Garage Door Garden

Garage Door Garden

About 6 years ago my father passed away.  When he was building his home the garage never got finished.  He only installed 1 garage door.  To complete the garage I needed 2 matching doors to make it look astatically appealing. I went to purchase a second one to match, of course they were discontinued and I had to order 2 new doors.  I had saved the old door, as seen in the photo, for this above ground garden I had envisioned.  This picture was taken from Google Maps to show the door in it's original location. 

I saved 4 panels out of 5 panels for this project.  I purchased 12 landscape timbers and had the hardware store cut them evenly in half.  I also purchased 56 6" Lumbertite  screws. 

Screw the landscape timbers together using 2 screws per timber. Alternate location of the screws for each level. That is to make sure you don't hit the lower level screws. I wanted my door green so I purchased some John Deer Green spray paint.  If you like it white then skip that step or get your own crazy color.

I left the hinges on the door. I put them on the top for future uses. I could use them as anchors for plants or anything. 

Screw the sides of the garage doors to the landscape frame. You should only need 2 screws. They should look like this. I left the grass on the bottom. 

Place 3 layers of thick newspaper all across the bottom. Then put a generous layer of leaves or mulch on top of the newspaper. 

The layer of leaves should be about this thick. 

The leaf layer should be thick enough to completely cover the bottom. The newspaper and leaves should be a great Eco environment for worms in the future. 

This picture shows all 4 panels completed.  I had the chicken wire frame on top to keep the cats out till I was able to finish.   I collected 4 hay bales and 10 bags of Miracle Grow garden soil.  You can get whatever soil you like.  I purchased this brand because I wanted it to be light, easy to work with and to make sure I knew what I was getting.  To make sure you have the right amount of soil is count the squares on the door.  You need 1 bag per square.  The last garden photo in this blog you would need 9 bags of soil, 3 bales of hay, 2 bags of peat moss and 2 bags of cow manure for each garden.

Break the hay bale in about 10" thickness, you will see how thick because the bale will break up in layers.  Layer the hay all over the top of your leaf layer.  You need 2 bales of hay per garden.

This photo shows the hay layer completely covering the garden. 

All this layering is to make your worms happy.  The next layer I collected 2 bags of Peat Moss and 2 bags of cow manure.  One bag of each for each garden frame.

Sprinkle half a bag of Peat Moss over the hay.  Then sprinkle one whole bag of manure over that Peat Moss layer. 

Sprinkle the rest of the Peat Moss on top till the hay and manure is no longer visible.  Ok your worms should be very happy about now. lol

Take the 5 bags of garden soil and place on top of the Peat Moss.

Spread the soil evenly over the top.  The garden is nearly completed for my project.  You can stop here or check out my extra care step.  Also, each year just keep adding more soil till you get it to the desired height.

Extra care step.  This next step is optional.  I put a piece of lattice on top because my neighbor and I have several outdoor cats to help keep rodents away outside.  But cat's like to mess up gardens for their personal potty space.  The lattice should make it difficult for them to dig up and poop in your garden.

Here is my first planting.  I have tomato plants planted 3 across.  I placed marigolds near my tomatoes to keep away bug pests. I put some eggplants and strawberries in here too!

This garden bed is my pepper garden, which consists of jalapeño, banana peppers and a variety of bell peppers. In two corners of each garden I planted cantelope.  Once the cantelope grows I will drape it outside the garden.  Around the edges we planted some herbs and carrots. 

Here is a picture of both gardens. 

This is my first garden about a month later. See how well it's growing. Only 3" of soil with the peat moss, hay and leaf layer. It's a very productive garden so far. 

These next 2 pictures is my daughters great uncle Charles Knighten's garden.  In this picture you can see how the sides are screwed in.  He used some bolt screws on the side with some washers.  If you use the Lumbertite screws you don't need the washers.  He placed some landscape fabric on the ground with some gravel for his garden path. 

This photo shows his best looking peppers.   In this last garden photo you can see it's quite a large garage door.  You will need 9 bags of soil, 3 bales of hay, 2 bags of peat moss and 2 bags of cow manure for each garden.

This is a picture of Charles Knighten.  The inspiration behind the garage door garden at my home.  I hope you enjoyed our garage door garden tutorial. Happy growing!  From Angell Duplechain at the Happy House in Bunkie Louisiana.