University of Maryland Salad Table and Salad Box: Adaptive Container Gardens for Master Gardener Programs

The Salad Table and Salad Box were developed by University of Maryland Extension faculty in 2006 to increase vegetable garden accessibility and provide Master Gardeners a unique tool for demonstrating gardening principles and techniques. The shallow, wooden frames are simple and inexpensive to build, can be moved to capture or avoid sunlight, and enable one to garden at waist-level. The mesh bottom promotes air pruning of roots. The Salad Table, with 11.1 sq. ft. of surface area and a volume of 2.8 cu. ft., can produce  1-2 lb. of salad greens per cutting. Increasing growing depth from 3.5 in. to 9 in. allows for the successful production of tomato, pepper, and cucumber.

Extension educators and Master gardeners in at least 20 states have built and demonstrated the Salad Table and Salad Box. A 2010 on-line survey (n=163) showed high satisfaction levels with building and gardening with these “home-made” container gardens. This “open source” project has produced improvements to the original design that are shared via a website: http://www.growit.umd.edu/ (contains videos, building and growing instructions, and photo galleries). Future goals include automated irrigation, adaptations for indoor use in schools and other institutions, and developing lesson plans for teachers.

•