The BT Garden Thread (Page 2)

I love having rain barrels.  Rain water is way better for your garden.  Cuts down on your water bill.  Here, we sometimes have water restrictions, so it's nice knowing I can water my garden regardless.  All around a good idea.

That's a beautiful garden. Great job!

What did you use to make your raised beds?

Awesome. Is it just me or is there no gate into the fenced area?

I got the rest of my plants in the ground Saturday

Tomatoes: Early Girl, Cherokee Purple, and Mountain Pride
Cucumbers: Burpless
Zucchini
Muskmelons
Orange and green peppers
butternut squash
Swiss chard
collards
basil
The onions and garlic are up, and the spinach and lettuce will soon be at micro-green stage.

I used some cedar planks from Home Depot.  I think they were 12' long and 8" wide.  I also split some 2x4 cedar pieces for braces on each corner.  It was cheaper than buying the kits they sell.

There is a gate on the side by the shed. 

My next project is to build the same fence on the other side of the shed and a chicken coop.  And then an arbor connecting them in front of the shed.  We are going to become suburban hillbillies

That's what we are planning to do. It will be awhile for us because we have so much stuff to do on our house. This year we are putting in the garden. Next year I think we are going to try for a chicken coop. 

I have not personally planted brussel sprouts, but my Dad has. They are similar in temperament to broccoli. I am trying a couple of 30 gallon trashcan composters this year. I just drilled a bunch of holes in them, and set them up on some bricks. I have lots of leaves from fall, so I work them in from time to time. So far no problems, but I only built them in October, so the summer will be the test.

I normally sheet compost with leaves, lawn clippings, and cardboard (for a weed barrier). I just mulch with that mixture, but I am trying to work more kitchen scraps into the mix.

I'm right in the  middle of clearing out all the crap that takes over when a garden gets neglected for a few years, such as the previous owners of our house had done.

But, on the upside my Hops have arrived and will be planted tomorrow.  Will be planting 4 different varieties, 5 vines total.  By the fall I'll be using my own hops for home brewing!

Kind of like this? This is about what it looked like when we moved in. The fence has been taken down though.

(Yard 2.JPG)

Just went from a conventional 2 row garden that slanted to Raised Bed. Using the SQUARE FOOT GARDEN METHOD sort of. I have 4 boxes. Two 8ftx5ft, 8x4, 6x4... they are 10" high. I used a mix of my own dirt I had in the old garden plus some vermiculite, peat,  and lots of compost. So far I  have had great success with lettuce and spinach transplants from Lowes .I started bean and peas from seed. Lots of radish (which I am also eating now). I even did Carrot from seed and they are just now sprouting so I hope to see those in couple of months. I did Onion sets and they look great. I have some Tomato that I started inside and plan on doing the rest next week (Peppers, Squash, Cucs, more Tomatoes, Eggplant and Okra, a southern tradition).

 If I can figure out how to put a pic in here I will.

(538710_3412742210469_1627458812_2805110_994757294_n.jpg)

This is my 4th year of planting - had a great year 2 years ago and then the drop and the 120+ temps last year didn't make it a good year.  Also fought deer last year. 

Started this year with new soil since down here it is pretty sandy. I have 3 4'x12' raised beds that needed to be filled about 1/2 full. Took some of the sand mixture and mixed it with a 70% top soil, 30% manure mixture for my beds.

The deer loved it and they had a party in two of my beds so out I went to get 6' steel posts, 5' tall "deer fencing" and some Repel All. Hopefully I will have plants this year.

Last weekend I got the red and yellow onions and scallions, 3 hills of garlic, 1 of horseradish, 6 cucumber and 6 zucchini/squash plants planted by bulbs and seeds directly into the garden.  Radishs are popping through.

Yesterday I planted 13 Tomato plants everything from Big Boy, Better Boy to Grape, Roma and a brandywine. Also planted 2 yellow bell, 4 green bell, 1 fancy hot pepper (don't remember the name of the top of my head) and 12 jalapeno plants.

All looked good last night, this morning the rain came down in sheets enough I couldn't see my neighbors house 2/10th of a mile down the road. They are still standing, looking a little beaten and dirty but hopefully they make it.

Stacie

I have not heard of doing this for tomatoes. You do it for strawberries the first year (so the plant grows stronger), but for an annual like tomatoes it seems counter-intuitive.

Doing my four 4x4 boxes again, as well as putting in a container garden around my patio.  Also got two new 3.5x3.5 boxes by the patio as well.  This was my first year to get serious about planting EARLY in the year, and I've had some decent success.  For some reason, I haven't taken any pics of the yard boxes but here are some of the results...

And the container garden (about two weeks ago) around my patio

I get to start planting this weekend.  Propably could have done it a few weeks ago, but hey, I have been busy.    Last year we had freezes into June, but this spring has been mild.

I did put some tomatoes in pots (for temp) to get them rooting better.   My herb garden is in some mini-climate on the south side of the house in a "nook" and is already booming, including the flowers from last year.    Note the drier vent - yes, I have been known to do laundry on especially cold nights in the spring when things are just coming in.  I may relocate that rosemary bush this fall.

(herb garden sm.JPG)

So I have a bit of a garden going finally. Here is a before picture courtesy of google maps and an after. We bought the house in October and the wooden fence was already up but you can see the alley how the two pictures line up. In case you can't tell the yard was horribly neglected when we bought it.