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cristyn

cristyn's 00 The Zokalo garden

Garden Type: Kitchen | Sun: Full Sun | Soil: Loam | Established: 2008 | Organic

This is the first bed I put in when we moved into this house. I mostly reserve it for annual edibles, although things might shuffle a bit now that we’ve added new beds.

Located in Albany, New York, United States, cristyn's 00 The Zokalo garden is an outdoor organic garden that currently contains 47 plants.

This is a Kitchen garden that is known to be in USDA Hardiness Zone 5. It has mainly Loam soil and receives Full Sun light.
herbvegetableediblekeyhole

Photos

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Plantings

Comments

  • Katxena

    Katxena wrote:

    Your bed is pretty — I like the shape!

    Posted on 05 Jun 08 (about 5 years ago)

  • cristyn

    cristyn wrote:

    Thanks! We were trying to figure out how to maximize surface area and still reach everything. :)

    Posted on 10 Jun 08 (about 5 years ago)

  • renemarie

    renemarie wrote:

    I love your raised bed. Are those cinderblocks just resting on top of each other, or are they fixed in place somehow? Do you have any problems with them shifting?
    You’re right about maximizing the reachable area. I think I might like you mimic your design

    Posted on 18 Jun 08 (almost 6 years ago)

  • cristyn

    cristyn wrote:

    Renemarie, the cinderblocks are just resting on each other. We haven’t had any problems with shifting once we got the dirt in, but if we put too much weight on them while the bed was in progress, they’d shift and we had to pull them back. I have had problems with erosion from the holes in the cinderblock, but that was when we got 3 inches of rain in one day. I think if I did it again, I’d line them with something. On the subject of lining, we covered the bottom with hardware cloth, to keep critters from burrowing up through the bottom.

    Posted on 19 Jun 08 (almost 6 years ago)

  • TropicanaRoses

    TropicanaRoses wrote:

    It looks really nice. I thought the shape was great for accessiblity! Cinder blocks, huh! Where did you get them? Were they just laying around? We have some that are just laying around different spots in the yard, but not enough to do that. We do have enought to do something very small though. I like the idea! I also like that you used everything. The holes in the tops of the cider blocks too!

    Posted on 27 Mar 09 (about 4 years ago)

  • cristyn

    cristyn wrote:

    Thanks. We got them at Lowes; I keep looking for places around here that do salvage, but no luck. They were the cheapest building option for me. A lot of people go with wood, but that still gets expensive and it dies after a few years. I thought with these if we changed our minds we could just build them someplace else.

    Posted on 27 Mar 09 (about 4 years ago)

  • TropicanaRoses

    TropicanaRoses wrote:

    Nomadic! I like that! It is kind of like rearranging the furniture for a change of pace! Sounds cool!

    Posted on 27 Mar 09 (about 4 years ago)

  • mcav0y

    mcav0y wrote:

    hey, I am copying your idea! When you said that you would line the holes if you would do it again. What would you line them with?

    Posted on 03 May 09 (about 4 years ago)

  • cristyn

    cristyn wrote:

    I was thinking landscape cloth. It might be a little fiddly, but I’d make some sort of a cup shape with it so dirt wouldn’t leak out the bottom. The first rain (which happened to be fairly huge) washed serious quantities of dirt out of the side pockets, out the bottom. It was a big shock after the first rain when I came out and the sage wasn’t even visible except from above. I had to transplant it into the exact same place with more dirt. Nothing has come out in those quantities since, so my guess now is that it just washed out enough dirt to fill in between the gravel we got for leveling. Now that it’s settled, I’m not sure you’d need anything if you put them straight on dirt.

    Posted on 03 May 09 (about 4 years ago)

  • TheGoktor

    TheGoktor wrote:

    What a fantastic and productive garden – I’m trying really hard to not be jealous! Heheh!

    Posted on 09 May 09 (about 4 years ago)

  • cyncyn1

    cyncyn1 wrote:

    awesome garden!!!!

    Posted on 08 Jun 09 (about 4 years ago)

  • CityGypsy

    CityGypsy wrote:

    I am simply in awe of your cinderblock idea! WOW…THAT IS COOL!!! It is perfect in so many ways…the fact that you used the brick-holes for bunching onions and other assorted plantings…carrots would probably fare well in those holes too im thinkin. wow man, i am just, well my eyebrows are up over my forehead over this design! And listen…when the dollar finally crashes (and oh its going to) and the grocery store shelves are EMPTY (yes, one day that WILL HAPPEN), you are going to be GOOD TO GO BABY. I am really seriously impressed by this! For people in California (tight living spaces), many do not even have DIRT, just concrete for a backyard…well this is a cool idea if even for a smaller setting! on a scale of 1 to 10, this is an 11 !!!

    Posted on 02 Apr 10 (about 3 years ago)

  • cristyn

    cristyn wrote:

    Thanks. :) I’m not sure cinder blocks rate relative to wood, but they’re substantially cheaper and should last longer. I just wish my ground soil were unleaded so I could plant up the entire yard. One of these days I might get enough organic matter into the mix to make it palatable, then it’s goodbye what’s left of the lawn.

    Posted on 03 Apr 10 (about 3 years ago)

  • CityGypsy

    CityGypsy wrote:

    we have a patch of “lawn” in the front of our cottage…it gets all the morning sun up to early/mid afternoon. how i WISH the landlords would allow me to get rid of it so i could put in the new cinderblock garden…heh heh. i don’t really know that they won’t let me as i haven’t asked….couldn’t hurt to ask i guess. lawn is pretty…but it just sits there producing nothing but eye candy…you can’t eat eye candy.

    Posted on 03 Apr 10 (about 3 years ago)

  • CityGypsy

    CityGypsy wrote:

    incidentally…i could see where “cementing” in the cinderblock design would come in handy in the event of heavy rains. the only thing that sucks is that you couldn’t then move it to another location if you wanted to…so yeah…cloth or screens would hafta do in this case. i just showed this to my husband and he said “so, where do you want it?” HEH HEH…

    Posted on 03 Apr 10 (about 3 years ago)

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cristyn

cristyn

Albany, New York

United States

Info about Kitchen gardens

Kitchen garden photos

Gardens near Albany, New York, United States

Gardens in USDA Hardiness Zone 5

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