Above ground gardening has become a big deal.  There are so many different ways to build this garden.  I’ve seen wood, metal, water troughs, feed tubs and so on.  It’s an easy to learn about gardening.  Let’s get a competition going.  Everyone in the family can have a small garden and grow vegetables and the one with the most yield wins the prize.  The real winner would be that the family gets to eat some fresh healthy vegetables.  

But what do I do to get the garden bed started.  First,  you need to get the bottom filled.  You don’t need to spend a lot of money to do this.  Limbs, cardboard, and anything organic that will break down over time.  This will provide a good drainage for the rest of the soil.  

What about the other soil?  I don’t like to recommend potting soil for the beds.  Potting soil tends to pack.  Use better products like a compost, cow manure, and some top soil.  Most garden stores have a great selection of the bagged soils that you need.  I have a friend that brought me a load of mulch.  That was a really nice thing to do.    A lot of this you can find easily in the woods or farms.  Don’t use cow manure from farms that spray pesticides on their fields.  The pesticides used carry on in the cow manure.  you can also use rabbit and chicken manure as additives for your garden.  Get a shovel or use your hands and mix all of the soils really well before you plant anything.  

The next step is to get your plants and seed.  Find healthy plants, and good seed and get going.  With good care, in a few months you will be ready for harvest.  

(Mitzi Thomas owns Minden Farm & Garden LLC. Watch for her column on Fridays in Webster Parish Journal.)