Building a better trellis

Hi all!! I'm taking the easy way out tonight and sharing a slightly modifies article that I wrote and have shared on different days on the two other locations where I regularly contribute. (Grit Magazine and Simple Green Frugal) I know many of you may have come here as a result of my writing there, and in fact may have read this post previously, but my regulars here that might not "get out much" :) haven't had the chance to read it so here goes... (Maybe you could check out some of my older posts?)

In my garden, I use a sort of variant of Square Foot Gardening. It works well because of the fact that I only grown on approximately 4-500 square feet. My biggest difference is that I generally like to keep things relatively informal. Part of my logic behind this is that I like to "leave my options open" so to speak. I've found that in the garden, as with many other parts of life, if you follow too many rules, or perhaps guidelines is the better word, by doing it the way that the "experts" tell you to do it, you run the risk of missing the opportunities and flashes that are possible through experimentation.

One such "flash" came to me early last year and I went with it. The result, I think, is one of the best from any of my gardening technique trials that I've had and I thought that with a lot of people just starting to try and figure out what their gardens will look like this summer it was a perfect time to share it. What it is, is a trellising system that allows me to use my 4 x 6 raised beds in many different configurations depending on the crop that I wish to grow there that particular year. In doing so, it also frees me from the chore of having to rebuild or move trellising apparatus every year, or worse yet every season, because it can be quickly tweaked to serve my needs. I've built one over each of my 4x6 beds and can either set it up as needed, or ignore it altogether and use the beds as though there were nothing there at all.

I put together a couple of renderings of the basic structure to give you an idea of how it's built. The ones I have in my garden were made largely from recycled 2x4'sthat I ripped in half to make 2x2's, although I did have to purchase a few. I joined them very basically with long grabber screws (course threaded.) and some corner triangles for strength.Basically, it’s just a cube that’s been built on top of an existing 4x6 raised bed. The image above is of the system in a straight configuration. Across the bottom of the raised bed, I ran a piece of 1x2 scrap wood that I could tie twine off to and then ran that up to a third top piece that I added. You could actually run the string out to the edge pieces to support the top of the plants when they reached above the top of it as well. My beds are 6 feet deep so I would run one string in the middle of each sq foot to support, for instance, a tomato plant. Here's another way of setting it up that I'm calling the "V-configuration". This was the original catalyst for this whole experiment. The reason I did it, was to try and solve a problem that I continually had with growing my pole beans. The issue I was having with conventional ways of doing them was that in my raised beds I either had to only grow one row per bed so that I could easily get to them, or I could grow them in a grid which inevitable turned into a nest of vine in which I couldn't find the dang beans! Also, in a four foot wide bed, I had a hard time reaching in easily to access the beans. I could get them, but always felt off balance. This "V-configuration" was developed to grow the beans on the inside of the bed allowing the edges to be used for other plants and, as they got taller and taller, to bring them out into my reach for harvesting from the side. It worked great as you can see here.OK, not the greatest picture of me... but the beans look good right? I have a small wheeled garden cart that I can sit on and could actually just sit down and slide along the paths as I picked. It was perfect.

I also made another version of this that ended up as a sort of "Double-V Configuration".Some of you may remember something that I tried this past summer to make a little different use of the space around my plants another way. You can see on the top of the bed here that there are two 1x2's holding the strings down. In the space between them, I planted a crop of carrots just after my cucumbers had come up. They grew there with plenty of sun initially and since they are cooler weather crops, did just fine in the shade from the larger plants. I will say that I should have planted them earlier than the cukes to have gotten better results, but it's a method that I'll definitely try again!

Interestingly, there are a couple of additional benefits to this system that I hadn't even thought of. Wind tolerance for instance. We get some nasty micro-bursts during the summer storms here and I've had problems with single frame trellises getting blown over from the force against the large plants growing up them. I watched my beans getting blown around severely with this, and yet lost not a one of them! In fact, I noticed later that some of the strings had broken from the force, but since the vines reached the tops of the frames, they no longer needed the strings anyway. Also, the frames can be used to support either shade cloths for the hotter climates or tarping to protect from frost and hail in other climates.

