Planting

Planting is easy because it is way up off the ground. We drew a little diagram where we split the Grow Camp into 4 sections so we could remember what we planted where.The peas will climb up the lattice we placed in there.

Spacing, especially with sprouts this small, will be by trial and error this first time around. We've run into spacing problems using the pots before but this is so deep you can space things much closer so we'll see how it all works out.

Of course after replanting you need to soak all the plants and showering through the screen works amazingly well to diffuse the water into a light rain for the tiny seedlings.

We might get some frost tonight so we sealed it all up.

Setting up outside

I took a couple days off this week to setup the Grow Camp. Our weather in Michigan is sunny and about 70°, perfect weather to work outside.

First I set up the base and picked a spot that would get full sun, level and made sure I could still mow around everything. We are on the top of a hill so level ground is rare in our yard. Even this spot wasn't level, I had to dig a 1" trench on the shed side and the right end so it would sit level. To dig the trench I took a cheap box cutter knife, extended the blade all the way and locked it, then cut the grass right along the base on either side. Slid the base over a little and used a small hand shovel to dig out the trench. After a little bit of tweaking I got it to sit almost perfectly level. I used the grass from the trench to line the inside walls that were not in a trench to fill any gaps where soil might seep out.

Once that was done I lined the bottom with a cloth weed blocker and taped it loosely to the sides with paper painters tape.

Now the dirt. My neighbor across the street had 5 yards of sifted top soil in his driveway and said I could take as much as I needed, so I did! I even used his wheel barrel. About 12 trips back and fourth, a sweat band on my head, I got it filled with about 4" to spare. I then added a bag of peat (I planned on using 2 bags but I underestimated how much coverage a bag would do). Then 6 bags of Miracle-Gro vegetable soil mix. And finally 4 bags of PH balanced compost.

After we got everything put together I noticed that there were quite a few pins left over, 16 to be exact, and there were only supposed to be 8. Looking all over I discovered that I missed all the pins that go under the top rails.

Since I had already pinned the end for this support bar I had to take it all back apart and use some large wire cutters to remove the pins so it could be reinstalled after pinning the top part. I used a small hammer to tap many of the pins in, they can be a little tough to push in by hand.

We put these little felt pads wherever the S hooks would rub on the plastic.

We sometimes get really high winds so this should prevent any damage from the plastic flapping around and rubbing on the S hooks. The ends and even the rounded part have some rough edges from however they form these.

We can't grow everything in the Grow Camp, so I'll use the extra peat mixed with planting soil in the potted stuff like all the hot peppers, some corn and probably some of the bigger tomato plants.

Here's me just before we started planting some of the bigger sprouts like squash, cantaloupe, peas and radishes. We bought a few strawberry plants from a local greenhouse to see how they do.

Day 2

We are starting most plants from seed, 3 trays of 72 compartments each. Some of our seeds are old and never germinate so we try and spread it out with a mix of old and new seeds to see what works and also be sure to have a good harvest. I've learned that it helps to document seed growth from sprout to the produce quality to determine what we want to plant the next year.

Grow Camp day 1

I ordered this through Costco online. They had a deal with 2 sections and $100 off with free delivery. This seemed like the perfect solution to our garden in a small yard. The last two years we did a patio garden in pots and plastic tubs, while it worked pretty well and we had a lot of vegetables, we were constantly fighting pests and we didn't have full sun for things like cucumbers and melons. We debated several options to have a raised box garden on the side of the house with more sun. The main problem we kept running into was how to deal with the pests like rabbits and still be able to work on it, that and we would need bug spray for everything which we aren't fond of.

The Grow Camp was definitely the way to go in our case and I was glad to have found it.

It arrived via Fedx on April 15th in a 127lb box left in the driveway. Heavy stuff, sorry Fedx guy! Inside that box was the Grow Camp Basic and 2nd box for the Grow Camp extension.

I pre-built it in the basement, without pinning everything so I could take it back apart, to make sure I had all the parts. It went together quite easily following the diagram instructions.

All the parts fit perfect and the only minor bugs I noticed were 1) one of the top A frame joints had the locking tabs backwards, obviously a plastic mold error, but not anything that affected the assembly or structural integrity. 2) The S hooks are rather sharp and have burrs (more on this later). 3) The center - middle A frame connector had a burr on one end that I had to take a razor blade and trim it down in order to make it fit.

It is quite well designed and manufactured otherwise. I broke this back down in less than 10 minutes and it was easy to rebuild it out in the yard .