Do you dream of a vegetable garden where you never have to pull out weeds, and you don’t even have to bend over to tend to it? Well, I’ve got the solution for you: Bag gardening. This is how you can make vegetable gardens out of bags of soil and never have problems with weeds again.
Bag Gardening: Making Vegetable Gardens Out Of Bags Of Soil
Now, I truly can’t take credit for this genius garden hack. I learned of bag gardening from a Facebook post by a woman named Julie Morgan. She says she learned it from Kim Anderson Desmuke, North Texas Gardeners. Whoever’s original idea was this – bless them because it’s brilliant. (1)
In her post, Morgan teaches us how to plant vegetable gardens out of bags of potting soil. She says that this little trick means that you won’t ever have to deal with weeds. Bonus points if you set them on metal sawhorse grates so that your little gardens are waist-level. So long, back-breaking garden work! (1)
HOW COOL IS THIS ! ? This worked well for me for many years – it’s a simple, weed-free way to grow lettuce, spinach and…
Posted by Julie Morgan on Wednesday, March 3, 2021
Step One: Prepare Your Soil Bags
The first step is to go out and buy your bags of potting soil. You’ll want to get decently large ones unless you’re only planning on planting a handful of plants. Morgan uses bags that have 2-cubic feet of soil. (1)
First, she says to “rumple” the bags around quite a bit to break up the soil. You want it to be loose and airy before you plant your seeds. Next, poke several holes all over the bottom of each bag. This is important for drainage so that when you water your seeds, they don’t end up over-saturated and moldy. (1) Set your bags on a smooth, flat surface that allows for proper drainage. Make sure that it is a surface that won’t get too hot. She has set hers on waist-height sawhorse grates. From here, cut off the top of the plastic bag, leaving a four to five-inch border around the bag. (1)
Step Two: Plant Your Seeds
Before you plant your seeds, rake through the soil lightly to loosen up the soil just a bit more. Now your soil is ready to accept the seeds. (1) For salad greens, Morgan mixes the seeds with cornmeal in an old spice shaker container. This helps you visualize how evenly distributed the seeds are on the soil. Once you’ve evenly shaken the seeds across the soil, sprinkle a light covering of soil over the top of the seed/cornmeal mix. Spray-mist with water to set the seeds in. (1) For radish seeds or spinach, make lines in the soil according to the seed packets’ depth. From there, follow the rest of the directions on the seed packets. (1)
Step Three: Water
When you first plant your seeds, you want to keep them moist but not too wet. They need time to set in and establish roots. You achieve this by misting the surface using a spray bottle. Once they are established, and the plants have matured, you can water them more normally. (1)
Likely, you will have to water your soil bag gardens more often than a regular, in-ground garden because the soil’s depth isn’t as deep. Morgan says she keeps hers moist and not sopping. (1)
Step Four: Harvest
Once your plants have grown, it’s time to enjoy them! Remember, for lettuces and spinach, cut the leaves off, don’t pull the plants out. The leaves will grow back quickly, so you can keep enjoying garden-fresh greens all season long. (1)
The Weed-Free Garden Of Your Dreams
I don’t know about you, but no weeds to deal with and I don’t have to bend over to work in my garden? That’s enough to sell me on gardens out of bags of soil. I will one hundred percent be trying these out this spring – will you?
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