So there you go, my way to build a better trellis. I've tried to come up with some cool catchy name for it, but have come up short. Any suggestions, I'd love hear them. Also, if any of you decide to give this a try, I'd be honored if you'd email me a picture or two, I'd love to see how you're able to suit it to your own needs.

Till next time everyone...all the best!
P~

Fast and Loose SFG (part II)

Per request I continue with my documenting some of the ways that I've adapted my SFG'ing methods. Below is a picture of 5 of 6 boxes. They are 4x6 and are lined up along the north end of my yard.
You may have noticed that there are no grids... I don't use them. This isn't so much because they don't make sense, they do. I do use the same general spacing guidelines, but I also like to keep things a little more fluid as far as how I plant things together and I hated working around the grid; really it's just a personal preference thing.
Above, the nearer bed is one of the ones that I had tomatoes in last year and the year before. I am rotating crops this year to keep the plants healthy, so their now planted in the furthest bed. This shows how I had built some 2x2 frames to tie up the tom's with. I lined the plants up one/sq ft. along the back edge of the beds and ran strings up to the top beam of the frame.
This is a close-up of the basic construction of the corners of the frame. I used salvaged OSB from a construction site and some ripped in half 2x4's (2x2's would work and are fairly cheap.) basic grabber screws and a triangle piece have held them fast for over three years now. No complaints about them. I'll be making some new ones this year only because I am changing the configuration of the plants, but I'm sure these will be re-used somewhere else in the garden.
Connecting them to the box was also just basic 2.5 inch grabber screws straight in. Now how to trellis??
Twisted, nylon mason line. This stuff is my fave in the garden. it cost barely more than the standard twine, but if your careful and creative with how you tie things, you can re-use this stuff for a couple of years. (I'll cover creative tying later after I get my trellises for the year up but basically, instead of cutting and tying each individual piece that I need, I take a little extra time to wrap most of my trellises as one continuous loop. This allows the string to be unwound and put up at the end of the year, and re-used next year.) This is incredibly durable stuff if used right. Get some, and oh yeah, carry a little butane lighter with you if your going to need to cut it or it'll fray like mad!
Here is another idea that I am trying out this year. It's not in the SFG book, but it passes the common sense test so it's worth a try. I purchased a couple of pieces of welded concrete reinforcing mesh, the stuff they sink into concrete slaps to make it stronger, for approx 5.00 apiece. I cut each in half lengthwise and bent them in half again to make a grid A-frame. They are only about 3.5 feet height, but I have four of them next to each other and have planted peas around the entire footprint of each Frame (18 per side, 36 per Frame x 4 for 144 plants.) As the peas reach the top of the frame, I intend to wire on another A-frame between Frame like stacking cards. this should give me a 6 foot+ pea frame. Again, we'll see, It's all about the learning.
To maximize space, I planted my Baby greens underneath the peas to grow. They help shade the ground keeping it cooler and more moist, and in the summer heat, the peas should shade them, letting me get a longer harvest. I find that you always have to be thinking about how plants can help each other out, and share the same space when your growing in such a small area.
Speaking of small area gardening. This is my big experiment for this year (to be added to the countless small ones no doubt.) I am growing 9 pots of potatoes. These large tree pots that I was able to get from a local nursery for zero dollars, FREE, yep my favorite price. You'd be surprised what people want to give away if you just ask. Anyway, I planted two seed potatoes in each one and the theory is that as the plant grows I will add straw around it covering the leaves. The stem will continue to push ever higher in it's attempt to get sun, and I will put a mesh column around the plant and keep mulching it. I have already covered the plants once with straw and they are poking out the top already. The potatoes on a potato plant actually grow not from the roots, but from the stem of the plant, thus the reason they are traditionally mounded, this method is supposed to allow for a much greater harvest from a smaller area.
OK, this goes out directly to ruralaspirations in regard to her issue with the cost of building her metal trellises per Mel's instructions. I also found that the conduit piping was fairy affordable, but would not get it myself because of the obscene price of the corners. (Do those dang corporations know how to stick it to you or what?) Until this year, when I will be trying one of them out. What changed my mind? That little piece of plastic above. It is an double threaded elbow for PVC pipe, 3/4 inch I believe, that fits very snug on the ends of the half inch conduit pipe. The key here is double threaded, because it's the threads that make it fit tight. There it is, my cheapo elbow. It may have issues in the heat of the summer, I can't say yet that's why I'm only going to try one of them (for .59 cents apiece I can afford to try it), but this is the type of stuff that I like to do in the garden, try this and that. Maybe only this works but that fails, I keep plugging away at it, little by little the garden gets better. I get better too for that matter, I learn that trying things is OK, and so is failing. Now is the time for us to take these opportunities. The future may hold tighter times when heading over the learning curve will hurt a lot worse.

