Hello, friends, and thank you so much for taking time to spend a few moments with me!
A bit ago, (most likely during the pandemic, ha), I decided that I would one day like to grow my own food.
Considering the fact that I had recently built this outdoor pizza oven (you can read about the full details in the post here),
and coordinating fireplace details here,
I quite fancied the idea of a close-by outdoor herb garden where I would have veggies readily available to make pizzas with, or simply to nosh on. I immediately set about building a garden area that coordinated with the aforementioned structures. Today, I am sharing that process. I hope you enjoy the post!
The first step I took was to clear and grade the area. After ensuring the area was flat, I spray-painted a line to designate the footprint of the garden area. I removed the grass as much as possible, tilled the area, and sprayed it with a heavy-duty vegetation killer.
I covered the whole area with cardboard and then heavy-duty freeway fabric.
Before building the planters, I made a mock-up of where each planter would sit, where the garden entrance gate that I'd be adding later would be placed, and where the fencing and lighting would be placed, measuring so that the garden would have a symmetrical footprint. Initially, I planned to build four planters, but I decided to build six in the end.
After measuring and delineating where each planter would be placed, I set about building each planter. I used cinderblocks and cinderblock caps to build each planter. I used heavy duty construction adhesive to adhere the blocks to each other and the block caps to the blocks themselves.
Just as a sidebar, before this build, I did a bit of research, and I found that new cinderblocks manufactured in the US in the last 50 years are not made with fly ash, a byproduct of burning coal that can be harmful to your health. Fingers crossed that these will be fine for planting food. Also, I am using cinderblocks that are typically used for masonry, and those tend to be safer and less toxic, as they are universally used for building material. I recommend checking your supply store if you intend to build planters and inquire about the contents of your material prior to your build.
The planters are completely built, and now it is time to add ornamental elements. Here I am testing out sections of decorative fence that I will be adding to designate the garden area. You can see how I completed the area by adding the fence and lighting in the archives of my blog here.
Wherever the blocks were uneven (as shown in the previous photo), I used a grinder to grind down the masonry to make them as level and even as possible, because unfortunately, no two blocks or block caps are exactly the same.
After that, I skip-troweled each planter with Quikwall. Quikwall works as an excellent bonder, and also makes for a lovely, smooth surface indicative of the Spanish Colonial effect I wanted.
Skip-troweled planter side view.
I painted the outside of each of the planters a bright white. The paint I used was indicated for exterior use, and is weather-resistant.
Once the sides of each planter were skip-troweled and painted, I created decorative caps by adding a mosaic tile.
I placed the tiles as close to the edge of the outside of each planter as I possibly could,
then used a heavy-duty adhesive grout to attach the tile.
A bit of trial and error. In the early stages, shown here, I decided not to add tile on the inside of the planter, because the gap was too large...
so instead, I decided to add a small lip of the Quikwall to the inside of each planter where the tile had a bit of overhang rather than cutting each tile, or adhering uneven tile.
Closeup.
Completely dried and set...an almost seamless finish.
After allowing for dry and set time, I painted midway down of the inside of each planter.
After the tiles were set, dried, and the areas of the planters were painted and dried, I used a grout and tile sealer to add additional protection from the elements.
Next, I added an additional layer of cardboard to each of the planters to hopefully help prevent any grass regrowth. Cardboard biodegrades over time, so it makes an excellent barrier.
Adding the soil. I can't wait to get planting! At this juncture, I still had not decided whether this will be a cut flower garden, an herb garden, or a combination of both.
Thank you for your visit! Do you like to tinker in your garden?
Until next we meet,
--Y
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