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Months ago, I read a story in the NY Times about a guy from the University of Maryland who'd started planting salad greens and herbs in a homemade table. I was so enchanted that I asked my honey to make one for me.

She laughed out loud Okay, so it would have been illegal to put one out on my fire escape in New York, but it seemed like such a seductively simple and appealing organic container-gardening strategy!

We'll, we've moved, and now we have a modest little outdoor patch. Last night I dragged honey to Big Box Hardware and bought the materials (for $75, including seeds and two big bags of organic potting soil).

I didn't tell her where we were headed until we got there Now she'll have to help me!!

Has anybody tried this? Have any tips for me?

I'll be sure to post pics and updates.

You can check out the Times article [url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/garden/10garden.html]HERE[/url] and link to the instructions [url=https://hgic.umd.edu/content/onlinepublications.cfm]HERE[/url] Just select "Vegetable, Fruit, and Herb Gardening" and you'll get a list of .pdfs to download.

Good for you! You'll have a ball with it. Just make sure you have your "box" in an area where it doesn't get too hot. Most salad mixing will "bolt" in the heat, but depending on the size of your box, you may be able to interplant with something that gets tall enough to provide some extra shade.

You can succession plant your lettuce seed, usually every 2 weeks thru the season and you'll have plenty of salad fixing regularly. Nothing like homegrown wilted lettuce.........yummy!! Do throw some radishes in there also, the greens off young radish seedlings is delic as well.

I built it today. Strange looking, but a bonus: no bending to tend (or harvest!) plants.

According to the creator of the prototype, the table needs about a gallon of water a day during the summer. He says he leaves it in full shade when the temperature really gets kicking, and then moves it back out into the sun as September rolls in.

The table is divided into three sections, so I plan to put lettuces in the first and leave the middle empty for now. I'm starting basil and mint in the third, but those will be transplanted to pots in a couple of weeks, and then I'll be able to start new seedlings every couple of weeks to keep the crop coming.

Excellent! You got pictures? I showed the DH the pics from the site you provided. That is pretty slick!