Keep your mind open to the possibilities, and don't get to caught up in the minutia. I look at gardening less like a science and more like a painting. You try this or that, add something here take away a little there, it's a work in progress.

Grow on
P~

Fast and Loose SFG

Well I meant to start this post yesterday, but as I was headed into the city that afternoon for a Microsoft conference I started feeling peculiar. Before the first session was over, I had to leave and head home. I ended up spending most of the night with a fever and bouncing back and forth between hot flashes and chills. Thankfully this morning, I felt much better and was able to go into work for a full day again. I guess I just had a bug. So now that that's cleared up, on with the post.
I've mentioned in the past that I used the famous "square foot gardening" (SFG) method. This is certainly where I started. I have, however, found that there are many pieces of it that I just don't use on a regular basis and others that I have modified to suit my own needs and abilities. I've also found through my readings of other blogs out there that there seems to be a number of people getting stuck with some of the things Mr Bartholomew outlines in his method. It's not so much that the stuff he suggests isn't practical, but I guess for a lot of us it's just not economical or necessary, so I decided to share my view of the way I've come to regard SFG's.

In the beginning I was a fairly firm SFGer. I built my 6" deep boxes, and composed a batch of "Mel's Mix" (1/3 each: compost, vermiculite, peat moss) and laid out my grid. There was my first variance. While I did make a grid, I didn't use the thick 3/4 to 1" sticks that Mel suggested because I didn't have the extra income to buy wood for it. Instead I used a roll of white nylon mason line to lay a grid out. I did this by placing nails around the boxes and tapping them over to make "hooks" and them running the string around them until I had a grid. It worked well, took up less space, and I could see the grid very well. As far as the Mels Mix, I still use it. I don't now, nor did I then, sweat the details over how much vermiculite I add compared to my compost and peat, I just split it up evenly and called it good, By and large however I hold that it is a very effective mix over all. One thing I would like to change, and would if I were to do it again, is that I would not make my boxes out of 6" boards. First of all, a standard 2x6 is not truly 6" deep, it's more like 51/2". Plus, I would like to have a little deeper soil, as well as having a little bit of lip at the top so that every time I work the bed I don't lose part of it over the side.

In the SFG book, Mel is a great advocate for making due, and reusing scrap materials to build the boxes. I totally agree with this approach, and would in fact extend it to the entire system as well. Trellising for instance.

In the SFG book, Mel makes mention of using metal electrical conduit for his trellis frames. Now while I agree that these would make very nice frames, and do in fact intend to begin incorporating a few this year, I was able to use some reclaimed 2x4's ripped in two and built a frame out of those for my tomatoes. For the trellising material itself I again went to the white nylon string. For tomatoes I stuck a stake in the ground and ran a string up to the top of the frame, as the tomato grew, I moved the plant around the string. I still do this today, it is the best way I have ever seen to grow perfect tomatoes. For cucumbers I made myself a sort of spider web strung between two tomato frames made out of... you guessed it... white nylon string. (seeing a pattern here, go get some!) This worked awesome and was completely removable and very inexpensive. (I'll be doing this again soon and will post some pictures.) Remember, every time you buy an item for your garden that you could otherwise make yourself, you are adding to your over all cost of production, and allowing yourself to become dependant on the garden center rather that the supermarket.

I have more to say on this, so stay tuned, but for now... time for sleep.

Till tomorrow.

P~

Sprouting progress

I am so tired, and just got out of a hot bath, so the post will be very short tonight.

A couple of the sprouting beds that we have going on in house this year.

