Optimizing Sunlight: Setting Up My Container Garden & DIY Cinder Block Bench!

Join me in this latest installment of our Garden Series as we tackle the essential task of finding the perfect spot for our container garden to maximize sunlight—a key factor for thriving plants. After an initial location didn’t work out, I discovered a better spot that offers optimal sun exposure. Watch as I set up our vibrant container garden and introduce the plants to their new home.

But that’s not all! We’re also building a robust and stylish bench using cinder blocks and 4×4 posts. This DIY bench not only enhances the aesthetic of our garden but also provides a cozy spot to enjoy the beauty of our growing space.

📌 What You’ll Learn:

How to assess and choose the best location for a container garden based on sunlight.
Tips for arranging and planting in containers to ensure healthy growth.
Step-by-step guide to constructing a durable and attractive cinder block bench.
🔨 Tools & Materials Used:

Garden containers
Variety of plants
Cinder blocks
4×4 wooden posts
Soil and gardening tools
This video is perfect for those looking to start their own container garden or enhance their backyard with functional, DIY furniture. Don’t forget to hit ‘Like’, ‘Subscribe’, and share your thoughts or questions in the comments below!

#ContainerGardening #DIYGardenBench #BackyardMakeover #SunlightOptimization #GardeningTips #OutdoorDIY #HomeGardening #PlantPlacement #DIYFurniture #UrbanGardening

