Introducing Greenovision Movable Gardens!

We (Mark and Emily) are proud to introduce our Movable Garden Boxes. Our boxes are custom designed and built from insect and rot-resistant natural red cedar. The legs are made of durable fir and all fasteners/hardware are rated for exterior usage. We build our boxes to last. The boxes can be moved around on either two or four inflatable rubber wheels, which are rated for 300 pounds per wheels (soil is heavy when wet). The Movable Gardens have an optional polycarbonate lid, which is a greenhouse glazing. The 8mm twin-cell lid has insulative properties due to captured airspace inside the cells. The lid traps heat at night and acts as a frost barrier. During the daylight hours, the lid will amplify the sun's energy (radiant gain) and increase the soil temperature allowing for better seed germination.

We can build our Movable Garden in many different sizes. Our typical size range is from 3ft to 4ft long and 3ft to 4ft wide. Why these sizes? Because a box filled with wet soil is very heavy! In addition, the polycarbonate lid is limited to these sizes.

Mark and Emily live in Bozeman, Montana. We handcraft each Mobile Garden to help you meet your gardening needs. Please contact us with any questions you many have at movablegarden@gmail.com

Taking Orders for Spring Gardening

Hello Gardeners! Folks in Montana are ready for Spring and are thinking about the upcoming gardening season. We've already sold many Movable Gardens and we're back in the wood shop building new gardens. Please put in your Movable Garden orders soon to be prepared for the 2013 Growing Season.

Start your seedlings in a Movable Garden

Gardening season is just around the corner-- time to start your seedlings in a Greenovision Movable Garden.

How have you usually started your seedlings? Many people start their seeds indoors, balancing trays of soil precariously on their windowsills. This method is often annoying because the trays take up space and you must be protected from curious pets. When seedlings grow bigger, many people "harden them off" by carrying the trays outdoors for a while then back in. Carrying plants inside and out every day is often a tedious process.

Starting your seeds in Movable Garden simplifies the seed-starting process. Seeds can be sown indoors in a cedar bin, similarly to how you usually start seeds in a plastic tray. Place the bin in a warm, sunny location and keep a towel, piece of cardboard, or other type of liner under the bin to contain any water that may drain. Once the outdoor temperatures are warm enough, you can carry the bin outside and place it inside the Movable Garden during the day. The polycarbonate plastic lid heats the interior of the garden, creating a mini-greenhouse effect. At the end of the day when the temperatures drop, the bin can be carried indoors where it's warmer or the entire Movable Garden can be wheeled inside a warm garage or shed. Once your seedlings are ready to be transplanted into your garden, the bin can be easily carried around your working spots.

Most folks in Montana have plenty of space for growing large gardens and don't understand the benefits of having a small Movable Garden. Using a Movable Garden for as a mini-greenhouse starting seedlings alone can be a huge asset to the larger-scale gardener. Three cedar "inner bins" fit inside the 3x4 Movable Garden. If you have a lot of seeds to start, three bins can accommodate a lot of seedlings!

Let's get planting! Please email us at movablegarden@gmail.com with any questions or to purchase a hand-crafted Movable Garden.

Happy Tomato Seedlings on a Snowy Day

As a follow-up to our suggestion for starting seedlings in a Movable Garden, I thought I'd share how my happy my tomato seedlings are this April 7, a day after a Spring Rocky Mountain snowstorm. I started my tomato seedlings indoors in late January and have kept them inside overnight and on cold, cloudy days. On most days, however, I carry them outside and they stay nice and cozy in our personal Movable Garden. Keeping them outside not only frees up my window sill space for starting other seedlings, but also exposes my tomatoes to more direct sunlight. This morning it was 43 degrees F and partly cloudy. As you can see, there are still several inches of snow leftover fro the storm. Despite the cooler temperature, the inside of the Movable Garden was 75 degrees F; about 30 degrees warmer than the outside air temperature! The garden stayed this warm with the polycarbonate lid fully closed, but as the afternoon warmed up, I was sure to prop open the lid a bit so that the interior would not overheat. The tomato seedlings are growing very well and I've saved money by starting them myself rather than purchasing them from a greenhouse.

Also, I started spinach and radish seeds about a week ago in the Movable Garden. These were planted in our hand-crafted inner bins that are filled with dirt. They have stayed outdoors in the Movable Garden day and night; with the lid usually propped open a bit during the day and closed at night. The spinach and radish seedlings were protected from the snowstorm and have definitely gotten a jump start on the growing season.

Greenovision supplies Longfellow School with Movable Gardens

April 8, 2012


We at Greenovision are excited to have built six Movable Gardens for the Farm 2 School Program at Longfellow Elementary School in Bozeman. Each grade, kindergarten through 5th, will have their own 3x3 garden for growing veggies. One of the goals of the Farm 2 School Program is to "strengthen children’s and communities’ knowledge about, and attitudes toward, agriculture, food, nutrition and the environment." The curriculum at Longfellow already includes plant growth lessons and the Movable Gardens will provide the students with the hands-on opportunity to grow their own food.

Each Movable Garden was built with four heavy-duty wheels so that the students and parent volunteers can easily move each unit around the school yard. Two of the gardens include polycarbonate lids, which amplify heat and light, creating a greenhouse effect. The Farm 2 School volunteers are hoping to have the students conduct experiments that compare the heat and plant growth differences between the Movable Gardens that have lids and those that are lid-free.

