Yummy salads until the heat sets in. It is very crisp. A little onion and boiled egg can make a meal.
If you are wondering what that lonely corn stalk is doing there, It has pole beans planted around it that will climb the stalk and outside the beans is squash that will cover most of that bare ground and shade the soil.
Update: Send me your garden pictures and I will post them if you like. - ru4cowboys@gmail.com Your privacy is safe with me, just tell me what name, initials or moniker you want them posted under, and any description or location. They will be posted at the bottom of this post.
I see you have raised beds. I am considering doing that. I want it to be cheap.
ReplyDeleteMy garden hasn't been touched yet this spring. Amazing what a difference a little latitude makes. I will probably till it and get some peas, lettuce, carrots and potatoes planted tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteOutlaw XMay 2, 2014 at 10:57 AM
I don't have a choice. I had to haul in that soil 5 years ago, my backyard is 2" topsoil over limestone where I live now. It is the first time I ever used a raised bed, but there are definite advantages. My tomato plants are already almost 3 feet high but those aren't included in the picture. It takes a lot of soil for a raised bed, my garden is only 8' X 16' X 9" (6 - 2 X 12 boards water pressure treated used screws). Talk about work getting that thing set up. But with water hose I can grow so close spaced I can produce a lot of food. And it is easy to manage. I figure the boards will have to be replaced in the next two years they are starting to rot. This is my first rodeo on raised bed garden.
Ok. I have heard of the "square foot" gardening method, where you supposedly grow more food on less area. I haven't really read thoroughly on it. I have a garden that is about 30 by 60. I can have as big a garden as I want. I find it difficult to take care of what I have. I do the planting but my wife does most of the work, and I'm looking to make it easier for her to take care of. But I don't want to spend $1000 to produce $100 worth of food. I see some raised bed kits you can buy for $200 but they are small.
ReplyDeleteI have all the soil I want to make the beds, I just have to dig it. I had thought of making the bed out of old concrete block, but I don't know if I have enough. The wife would think it scandelous if all our raised beds didn't look exactly the same. I just want them to provide a tangible benefit.
Wives are picky that way, so you got to be creative. I think If I had to do it over again I would use concrete blocks. For my size garden it would take 37 16" blocks. At $1.38 would be $51 and change and they would last much longer. At 8" high I would fill the blocks and the inside with 8" of soil which would be 3.6 cu yds of soil or there about. So if you already have the soil less than a hundred dollars easy starting with nothing. It must be within garden hose length to make it worth while because you can grow stuff so close together it is incredible.. I use triple 13 vegetable garden (do not use yard fertilizer, it is poison) fertilizer and a little granulated sulfur for me because my soil PH is about 8.5 and you need about 6.5. The sulfur will lower PH. Once you plant everything so close together and have a good sharp hoe it is easy to maintain. Remember a square is the most efficient perimeter to area ratio so I would make it square, less blocks more area. The only thing more efficient is a circle but to hard to work with and line up blocks.. So if you decide to do it make a square, not a rectangle. Since you already have plenty of soil close at hand you don't have to worry about trucking it in a wheelbarrow and a lot of back breaking work would suffice or you could rent a bobcat front end loader for a day (Highly recommend). Then you are set for a long time if you want a raised bed and close spaced gardening. A tiller will be needed every year, if you don't have one you can rent one cheap. You won't believe how much food you can grow in a small space with easy accesible irrigation.
ReplyDeleteMy tomato plants are already almost 3 feet high
ReplyDeleteShow off. I'm jealous my tomatoes are 3 in high and growing in the window. They can't even go outside for another 3 weeks.
We have some raised beds and some tilled ground. The raised beds work better in this country for some crops because they warm up faster in the spring. They also work great for strawberries because they are easier to tend and to pick. Watering is easier too, plus less wasted water.
We used cedar and redwood planks for ours. I'd have more raised beds if I had more energy to put the effort into it.
We tried planting the corn/beans/viney stuff together. It works well for growing things. It also keeps the deer out at night, they don't like the vines on their feet and legs. It can be hard to find all the veggies when they are ready because of all the foliage.
I made my wife a couple of raised beds, but built them about 30" off the ground so she wouldn't have to stoop over so far as she gets older (I am nothing if not a considerate husband). I used 4x4 cedar posts in 8' sections, cross-laced and held together by rebar poles inserted vertically at the corners. It cost a bit to build, but it's more a hobby for her than to actually grow a lot of food (we just don't have that much space for a full-scale operation).
ReplyDeleteNow that I think of it, they are actually 6x6 posts -- I was afraid the 4x4s would warp from the strain of the fill.
DeleteWB,
ReplyDeleteDid you buy another house? How did you find room in your back yard for a garden?
No, same place, down on the lowest level. We put a bunch of raspberry bushes next to the rocks and the beds next to the fence.
ReplyDeleteI bet that's pretty nice when it all greens up and gets growing.
ReplyDelete