How to Plant a Maximum Yield Vegetable Garden
- 1). Remove the snap-on lid of an 18- to 20-gallon storage tub. Cut the center section out of the lid, leaving the outer, snap-on perimeter intact, like a frame. You will use this later to secure the mulch cover.
- 2). Measure the height of a 5-inch-diameter pond basket -- a sturdy, ventilated planter used for submerged pond plants, and draw a line around the storage tub at the height of the pond basket. Cut the tub along this line with a box cutter or handsaw. Discard the top half of the tub.
- 3). Turn the cut bottom portion of the tub, the base, upside down and trace around the perimeter of the pond basket in the center of the tub. Cut a hole around the tracing at least ½ inch inside the circle. Cut another hole in the corner of the base for the PVC irrigation pipe.
- 4). Use a drill to make holes, like those in a piece of Swiss cheese, all over the surface of the base. Place the pond basket in a second uncut storage tub and wedge the base down inside the second tub tightly, positioning the pond basket right under the center hole. Drill a ½-inch hole through the side of the storage tub and base just below the top of the base. This is the drainage overflow for the water reservoir.
- 5). Cut one end of a 1½-inch or slightly wider piece of PVC pipe on an angle and stick the pipe through the other hole in the base with the angled end down. This pipe should stick up out of the tub. You will use it to fill the reservoir with water once the tub is planted.
- 6). Fill the pond basket with potting soil that's well-mixed with a good drainage material like perlite. If you will plant tomatoes, add extra dolomite to the soil. Fill the entire box with soil nearly to the rim and wet the soil lightly, just this once, before adding the plants. Stretch a black garbage bag over the planter and cut Xs for where you will put the plug plants and for the irrigation pipe.
- 7). Set the garbage bag over the tub, poke plug plants through the holes, and plant them in the soil. Snap the cut lid that is just an outer frame over the plastic bag to hold it in place. Fill the reservoir through the PVC pipe until it begins to drain out the overflow hole. Give the SIP garden lots of sun and keep the reservoir filled with water. The pond basket acts as a wick to draw water up into the soil for the plants.