Well, after finding out that my daughter might have broken her foot but might not have (how can there be indecision on something like that?!) I was homebound for the weekend.  While she watched TV on the couch, I got a little bored and wanted to dig in some dirt.  Thankfully a fun package arrived…..check out this Big Bag Bed from Smart Pots.  I couldn’t believe how quickly it arrived, since it was just mailed out on Monday.  It was so lightweight and easy to manage that I didn’t have to wait for my husband to get home and help me put anything together. So yay!!  I had a weekend project!  Container gardening is easy and fun, plus it’s a great way to get your kids outdoors.  If you haven’t tried it yet, just take a look at my Big Bag Bed.

Have you seen Tangled?  You know that part in the movie where Rapunzel is searching for some blank space on her wall so she can paint some more?  I’m a little like that in my garden.  I stand in the yard and look around with my eagle eye, trying to find a bare spot where I can stick something into the ground.   I’ve got my garden going in three different places: my countertop, my sunroom, and my backyard.  Well, four if you count my porch.  But that’s for another day.  We have this unsightly walkway down to the driveway that, let’s face it, is just wasted space.  My new bed fit perfectly right at the end of the grassy patch. I put it here because it gets such wonderful South morning sun.

I added my plants that have been growing on my countertop.  Since those sweet peas will hopefully be taller than me soon, I put in a couple of trellises that have been stored in my garage.  Under those, there will be some nice shade, so I added several rows of seeds for yummy greens.  I planted half-rows of each variety so I could experiment.  It’ll be nice to thin these out for salads too.  Bok choy, spinach, and lots of lettuce varieties are in this big bed.  Also, I planted some quick-growing turnips and beets for stirfry meals.  Oh my!  I’m so excited to see those green things!  I had this all finished in less than an hour.

The Big Bag Bed holds about 1/2 cubic yard of potting mix, which is 100 gallons of soil.  That was approximately 3 of the big potting soil bags.  I had those in my sunroom waiting to be used, so there were no trips to the store.   The walls of the bed are a very generous 12 inches high.  I was so surprised by that!  I could probably grow some small carrots or something like that, which I hadn’t even considered doing in a bed until now.  Since the Big Bag Bed is circular, it’s easy to reach into the bed from the sides.  It makes 13.5 square feet of growing area.  Although I used mine for veggies, this would be a beautiful flower bed when filled with summer blooms.  While I was working in it, I kept thinking how great a Smart Pots product would be as a gift for someone who couldn’t lift a heavy container, or who doesn’t have a lot of space but wants to grow organic produce.  They offer so many options of sizes and container shapes that you’re bound to find lots of uses for these! I had no idea that these could even be used for hydroponic gardening!

Be sure to Like Smart Pots on Facebook and on Twitter.  Also, visit on March 20 for the Spring Into Sustainability giveaway (March 20-30) for a chance to win  your own Big Bag Bed!

In the meantime, what would you grow in the Big Bag Bed?  Is there another Smart Pot product you’d like to try?