We've never really been able to get a handle on the sprouting indoors thing. We do sprout a lot of things indoors, but have generally only had decent luck with beans, cukes, and Zucchinis. For whatever reason, we just don't seem to nail down the right date to plant them in advance so that we will have them for the season.

I do have a plan however. A~ and I were talking the other day and I said how much I wish I could have a green house; both to grow food through the bulk of the winter, as well as being able to sprout lots of sprouts in the spring. We are NOT the type to run out and buy a greenhouse, regardless of how well we can justify it. But we are the type to multi-purpose and re-use existing items to accomplish the same end. Some of the longer readers here may remember when we completed our re-purposed concrete project . In that post was this picture of our pergola that I built in the back yard a couple of years ago. What we decided to look into, is to add a temporary siding of sorts by wrapping a heavy gauge clear tarp around the outside of the frame of that pergola, and doing the same to the inside of the frame. This would give it a 4" airspace for insulation, and should allow me to grow through winter, as well as to start sprouts and harden them off in the spring.
Never too early to start thinking ahead... now, if I can only remember to rotate my sprouts tomorrow to keep them from getting any more slanted.
P~

2008 Garden Activity Journal

In an effort to share my progress in the garden this year, I added a new section to the right side tool bar, appropriately just below the 100 foot diet logo. The new section is called the 2008 Garden Activity Journal. I have listed the name of the edible plants that I have put in the ground so far, and the dates that they were planted. I also placed "NEW" next to the few of them that are first time additions to the garden; there will be more NEW additions to come for sure.

My wife and I also talked about taking a page from the Path to Freedom play book and keeping a record of the number of lbs of food we are able to produce at home. I'll create some sort of banner for this to also go in the toolbar. Has any one else thought about doing that for this growing season, or have you done it in the past? I thought I might call it something like "Weighing in for change" or "Weighing in for choice". Any ideas?

Have a great day all.

P~

2008 Garden update

After church this afternoon, we came home and spent a pretty relaxing most of the afternoon around the house. The kids of course ran right outside to skateboard and I, of course, off to deal with some gardening. I planted a bunch of seed that had germinated into some re-used 6 pack planters that I held over from last year. If you buy perennials, don't just rip the containers apart, you can keep them for the next years plantings. They nest inside each other too so they take up very little space.

The existing garden that is being held over from last year consists of 6 raised beds and part of the back property line planter bed. Together this all totalled 282 sqFt. This year we are increasing this by prepping and using a formerly unused area next to back of the house, as well as by using the remaining piece of the back property line planter bed. The total sqFt being added is 112, bringing the total of dedicated planting beds to 394 sqFt (78.8 sqFt per person.) This is for the dedicated planting beds. In addition to these, we will be planting other edibles around the decorative beds in the front yard as well. This is a pretty big deal here in suburbia, but I think our neighbors have gotten in the habit of stopping by when they see us in the yard to see what new stuff we have going on around the house, so I hate to disappoint.(we do not have a fenced yard and we are on a corner lot so it's pretty regular to see us in the yard.) To the front yard beds we plan to add all of our edible/aromatic herbs such as basil, rosemary, thyme, lavender etc. as well as some new garden items that should work well in the front such as tall flowering okra, edible flowers such as Johnny jump-ups, pansies and nasturtiums and we plan to add some "tufts" of carrots here and there to fill in the gaps with their greenery and who knows, maybe surprise a neighbor kid with a summer carrot from the front yard. (By the way, neighbor kids are a great way to break the ice about talking gardening and home food production. You'd be surprised at how excited moms get seeing their kids excited about eating veggies.)

Tonight I got a few cool season plants into the ground. I planted a 4-pack of cabbage that I picked up at the nursery late last week on a whim, I don't know if they'll make it or not based on the weather swings, but I have some seeds sprouting indoors that certainly will. I also planted a few rows of beets, some head and romaine lettuce, a single row of arugula (rocket) and sowed some mesclun under the A-framed pea trellises I talked about a couple of days ago. The idea with that is that right now while the peas are just sprouting, the weather is cool enough to let the mesclun get full sun. Later when the peas have grown up the trellising, they will leave just enough shaded area under them to keep the tender greens shaded and cool. It's another hunch, I'll keep you posted.

