I lined the bottom with several layers of newspaper, to keep any weeds out and then added soil. I purchased new soil. I live in the South. Red clay is abundant. My compost sprouted pumpkin seeds, so I now have a pumpkin garden instead of a compost bin. I am ok with it because as a two person household we do not have a lot of waste to compost and our pine straw is used to mulch. We have more to mulch than we have pine straw. Good dirt is hard to find on our lot. Therefore, I have to pay for it.
As far as deciding a layout, I kept it symmetrical because that is what my brain/eyes favors. I read a little about square-foot gardening to get an idea of what kind of space certain veggies needed, and also checked into companion planting to try to keep the bad guys out of my veggie garden. The squash beetles obliterated my zucchini last year. I mean business this year, guys. Watch out! I am not a garden expert, and I gather most of my knowledge from just doing a lot of Googling and occasionally checking out a few library books. Plus I just like science.
I took my window boxes down, and added them to my little garden. I used one window box to plant a row of strawberries and the other box is still empty. I still have some watermelon, cucumber, and canteloupe sprouts to find homes for. I plan to run the watermelon vines amongst my still small bushes in the front yard. They definitely keep the weeds down in that area and it gives them enough room to spread with out taking up extra yard space. It worked well for me last year and it keeps the large, round (ball-like) fruit away from the dogs who hang out in the backyard. I also added pine cones on all of the open soil to keep the dogs and cat out.
There you have it, my little garden in the works.
