Hi Sarah, I'm Pam. :) I can see the advantages and disadvantages of your set up. I looked at the ingredients of the soil mix your using and it seems pretty dense to me. Quote: Contains a blend of sphagnum peat moss, compost and natural fertilizer... Sounds like a good, readily available base to start with. To me, here in the temperate rain forest, it would turn into a bog much of the year. Bog plants are nice. But... adding materials to give it more texture, so the roots have air seems the next step.I will link to the thread you want over in the container forum at the end of this post. It's a very long first post full of facts, so I suggest first scrolling through to get a feel for what's there and focusing on the relevant parts for you, right now. You may want to bookmark that one. Where I am, in a city too, I can get super large bags of pumice at an outlying farm supply store. Not sure the size of the bag, but I can't reach all the way around it and it stands up to my shoulders. One bag lasts me a couple of years. The tiny bags sold in most stores are way too expensive, so this might be something you could look around for, if you have transportation. I also use lots of 'bark mulch in my potting soil mixes. I have a gas station three blocks over that brings in medium sized fir mulch each spring/summer, so I walk my garden wagon over off and on and drag back another bag. It's funny seeing car passengers trying to figure out what that old lady is up to. When I bring a bag of manure home on the bus, in my granny cart, it seems better to wrap it in a plain black garbage bag. What they don't know, won't hurt them. LOL. My point being we each find sources that work for the individual. I like the idea of the boxes on the concrete, since it' will be easy to keep the children clean and not tracking stuff in, plus it's small enough you can keep track of things pretty easy and not get discouraged. I'm wondering how it is going to hold moisture in the heat, and how the heat will affect the center and the edges differently. A great garden experiment. I bet the heat loving herbs will thrive in just the right spot. All that extra heat from the concrete will be just heaven to them. My first idea for the plants like a tomato that wants deeper soil. What about adding some bottomless boxes. That could look really nice. Carefully arranged to look good from the window, but with the taller things not shading the other plants nearby. Yeah, this is where you move things around a few times.Any deeper container will work. I'm picturing the tomato roots going down through the container and then spreading out to where ever in the bigger 4X4 box it finds suits it needs. I wonder if somebody on http://pinterest.com/# has done something like this, it could look so interesting. You have a good base to build on. Two budget tips, since this garden thing doesn't get built in a season, would be 1. at the end of the season some places that only sell soil amendments part of the year, put it all on sale. That's a great time to stock up and have ready for next year. And 2. This is the time of year many counties run composting workshops, and also sell smaller plastic bins at a greatly reduced price. The one sold here is the Earth Machine. It's a nice way to start out. Doing a spring clean up around the area may give you some older fall leaves, then add the weeds and some kitchen compost, and your on your way to having more to add next year. My other two thoughts are you may find once it gets hot, it's drying out too fast. Adding a mulch will help, plus be adding for next years total. As far as next year. I don't have a crystal ball, but I'm imaging these boxes going higher, building the same box shape, just adding it on top. Doing it all at the start is just too much expense. I'm so curious how this is going to work where you are. What fun ! Here is a link that might be useful: The promised link

I read all the posts about trying to SPEND LESS MONEY on building tomato cages..even the one that wanted to built them for less than $3.00 each. There are a lot of suggestions...like buying fencing on a roll as a ONE time investment that LAST a life time. Well...to buy tomato cages or even to construct TOMATO cages for LESS than $3.00..........TRY FREE! CONSTRUCTION companies tear down a lot of old buildings, gates, fences. THEY HAVE TO PAY SOME DEBRI COMPANY TO DUMP THEM...so if you approach them for FREE MATERIAL..THEY ARE SO HAPPY to GIVE YOU ANYTHING you want that you can haul away yourself!. I built or use fulton bed Frames or mattress metal frames for trellis for cucumbers and string beans so they can climb up. IT'S FREE! For tomatoes, I found BIG HEAVY DUTY TALL tomato cages that I found in GROCERY OUTLET for $2.99 EACH that would have gone for $10.99 - $15.99 at HOME DEPOT. EVERY CITY HAS A "DUMP" day where tenants and homeowners leave out items on the sideways for pick up. YOU CAN FIND SOME REALLY NICE STUFF in them piles. One homeowner landscaped their house and left out a lot of big black empty planters holders (3 gallon - 5 gallon) which would have costs me $3.00 - $5.00 EACH if I have to buy them ..(FREE, FREE, FREE!!!) so I used them to plant all my herbs. I got fennel, dill, cilentro, parsley, oregano, basil going. AND do I HAVE TO PAY FOR THE HERBS or my VEGGIES? Heck no!. I use ROOT ALL or a ROOT HORMONE powder ($4.00 at WalMart) and CLONE all my veggies off from my friends or neighbor's garden. (Other than the $4 bucks that I have to spend for the rooting hormone).....otherwise it's FREE, FREE, FREE. What? "Buying" STRING to string up trellis? STRING is so FLIMSY!! If you go to HOME DEPOT or OSH...there are those LONG plastic "fastener"s that is WRAPPED around wooden boards. Those are cut and thrown to the ground as the boards are lifted up on to the display area. I picked them off shipping area grounds and use those PLASTIC string and string them across to the stakes for support for the tomato. They are STURDY and they are NOT FLIMSKY. (FREE, FREE, FREE). Got to go.... HOPE THIS ALL HELPS. FROM "FREE IS ME!!!"

When I was buying about a year and a half ago, I couldn't find any discounts. I bought directly from Oxo for my set, but I've also bought from Amazon for gift sets. I had several broken ones from Oxo (poor packaging), but I sent them a photo and they were promptly replaced without having to send back the broken ones. Warning: check every lid when you get them regardless of where they come from. Sometimes a lid won't seal - you can tell because even with the button pushed down you can lift the lid right off.

Shades- All your windows are so pretty, in that picture. I like having lots of light/views, too. Shade cloth sounds like a really good idea. I didn't think about the privacy...but that's a nice benefit, too :) I posted this on my unfitted kitchen post, but I wanted to get your input, too. I've been debating about putting the washer/dryer in the mudroom (for various reasons) and a fireplace type of surround, around the wood stove. I don't like the idea that a hot surface would be so close to the entry. So, that being said...I was playing around with some new ideas for the kitchen. I'd like to have a bigger baking area and maybe a little place for marble, out of the main work space. Then, it hit me, what if I moved the wall oven/microwave into the pantry area (I still have the range oven in the kitchen) and I could put the baking area, between the wall oven and corner pantry. I have the farmhouse sink (with the drainboards on each side) in the pantry, for watering plants, washing veggies, arranging flowers, etc. The main sink (maybe a farm sink?) would be for clean up (especially big mixing bowls, pans, etc.) and the little bar/prep sink on the island, is for drinks and washing produce, out of the fridge. Although it's just the two of us, most of the time...we do have a lot of people over in the summer and at 'harvest time' so the extra room is really nice. What do you think? Oh, and I'm thinking the marble in the baking area, blue countertops on the L part of the kitchen, and butcher block on the island...and maybe around the pantry sink. From Fairy tale cottage