chuckurso1, If I go 2 ft. down I would need a back hoe, which I don't have, and I would just create a slow draining pond. The way I combat shallow soil is to try to amend the soil and making it deeper. I like to build a berm on the low side of my garden with some type of organic matter. The berm helps with erosion, and as it decays I toss it on the garden and build another berm with whatever organic matter I have access to. Here is the berm on the south end of my south garden. The sweet potatoes are growing over the berm. This year my berm is wood chips, last year it was hay. You can see that Johnson grass has pretty well taken over my sweet potatoes because of the Jonson grass seed in last years berm being tilled into the soil. We have had a lot of hot days this summer and I have had trouble getting the fall garden started, so I tried starting greens in the shade in my north garden. The germination was much better, but I expect the growth to be slower, but that will work till I can get later plantings to catch up. This is my newest garden, it was started this year. Above the garden you can see my supply of scrap hay, I plan on using for berms or mulch. The hay is a little rough for mulch, but I will use it if I cant find anything better. Across the highway you can see my wildlife garden area, I have 6 small gardens over there, all are larger than this one. I have had health issues this year an the place looks a little "scrappy", but with the weather cooling off I will start getting things cleaned up.

Hey, thanks, Bill! When I saw the Smokey ruler, I knew it would be perfect. As soon as I posted/e-mailed this pic, my friends started requesting peppers! Josh

Nice going Brian. Please do take some pictures of the 5 gallon when you get a chance. Mine took off but then suddenly stop. I don't have automatic watering. I think problem is with space and watering. I am not sure if you are setting to water in the middle of the day when they need the most water or not, but I find by the time I get home, I need to refill it completely. Maybe get the slowless drip possible and set it to water a few hours between 1-3 pm ??? I am going to the bbq/tomato festival in 3 weeks. It should be fun. There's a kids talent so that was pretty cute last year. http://www.fairfielddowntown.com/3events/tomato/tomatofest.html Structure: I plan to do some experiment next year using identical plants in ground, container, and SWC. For now, I will just enjoy Brian's pictures ;-).

I just opened this thread today and read through everything. This was like a "Judith" lesson on building a vignette! Shee, your centerpiece is lovely. It has reallly transformed over the course of this thread from OK to great. I love the fabric that you first added. It really changed the whole look. Then adding height...The basket brings it together. I, too, like Betty's idea to spray paint it darker - I think it will "ground" it. I especially like the link you found with the white pumpkin on the pedestal with the fall arrangement. I'm going to shamelessly copy that one! You are definietly going to WOW your Thanksgiving guests.