I love making something out of nothing I’m not trained but I am brave and determined of course I could hire a professional but DIY first all right so I am just now getting off work but my plan was to go by the nursery and see what kind of plants they have I have to get these plants in the ground now I’m actually late I intended to have this done in March but you know life I’m kind of racing the clock here I’ll try to be as quick as POS possible anyway I’m going to go by the nursery and see what kind of plants they have and just go from there [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so I just got an interesting tip from the the plant people I got two different varieties of tomatoes and I got some cayenne pepper because I know Corey um is it cayenne pepper yeah I think I think he cooks with cayenne pepper or makes something with cayenne anyway the guy suggested that I plant the tomatoes um away like space out the tomatoes and the peppers because apparently the peppers can influence the taste of the tomatoes and make the tomatoes like kind of spicy if they grow close together I never knew that I never thought that was a thing so I’m glad that I asked cuz I asked him if there was anything that should not be planted together since I’m doing a container garden I wanted to make sure that nothing is going to like offset the other thing and I know Tomatoes can get pretty big so I know that I need to allow enough space for the tomatoes but I just thought that was interesting so that’s a good little tip if you’re going to have a garden don’t plant your tomatoes with your peppers good life pack it’s pretty windy today so so I don’t know how well you can hear me but I don’t know what day this is I’ve been kind of jumping back and forth to different projects but today I’m going to try to go ahead and plant the garden the first thing I need to do is drill some holes in the bottom of the bans so that water can escape if there’s excess water there needs to be drainage so I’m going to drill those holes and then I can fill them and put put them out and put the plants in now um it’s been raining for like a week almost so everything is really wet and muddy but I did get some weed barrier that I wanted to put underneath just to try to control the weeds just around that area so I’m going to put that down first and then I will um put the bins the dirt the plants and that will be a garden now um whatever I do I need it to be removable because you can see the fence is in horrible condition and we will be replacing that fence at some point hopefully um not too far in the future but for now I’m not going to let that hinder me from doing what I need to do so I’m going to go ahead and plant the garden and then when the time comes I’ll be able to remove all of that stuff out of the way and we can fix the fence and then put it back or do something else if I change my mind so that’s the plan I’m going to go ahead and do that today and knock that out they say you should remove the weeds before you put this weed barrier down now if you think I’m about to dig up all these weeds and grass and all of that you are sadly mistaken I would not be digging up this stuff I’m just going to put this weed barrier down and then whatever grows grows it’s so windy out here I’m really concerned about my camera um I think I might move it but uh it’s really windy so I’m just going to capture what I can capture [Music] [Music] all right got the drill I have the biggest drill bit that I own so I’m going to drill six to eight holes in the bottom of each bin and I think that should be enough for drainage I think we should be good with that [Music] I think I should actually remove some of the weeds right up beside the fence so I’m going to do that now I was trying to cut corners but I’ll do that now [Music] [Music] okay so now I just need to figure out what to plant I do need to get three more bags of dirt for the other be but I do have two types of tomatoes here so I think I’ll put tomatoes and the guy at the nursery said not to put not to put the um peppers in with the tomatoes so I’ll leave those out so maybe I’ll do these onions tomatoes that’s a pepper oh an okra okay tomato onions and okra that’s what I’ll put in this one [Music] [Music] [Music] I’m thinking about the placement of the garden as I’m looking at my placement it looks like the fence is casting a shadow it’s at least like halfway I am concerned that it’s not going to get enough Sun for the plants to thrive now I do have this area here this sidewalk here that I could potentially move the bins over here and I know for a fact this area gets full sun all afternoon into the evening so I’m wondering even though it’s going to throw off aesthetically what I had in mind for that particular space obviously the goal is to have food to you know actually be able to harvest something so I am considering moving the location from there to over here I’m going to think about it a little bit more but I think think I’m kind of thinking that’s what I’m going to do okay so what were you thinking well let me go out here what I just think like halfway in open here well you see this is where they had it first right so that’s what I was thinking it’s right here cuz it’s away from the gate but it’s right in this dead smack in the center where the sun [Music] tired y’all but I got to get these other plants in the ground before they wither up and die and then I wasted money and time so I have this uh Miracle Grow raised bed soil I’m just using that and it takes about three of these bags 42.4 7 L takes about three of these to still one b and if I decide to do this next year I’m going to make this dirt stretch further I’m going try to if I want to add some bin going try to make this dirt stretch by filling the bottom with some stuff some logs and leaves and things like that to kind of fill in the space my mom told me that the uh the okra rolls up like the tomatoes and cucumbers do so like they spread out they need more space so I’m going to move the okra into this one so that one will have just the tomatoes and onions this one will have the cucumber and okra and whatever else I have over there it’s been a long day we’ve been doing some work on another area of the house that you guys will see in a future video and uh that has wiped me out for today [Music] hey guys it’s Saturday morning and I am racing against the rain it’s supposed to rain today I think it said it was like a 85% uh 85% chance of rain or something like that and it has gotten kind of chilly again maybe not chilly to some people but it’s like 50s 60s or something like that hopefully it won’t kill my little baby plants over here but um yeah I honestly guys I don’t know if if I’m going to like this but what I’m trying to do today is just stay the course and you know like go ahead and finish the project and then I will make my opinion about it after I’m done but because I had to move the garden forward to get maximum light I don’t know if it looks weird like it’s just kind of like in the middle of the yard I don’t know if that looks weird also I did not level the ground underneath which I probably should have because I think that’s what you’re supposed to do but I just honestly I didn’t feel like it so if you’re going to do this maybe level the ground underneath but I do want to I do have an idea for something um I’m going put the cedar surrounds in place and then I also want to create like a little seating area in between which is why they are kind of spaced out like they are so I’m just I mean in my mind I thought this would look nice against the fence particularly once we get the fence repaired but I don’t know it’s kind of messing up my vision now since I had to move it and I need to figure out some trellis kind of situation so that the vines like the tomato plants and the Cucumbers can grow up like they need to I think my mom said the okra does that as well so they need to go up and now they there’s nothing behind there so I I don’t know I don’t know guys um maybe let me know what your thoughts are if you have suggestions I don’t know but I’m just going to go ahead and do what I envisioned to do and then I’ll make a decision after that so let me be quick about it before I get rained on [Music] so I’m going to make the bench out of cinder blocks and 4×4 posts this is something I’ve done before and I had this set up at my apartment so going to recreate it but that’s also why I said I should have leveled the ground because I don’t know how this is going to work but we’re going to just just going to do it and see how it turns [Music] out I just realized I’m doing this the hard way it’s not like I don’t have like a cart I can use my cart to move these things so let me get smart and do that [Music] so this is why I was saying I should have leveled the ground cuz obviously there’s a hump there so now I got to figure out how to level do stuff right the first time take a lesson [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] all right guys [Music] so hold on go hold on all right guys so I don’t know let me know what y’all think so this is you can kind of see the the idea here or where I’m going with this you can probably see how I envisioned this to be up against the fence but like I said to optimize the light for the plants I needed to move it out into the yard and I just so happened to pick a spot where there’s a big hump but using the mulch to level the ground out just where the blocks are was helpful we’ll see how that holds up over time ghost is trying to get somebody’s attention I don’t know you see the where I’m going anyway I need to think through how to finish this project out again I need to consider the um something some solution for the climbing plants The Vines like the tomatoes cucumbers and okra and also I need to consider irrigation because I don’t have a water spout over here in this area so I need to figure out the best way to get water here to where I don’t forget to water the plants but also to try to make it as kind of as off hands as possible because I know if I have to come out here every day they’re probably going to dry up so I don’t know let me think about that and figure out that piece of it but that’ll probably probably be in the next video I mean I’m okay with this so far so I I I I I feel a little better about this than I did when I first came out today so anyway uh yeah just leave a comment and give me your thoughts or suggestions also guys this cart it it’s convertible it’s a cart and a dolly in one and uh it’s easily convertible cuz it just has this one little pen here but um y’all if y’all can find one of the if I can find this I think I got this at Walmart so if I can find it I’ll link it in the description box below but if you don’t have one of these I highly suggest you get one because man this thing is a lifesaver and a backsaver too so anyway that’s my tip for the week um at this point I’m just rambling so I’m going to go ahead going to wrap this video up and I will catch you guys next time okay bye