Hello everyone, I'm so glad that I found this forum. I'm sure I'll be spending a lot of time here learning and reading old posts.
While in the past I've grown a tomato plant or two in a container, I've never really done much vegetable gardening. This year I figured I'd try a raised garden or container garden, or perhaps some sort of combination.
I recently moved to a home where the previous owner had a nice vegetable garden, but they used chemicals such as Roundup. So I wanted a raised bed/container garden so my plants would not come into contact with the poisoned soil. I have no idea how long that stuff stays in the environment and we've been here 3 1/2 years. Do any of you know?
I would like a few tomato plants, a couple bell pepper plants, a couple basil plants, a couple lettuce plants, a couple cucumber plants, and a couple zucchini plants. If there was room for some other things, like marigolds or other beneficial plants to have grown alongside these vegetables, that would be great. Do you have any ideas of other beneficial plants besides marigolds?
My idea was to use stone or brick to build a nice looking raised garden that was tall enough to have a built-in stone/brick bench along one side on which I could throw cushions for comfort. I also have 4 dogs so the garden would be high enough to prevent a leg lift incident and prevent any digging. It is just myself and my husband, so the raised garden would be small. I realize it will take a lot of soil to fill this garden and right now I'm not even sure what the area dimensions would need to be. Could any of you offer your size suggestions?
I want a bottom to this garden to prevent contact with poisoned soil. Is this feasible or is it a recipe for disaster? Would I need to allow sections to be open to the soil below for drainage? Could I have drainage openings in the container walls? Would I be better off just using containers instead of trying to build a raised garden container of sorts?
I also figured I'd try growing some potatoes in one of those "smart bags" or a "potato condo". Does anyone have any pointers or comments on using those? Could I grow the other vegetables I was considering in those "smart bags"?
I appreciate your thoughts and experienced advice.