We also built and donated to the Program a smaller tomato box that will be auctioned off at a Longfellow fundraising event in May 2012. We are looking forward to returning to the school later in the Spring to see what the kids growing!

The 3x4 Model

We love the 3-foot by 4-foot Movable Garden. It is perhaps our favorite model! With 12 square feet of gardening space, it is easy to move around, but also provides plenty of room for an awesome kitchen garden. This model is our 'middle size,' between the 3x3 and the 4x4.

The 3x4 is available with four inflatable rubber wheels (2 fixed and 2 swivel) or with legs should you choose a stationary garden. The maximum height is 36 inches. The optional polycarbonate lid can be opened to different heights; close it overnight or on a chilly day, open it wide on a hot, sunny day. The front of the box pulls up and out for easy removal of the soil.

The top of the box is built at a slope, angling the polycarbonate for optimal sunlight absorption. The interior depth of the box goes from 11 inches at the front to 14.5 inches at the rear. Filled with six inches of soil and with the lid fully closed, the plants have about 5 inches of upward growing space before they hit the lid. As your plants grow taller, it is less likely that one will need to keep the lid fully closed.

Should you fill this Mobile Garden with 6 inches of soil, plan on acquiring about 4.7 cubic feet of soil. Depending on the moisture content of top soil, 4.7 cubic feet can weigh between 356-474 pounds. Should you decide to fill the box with 9 inches of soil, plan on buying about 7.1 cubic feet of soil, which can weigh between 532-710 pounds. Although these boxes may sound very heavy to move, the four inflatable rubber wheels allow for easy mobility. Mixing peat moss, compost, or vermiculite into the top soil will significantly lessen the weight.

The 3x3 Model

Hello gardeners! We are proud to introduce our 3-foot by 3-foot Movable Garden Box. With 9 square feet of gardening space, this box is a manageable garden that fits on a variety of small spaces. The maximum height is 36 inches. This garden has four inflatable rubber wheels (two fixed and two swivel) for easy mobility on your deck, driveway, or yard. This model also has a polycarbonate greenhouse lid that opens to different heights.

Should you opt not to move your garden, the 3x3 Model can also be built with legs instead of wheels. The polycarbonate lid is also optional.

The tops of our boxes are built at a slope, angling the polycarbonate for optimal sunlight absorption. The interior depth of the 3x3 box goes from 11 inches at the front to 14.5 inches at the rear. Filled with six inches of soil and with the lid fully closed, the plants have about 5 inches of upward growing space before they hit the lid. As your plants grow taller, it is less likely that one will need to keep the lid fully closed.

Should you fill this box with 6 inches of soil, plan on acquiring about 3.4 cubic feet of soil. Depending on the moisture content of top soil, 3.4 cubic feet can weigh between 255-340 pounds. Should you decide to fill the box with 9 inches of soil, plan on buying about 5.1 cubic feet of soil, which can weigh between 389-517 pounds. Mixing peat moss, compost, or vermiculite into the top soil will significantly lessen the weight. The box filled with soil may sound heavy, but the 4 inflatable rubber wheels make moving the box a cinch!

The 2x2 Tomato Box

The 2ft x 2ft Tomato Box provides 4 square feet of gardening space and 14 inches of soil depth for tomatoes and other plants with deeper root structures. The Tomato Box comes with four small swivel wheels, allowing the grower to easily move the box around on hard surfaces. Handcrafted with natural cedar and fir, the Tomato Box makes an attractive addition to your deck, patio, or driveway.

Specifics: Filled to the top with soil, the Tomato Box requires 4.2 cubic feet of soil. Depending on the moisture content of the soil, the box can weigh between 307-410, however, adding peat moss or vermiculite will lighten the total weight. A box of that weight is heavy to pick up and move, but on wheels, moving is easy!

The 4x4 Model

The 4ft x 4ft Movable Garden Box provides the gardener with 16 square feet of gardening space. The 4x4 Model has 5 optional inner bins with handles. The bins can be easier removed from the box by flipping down the front door and sliding out each box one at a time. With the boxes removed, the box is lighter and easier to move around. In this photo, the 4x4 Model has two stationary 10 inch inflatable wheels. The two wheels allow the bow to be moved around "wheelbarrow style." If you do not plan on moving your garden, this model can be built with no inner bins and with legs instead of wheels.

Evolving Designs

At Greenovison, we enjoy the process of designing and building. We are constantly thinking of new ways to improve our designs. We had some scrap polycarbonate pieces laying around, so Mark made great use of the leftovers and innovated polycarbonate sides to our 4x4 Movable Garden. We love the outcome!Not only does the box look amazingly sleek, the polycarbonate sides allow more early morning and late afternoon sunlight to penetrate the garden.

Mark is an architectual designer with over 25 years of construction experience. He has a passion for design and building, but is new to gardening. Emily loves gardening and supports local, organic agriculture. Mark and Emily combined their interests of design, carpentry, and gardening to create Movable Garden Boxes.

Since we've had our Movable Garden, Mark now finds himself more and more interested in gardening. The garden is at waist-height and is a managable size, so Mark often finds himself weeding, trimming, and picking veggies. Its quite fun and convenient to have a small, accesable garden at the bottom of our stairs.