"Trish Brown" wrote in message
...
Todd Boardman wrote:

i want to establish a vegie patch for my parents, but their land is so
steep
and uneven i have thought a planter box might be the way to go.

any advice on size (depth), and also soil mix recommended.

any other help would be well appreciated

thanks, todd

I have no specific advice regarding soils etc, but when I was at
University, I had an *extremely* successful veggie garden in styrofoam
fruit boxes (the sort that come with lids). I punched in some decent
drainage holes and then just used K-Mart-cheap-and-nasty potting mix
with a handful of osmacote. I grew tomatoes, beans, snow peas and
zucchini in the first year and the yield was remarkable! Have a go at
it! Your parents will love it! :-)

I wish I knew this earlier--I used premium potting mix from Waldecks (you
know, with the red ticks). Yes, I did the same, I used those largish
styrofoam fruit boxes, heated up a poker and poked in lots of drainage
holes. Very successful with chillies, herbs like basil, parsley, oregano,
and never lacked for lettuces for a long time too. I just started a new
lot--neglected them a bit for the last few months, so needed to do some
replanting.

My tomato yield was okay, not fantastic considering the time I spent trying
to eradicate flies and watering them. My broccoli didn't head much--planted
them in early spring, maybe the WA weather at this time is too hot or
perhaps because I put them in a narrower box than the other plants (only a
foot wide in contrast to the others, which are very roughly about 2 1/2 feet
wide, about 3 - 3 1/2 feet long, 2 feet deep).