Finally I wanted to state something just for the record. My wife, although a excellent homemaker, chef, baker, etc, etc, is not particularly big on the outside. More particularly she just doesn't like dirt. This is of course the polar opposite to me who on any given day has some form of dirt wedged under my nails or in my shoes, or in my hair (what hair I have that is.) by the end of the day. She does her best and to her credit is always right there with me working her butt off, wearing elbow length gloves, to make our goals a reality outside. She just doesn't love it like I do. Anyway, that said, I have to say that she is one of the main reasons for us having a successful garden at all. I am a dreamer, a planner, an envisioner extraordinaire; but a "get on with it and get it done" type... not so much. This is where we compliment each other. She'll drive me nuts with her lists, and schedules and her "HONEY, you have to get this done if we're going to ____." but you know what? That's what gets the job done. If it wasn't for her ability to see the big picture, I'd never get things planted in time, I'd forget to water for a couple of days or who knows what else. I wanted to get that out there for the record. This year looks to be shaping up to be a great summer, and likely it'll be because she got me moving when I was slacking about.

(Oh man, I'm gonna hear about that admission forever.)

P~

potting prep

Well folks, If I'm going to get anything from the backyard for my 100 ft diet this year I need to get my sprouts going, and first things first, it's time to get the potting soil ready. I build a pretty basic potting soil, nothing fancy or gimmicky, just good water holding materials like peat and vermiculite, and some dark rich homemade compost. This is the compost that I finished in September last year, I placed it in a 30 gallon tote with holes on the sides for air and drainage, and covered it with a wide piece of plywood to protect it from getting snowed on over the winter. It over-wintered well, and now is dark and rich and truly lives up to the moniker "Black Gold." I want to try to slowly move away from peat whenever possible since learning more about it and how unsustainable it is. For now, however, the peat that I am using this spring is what was leftover from last year, as is the vermiculite. I hope to be able to eventually find a good source for coir fibre to use in it's place, but thus far have only managed to find it in small quantities.
I mix all three parts together, using equal parts of peat and compost. For the vermiculite, I am adding slightly more that an equal third. This is because I will be primarily using this mix for starting seeds and as such want to encourage moisture retention in the short term. Our seedlings have a tendency to dry out when they start to fill in a bit, both because of the small amount of grow medium they are in, as well as because of Utah's naturally dry weather.

Whatever mix is left after I start all my plants, will get added components to bring the mix to an equal 3rd's proportion and will be used for some of our potted plants. Last year our petunias did much much better in this mix than they did the previous two years in miracle grow potting soil. And it was much cheaper!Try making your own, your plants will love it, you'll save some $$, and learn a solid gardening skill. Good luck will everyones sprouting.

P~

Last nights harvest

I realize that I am a little late with this, seeing as how it was yesterdays harvest, but I didn't have a chance to post yesterday; the harvest was a good one though.
In the picture you can see from front to back, jalapenos, anaheim chilies, yellow pear tomatoes, Zuchinni, black beauty bell peppers, large cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, green bell peppers, artichoke, cucumber, heirloom swiss chard, and green beans hiding in the back. I think that is all of them.

The big surprises this year were the green bell peppers, which I have grown every year, and which every year I have been very unhappy with. This year I am very very happy with them. The only difference that I can assume may have made the difference with them is that the drip system that I set up earlier for our vacation this spring does not water over the plant, but at it's base. In years previous I have found that my peppers get the white sunburns on the sun facing parts. I think this is due to the water pooling in the dips of the pepper and refracting the sun on them, thus burning them.

The other big surprise that I've had this year has been the artichokes. Last year we planted one just to see if it'd grow and it did, and toward the end of the year we got one tiny artichoke off of it; whoopee! This year I tried planting two plants and got them in the ground earlier in the season and these two are the 4th and 5th we've taken from them and there are a couple more on the plant. As we go along, they also seem to get bigger, and more tightly compacted more similar to the ones you might find at the grocery. My experiment for them this fall, will be to see if I can over winter the plants. In CA where I grew up, they are a perennial and get to be quite big if you let them, and will carry a lot of 'chokes per plant at one time. I am going to try a method that I saw italian families in New York use to over winter fig trees. I will pack the plant in straw, layers carefully mounding over the crown of the plant. Then wrap it in burlap and plastic to support it. It may not work, I don't really know, but that's the best part of gardening I think, trying out ideas, and passing them along. It'll be worth it if it does work though with early and plentiful artichokes.

