A gutter garden upgrade

Two years ago, Tom and I planted a vertical gutter garden on the side of our shed, and we love it.

You can read about more about how we did it here, and see them growing here.

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Last year we didn’t plan them because last spring I was really pregnant, and at that stage in my pregnancy I was only eating marshmallows and chocolate milk. Planting greens seemed like a waste.

The gutters sat vacant for nearly two years, which left them sagging and missing end caps. They needed an upgrade.

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First, some of the screws had fallen out, so Tom just replaced them.

Then we had to search though our blackberry bramble to find the end caps, and Tom pushed them back on because I’m not strong enough.

Last, they were still sagging a little, so Tom decided to put some L-brackets under each gutter. 

Note that he only mounted them to the shed, not the gutter.

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And that’s it! Boom! In a month we’ll have greens!

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I planted arugula, spinach, and lettuce.

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I’m being optimistic about having greens in a month. I probably should have planted the seedlings earlier, hopefully they’ll have enough time to grow before summer settles in.

The gutters dry out really, really quickly. They need water every day, sometimes twice a day. Yesterday I went out to water them and noticed what might be the biggest obstacle to homegrown salads: squirrels have already rifled through the dirt.

That was quick.

Can you see that divot? Who knows, maybe the seedlings will be ok. Perhaps they were careful to not disturb the seeds.

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Ugh, circle of life, right?

4 Comments

  1. Ally April 11, 2014

    Are you planting anything else this year? I think I am going to give it another try this year. Any tips on what to plant and when?

    Reply
    • amandakrieger April 11, 2014

      i’m still deciding what to do…
      in the past i’ve planted tomatoes, different varieties of peppers, eggplant, squash, beans. i always plant vegetables after mother’s day because that was the last frost date where i grew up (southwest va isn’t far, but it’s a different growing zone). so it’s just a habit.
      if you click the “our garden” tab you can see some things we’ve done in the past. i’m definitely buying plants this year. i didn’t have it together enough to do seedlings.

      Reply
  2. Katherine A. April 11, 2014

    When you plant lettuce, and you cut it … does it grow back and you get to eat it more than once a season, or do they only produce once?

    Reply
    • amandakrieger April 11, 2014

      it grows back! as long as you keep trimming them to keep them from bolting, you can eat them all season.
      BUT they do best in cool weather, so i really needed to start them earlier.

      Reply

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