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 would love some of these if i could!! that would be so cool!! armenian cucumber tortarelo cucumber golden gopher musk melon? royal golden melon lee okra zolotistala melon casaba melon 1 bosc pear 2 mustard gai choy 1 garden peach tomoto 4 okra mix 1 daikon radish 1 canary bell peppers 2 lemon balm 1 sweet chocolate peppers 1 bok choy 2 green zebra tomato 3 peppers yolo wonder 1 peter peppers this year, i think will be a great year for that square foot gardening!! especially with all that is needing to be put in the ground!!! **big smile** i have lots of 6 blazing star liatres 21 single white angel trumpet-smells awesome 14 lavender datura- don't smell but is pretty!! 4 sesamie seeds so if anyone want's these, let me know. :') these are filled pretty good!@! ~Medo

Greetings to you and your family, rivkadr, I am sorry to hear that your husband has had this distressing thing to deal with ... and these days are not good times in which to cope with such a difficult experience. Does his company offer outplacement coaching for people who are being laid off? I hope that your husband will spend a little while to depressurize, to reassure himself that this is not a reflection of his incapability, but part of the general business landscape these days. When one is under pressure, it is well if one can examine one's self, looking in an imaginary mirror if one is far from a real one, giving one's self a warm smile and a wink, telling one's self that that person is a person of value, while taking stock and making future plans. Has he made a list of everyone that he has known through life, with contact info and some info as to their training, skills, type of employment, interests, hobbies, vacation destinations and other items that he might find interesting and useful?? Have you, as well? Such a list often proves helpful when one needs various products, services or some other things ... ... and when one is looking for an employment position: ... who knows who might know of a situation which might fit one well. Which he's most unlikely to let you know about if he hadn't heard of your need. Often the more people who know about a certain problem ... the better the possibility of finding what one needs ... ... or, in addition, receiving some worthwile information which might be very helpful as one goes about one's daily business (or pleasure, for that matter). I send good thoughts and hopes your way, trusting that an opportunity pleasing to him may appear ... fairly soon. Good wishes to you both. ole joyful

I used the exact same stuff 2 years ago on my stamped concrete deck also. I also applied the stuff using the manufacturers skid proof additive using it twice as strong to ensure I woudn't have a slippery deck and it still is dangerously slick. I cant imagine a company selling a product like this that is used for sealing pool decks and other areas of high foot traffic. the deck looked great for about 3-4 months and then it has slowly deteriorated into looking like a milky white flaking surface. I would not reccomend to anyone to use Wet Look 2000 on any concrete surface of any kind unless you want a dangerously slippery surface for your kids to swim/play on. I am very disapointed with this product and at a cost of $199.00 bucks per 5 gallons its makes it even more frustrating as well. looking forward to what the experts have to say about its removal before sealing with another product again. Drew