The BT Garden Thread (Page 3)

I don't have snow peas, just regular peas but we try to pick them before they get too ripe, supposedly this will help the plant keep producing longer. We've already picked a huge bowl full on ours.

This is my Aquaponics system it is a 235 gal tank holding about 10 bluegill right now need to get some catfish soon. the top is roughly 30 square foot of grow beds filled with lava rock cantaloupe tomatoes and lettuce. second picture is the greenhouse we built the aquaponics system is inside it.

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We will be starting to use SFG a little bit more once we get our yard more under control. For now I just reused some fencing that I tore down. Next year I hope to replace the fencing with some 2x8.

Yeah, I thought of that, too, but they seem to hop in from ground level moreso than from above.  I guess I will have to rig something up that I can easily move the wire to get to the plants.  May need to do something that defends from air strikes as well as ground troops, ha ha ha!  I will be LIVID if they peck up my gorgeous big Beefsteaks that are developing sooo nicely!

Here is a page with some ideas that should work.

http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/protecting-garden-fences/

I've got four 4x4 raised beds near each other and then two 4x4 beds closer to my house.  What I plan on doing this year is running a short hose to a soaker for the two closest to the house, and a longer one to some soaker hoses in the four beds.  I bought a four spigot timer for the main faucet outside so I should have it all timed out nice.  

The idea is that the raised soil draws the moisture evenly into itself from the soakers.  Sounds easy enough with my egg plant, peppers, okra, squash, and cucumber, but I'm wondering how it will work with nine bush bean plants per sq ft.  I may just do a box dedicated to beans, but I do like having them interspersed among the peppers and eggplant.

csharp1171 - 2012-03-14 7:05 PM Things were looking good then today most of my sprouts fell over . I was hoping to move them to the garden this weekend but it looks like they may die. I guess I'll skip the peat pellets and try planting straight into the beds?

I haven't read thru all the responses yet but generally this can be avoided by running a small rotating fan on low setting on your seedlings. This helps keep the mold and other "stuff" from forming and also stimulates them to grow thicker stems because they think they are in the wind....wait--they are! I keep my fan on my plants 16hr/day, along with the lighting, as long as they are in the garage.

Hey Josh....I have 2 rain barrels. One keeps the rain from forming a puddle by my back gate and the other keeps the roof water away from my foundation. I figure the plants, esp when they are young and under lights, do better with rain water compared to chlorinated. Kind of like organic watering!!!

I happened to acquire two of these for free. I haven't gotten them set up yet since the frozen streak put an abrupt end to my outdoor work. I will have them set up by each door in my house soon though.

A little bit more work done on the irrigation system.

As I said before I have a well on the other side of the house so I'll be running a garden hose to the beds. I couldn't find a 1/2" poly to hose adapter so I used a 3/4" adapter, 3/4" coupling and 3/4"-1/2" reducer to connect the hose.

This is a very simply layout. I have 1/2" poly pipe running down the entire row of beds (one for each row). As you can see, I just drilled a hole in the beds to run the line. I bought some stakes with a 1/4" pipe to connect to the line and some small 360 degree heads to water the hole bed. There will be 2 per bed.

To seal off each end I bought some figure eight fittings and just pinched it.

Now I just have to get a bit more cardboard. I only have enough right now for 4 of the 8 beds. Then I get to move all of the dirt for the beds.

Here's the price breakdown for (6) 4'x10' x1' beds and (2) 4'x12'x1' beds.

Beds - $200, I also got some leftover wood for free so it might be a bit more.

Irrigation - $50 for 100' 1/2" poly pipe, 16 stakes/heads, 2 figure eight clamps, 2 hose connection assembly's.

Dirt - $330 for 10 yards of good quality garden soil pre-mixed with compost from the local nursery, delivered.