My dissappointments this year have been the pumpkins again. I don't understand what the difficulty is with growing these d**n plants are, but I just don't seem programmed to do it. The only ones I have every gotten and the only ones that I have thus far this year are the wild volunteer plants that I can't get rid of. That's the other great thing about gardening, there's always next year to try again!
May your garden be green and your fruits sweet!
P~

Garden goings on.

I've just about caught up with the gardening chores. Weeds are pulled, plants pruned and what had ripened while I was gone has been harvested. This is the latest small harvest. The basket has raspberries and yellow pear tomatoes in it, on the right is heirloom rainbow chard, and in front is a head of buttercrunch lettuce. This is most likely the last of the lettuce I will get until fall.

I have a couple of questions for my gardening readers. While I was gone, my pea plants really made quite a showing, but unfortunatly died and dried by the time I returned. I have pulled the dead plants, and have the peas that dried on the vine. My question is this, can these vine dried peas be used for anything, or are they no good? If I can rehydrate and eat them I will, but don't know how they would taste. Any help would be appreciated. The other question is what summer crops are there that are fairly heat tolerant that I can plant for a late summer crop if any? I have a large bit of open bedding now that the peas are out, and I'd like to use it for something besides weeds. Then again, maybe I'll seed it with some of the dandylions that are popping up now for some late summer salad greens? Any suggestions?
P~

Vacation Gardening

some of you may have had the wuestion come to mind that "Hey doesn't this guy garden? How the heck do you take a three week leave and hope to come back to anything but dirt and crispy leaves?" Well, you set up a drip irrigation system and hope for the best. This is the first time that I have tried this. Not setting up drip irrigation, I have done that before on a very limited scale, but doing it to this level and then leaving it unattended. I set up a system that would use small micro sprinkler heads to essentially flood the small raised beds, as well as the garden landscaping at the back of my yard.

I ran two 1/4 inch lines down the length of each bed and made three drops on each line. The sprayers aren't actually like sprinklers in that they do not vaporize the water when they spray it into the air. The small sprinkler heads only spray about 10-12 inches out from the head in a stream. The point tof the heads is to put a large amount of water into the ground for the plants to pull up through capillary action. When I first put the system in place and tested it, I didn't think it was working. I would look at the beds and all I saw was small wet areas where the streams landed. When I took a handful of soil up and looked at the bottom, I found that the the bottom two inches of the beds were very wet. the roots of the plants will theoretically be drawn down and get to the water which should be much better for them in the heat of summer.

As for the back gardens they are primarily decorative, but I am starting to work in some edibles over time; raspberries, corn and artichokes have been added so far. I ran a single line of 5/8 hose down the center of the bed, and connected essentially the same type of heads along the length of it to allow the bed to be flodded right next to the plants that I have in place. I had actually noticed that my strawberries did much better the couple of weeks before I left than they had prior to hooking up the system.

I can only assume that the system is working and have faith that my neighbors will notice if the plants are dying and water them while they are enjoying the vacancy harvest that I invited them to enjoy. Have any of you had any experience with long term vacationon gardening? Let me know, What do you think my chances are of coming home to healthy veggie?
P~

Some spring beauty!

I thought everyone would enjoy a little glimpse of the great rebirth going on in my yard. I know I love seeing it every day.


Apple on the left, pear below.















A cherry blossom just "popping" out!














And what garden doesn't light up every year when the bleeding hearts come out!

