The best idea I've heard in a long time was described in the February/March 2008 issue of Organic Gardening. The magazine article was called a "Portable Salad Box.”

A portable salad box is a 18-by-30-foot rectangle made from 1-by-4-foot cedar screwed together, and screen wire stapled to the bottom. Handles are attached on each side for easier carrying.

Any scrap wood, except pressure treated wood would work, but we have some cedar pickets left over from a gate we built, and we have a sliding screen door that had to be replaced because we have grandchildren.

What an innovative, clever way to keep your kitchen garden where you need it.

This idea is much like container planting, but for plants such as lettuces, spinach, radishes, bunching onions that don't require deep root space; instead, they need space between plants above ground.

This shallow box is perfect for placing your salad garden in sun, in cooler shade, out of the way of critters, or in the garage as conditions change throughout the season.

As with container plants, the potting soil should be pre-moistened. I'll add some fish emulsion to the mix because greens start off so well with it. Then sow the seeds sparingly in the box.

Before leaving it outside permanently, be sure to harden off the plants. In other words, leave them outside for an hour the first day and then for longer periods until they're ready to be out overnight.

If you can start the seeds indoors, they could be started mid-April and start hardening off in May or so, depending on our fickle weather.

But at least in a portable box, you can bring them inside when unexpected freezing temperatures come along. You can also bring it inside in the fall when we otherwise throw up our hands and say, "Well, the frost last night killed the last of the lettuce and that's the end of homegrown salads."

The Colorado State University, Colorado Master Gardener Program, volunteer network extending knowledge-based education throughout Colorado communities to foster successful gardeners. For information, call the CSU Extension, Elbert County Master Gardener office at 303-621-3162.

Doris Smith is a Colorado master gardener.