits) and in part because I thought the $20 was a good deal for something I was wanting to try anyhow.

And the thing is, it worked! I put them up in our large concrete driveway, and even though they contained only six inches of soil resting on bare concrete, I had tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, beans, carrots, beets, radishes, basil, parsley, rosemary and a little cut flower garden. They were easy to weed in the summer and easy to dismantle in the winter. Believe it or not, the gardens actually cleaned the concrete: you could see the stark white 4'x4' squares outlined in the winter against the grayer, duller background.

When we got rid of Sam's soccer goal (way too big for our tiny yard) and put up the basketball hoop instead (the giant concrete driveway is a perfect ball court), I thought I'd just stow the frames behind the shed and reinstall them in a few years, after he got tired of b'ball or went off to college, whichever came first.

What actually came first was the rotting of the square foot gardens. The sides that are resting on the ground are completely disintegrated. Even the parts that are leaning against the shed have lost their integrity. They are full of nails and screws. Most likely, the wood is treated. Disintegrated treated wood full of hardware: neither recyclable nor compostable nor usable. No longer usable.

Into the trash. Into the landfill. Let's hear it for old-fashioned sowing right into the ground. No purchase necessary.