Update

I've been slacking, in updating my blog that is. In reality I have actually been quite busy. The family and I caught a Grizzlies Hocky game the other night (Fri 30th). The boys do love the hockey games. I'm not sure if it's the free pucks they seem to get each time we go, or if it's the fights? Either way, we all had a good time even if the Grizz lost in overtime!
Sunday I finally got out into the yard and got a couple of more garden beds prepped for planting. I have to say I had a great time. The boys all came out and started spontaneously participating in the gardening with me. Even C~ (12) who generally won't want to work in the garden unless he gets to see green with presidents on it, came out and lent a hand. I was hoping to be able to pass on to them the love I have for getting into the dirt. Planting, growing and then enjoying the fruits of that labor later. Maybe the "seed" has been planted; last night we stopped by the local nursery for a scouting mission to see what's new this year and the youngest B~ (9) said that "the brothers" were talking and they want to have their own square foot garden beds this year to grow their own stuff in. (pause for silent internal YYEESSSS!) Of course they can! And as the fates were smiling on me, when we got home that night and took a walk around the block the cleanup crew was at the const. site behind our house and let me take whatever scraps of wood I wanted. This weekend the boys will be building their beds with the recycled wood.
Yep, life is good!
All for now.
P~

Square foot Garden.

Can you tell I finally got out to take some pictures. This is one of my square foot beds with the overhead frame that I use to vertical train my tomatoes. I swear by this method!














Here is one of my five bed garden.

Seeds are in; Garden's started!

"I love it when a plan comes together!"
I germinated a bunch of cold weather seeds over the weekend, and planned to put them in the ground this week. Yesterday after work I was able to get a bunch of peas and radishes planted about an hour before a light spring rain. Couldn't have planned it better.
A~ and I have talked about planting bulbs for the last two or three years, I am glad we finally did. A~'s tulips and Daffodils finally popped yesterday and showed some color. We now have the hyacinth, tulips and daffodills brightening the front yard and the columbines are on their way. May I reiterate... "I love Spring!!!"

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today; And give us not to think so far away As the uncertain harvest; keep us here All simply in the springing of the year.
-Robert Frost

P~

The garden begins.

Ah yes, life is good. Hands have been in the dirt, and the sweet smell of spring is in the air.
I got a trailer load of really good compost the other day. If you have not looked into it, your local community landfill may very well be in the business of making and selling a very good quality compost. They will generally collect green waste, leaves, branches, grass, etc. etc. and "cook" it over the fall and winter. This will result in a compost with a lot of different types of micro organisms and organic goodness that your plants will love. You will most likely not need to fertilize your garden if you have a good enough soil base.
Anyway, I did get out into the garden tonight after work, and am trying a new technique. I removed the soil from my garden box that I will be growing my early veggies in. (see my previous post regarding square foot gardens.) I then lined the base of the box with a layer of cardboard. The cardboard will allow water to flow through it, but will organically repel the dastardly morning glory weeds that attacked my garden last year. This will leave me with six inches of undisturbed light and fluffy compost rich growing medium.
Yeah I said six inches, it really works, I swear. You should have seen my tomatoes last year. I couldn't have gotten better at the grocery store. Not a blemish and mmm mmm good with fresh mozzerella and basil. I'll post again with the results. I have faith.

If you haven't gotten out yet, I sure hope it's because it's still frozen where you live; otherwise you need to get up get out and enjoy! After the garden time I took a quick walk with A~ and remembered the main reason I love spring. It always reminds me of when we met. We took walks and gathered Lilacs, said hi to the neighbors and just enjoyed each others company. Spring is about renewal, and I will always look forward to renewing my love with her!
Have a good day.
P~

Spring fever

Well, I can feel it. Spring is coming.
For the first time this year, I was awakened at night by the winds of a storm coming in and didn't wake up to shovel snow. This is a small miracle hear in the Rocky mountain west where I live.
I'm sure we're in for more cold, but I can see the green light at the end of the tunnel. I say green light, because at this time of the year I get a major case of the garden giddies! Time to plan all of my plantings; figure out what new plants I'll try this year; plan my little experiments that are sure to crop up. For instance, can I make a Teepee big enough for my kids to play in out of bamboo and green beans? Why not? I do square foot gardening, and love it. I've never had such perfect tomatoes and veggies.
I'm already starting to think about all the summer stuff we'll do this year. Last year we were putting our home on the market and spent most of the weekends making sure that the house was clean and tidy in case someone wanted to see it. This year we've decided to stay put. Our kids like the neighborhood, and we have a good home here so we will just enjoy the summer and make up for all of the stuff we didn't do last year. I hope to share lots of picture with you all this year so you can enjoy it with us!