No harvest this week - some ripping up (as you saw last post), a bunch of furious transplanting, and the final re-plant for spring. After this 'it is what it is' as it will be getting to hot to directly rely on seedlings making it directly sown, and we'll have to germinate at the 'station' or indoors then transplant.
So I guess we'll walk around and see what we see.
The field of beans! Last I left it I realized what I thought was fortuitous - in that the large pack of seeds I bought was EXACTLY how many I needed, only to find out that I'd forgotten to plant out several squares. I got another pack of seeds and as we can see it's looking pretty full. They are planted 9 to a square, which is pretty dead on for bush beans. The 'yellowy look' of some of the plants is just due to them being a different variety. I found last year that they'll grow to a decent height and produce a good number of beans packed in this close, and if you keep up with your fertilizing they'll keep on producing. The thing to remember is to keep picking them as the beans get ripe. Once they harden on the vine, it's goodnight for the plant. They'll slow down and eventually die. Keep picking and keep em fed and you can get a fairly good productive run over a the spring. These are what I refer to as a 'fast plant'. Plant in Spring, pick in Spring, and out of the way by Summer.
Beans, being a legume, will actually add nitrogen to this new garden bed - so hopefully when Summer hits it will be chock full of goodness for whatever I decide to plant here. As it turns out, this is also the bed that gets the most sun in a day - so when it comes time to replant I should be looking at things that bear a fruit of some kind over a leafy plant (which does better in partial shade - less drying of the leaves and wilting means better quality greens).
As doge would say 'Such space, much plantings, wow!' - you get an idea of how big those Sprouts were. No time was wasted here. You can make out the baby Kale in the corner sprouting up to replace what has gone. The far plant is flowering and you can make out yellow tips at the top of the picture. I could have harvested these today, and I probably will very soon. But for now those yellow flowers will start attracting bees, and I want those bees established by the time the beans start to flower. I REALLY need to start up a front flower garden - the yard as a whole and all that jazz - attract those pollinators!
The Sprouts are gone, the soil refilled and amended with coir and worm castings. From my germination station on the steps I transplanted lettuce from largest downwards. These 12 should grow out well, the last space on the end I'm saving for a special experiment. I hope to be prepped for it by the weekend, but nature doesn't hold it's schedule for mine, and I'm racing against my own schedule and time.
Next up - beans, just because. No reason. I like Beans. Where the sprouts were shading out I had planted Beets - Beets this year are like my lettuce last year - just no luck it seems. So I've replanted what was needed to fill out that row. At 9 per square that's 27 - but this late and having them all come up is optimistic - I get what I get. Last in the bed - nearly too tiny to be seen, are Cabbage. I grew them last year 4 to a square in a different part of the garden just to see if they'd grow well here. I got small cabbages due to crowding, and they could have done with more sun if you ask me, so 4 planted up at 1 to a square. We like cabbage here, but we don't eat a lot - I'm hoping for coleslaw in the Summer.
Peas are up and reaching for my trellis. Some are too far forward - but that's ok, I have a garden project coming up where I'm going to prototype something that I hope will be a much easier and useful way to deal with climbing plants. I'm currently in the design and acquisition phase - I like using reclaimed lumber when I can get it.
Up front are Carrots. I thought I had more, but hadn't done as good a job thinning them as I could have. Replants have been done to bring this to 9 per square. Last year I did 16, and had fairly good luck, so this is more or less to just 'dial in the number' and compare quality. They can be fiddly to grow, but I've managed them in the ground, in containers, with very few problems. Some things to remember is that they are root plants - so transplanting them doesn't work so well... they are fairly fragile when they sprout, so don't thin them out too soon. When they do get bigger (about this size) thin them RUTHLESSLY. you want just one carrot in each spot. Everyone you have past that will drastically reduce your chances of getting a good sized carrot. When they get to this size they seem to be fairly robust and aren't hard to take care of. Fertilizing and water; I've found that when they are really small a good mist down with my worm tea helped them out a lot - but once they get bigger stop. Carrots are roots, not leaves. The same with water - the less you water them, the longer that root will grow to find water, and that means (thank you Captain Obvious) a bigger carrot. Finally - and one that I really need to follow my own advice on here, soil. You want a nice fluffy soil with good drainage - obviously so that water goes DOWN, but also so the carrot itself can grow easier. This soil is about as fluffy as a brick. I amended it and turned it, but those heavy rains from earlier always harden out the soil here. I'll carefully break it up around the plants when they are sprouted and healthy.
One final thing I did was plant carrots around the peas. This Year I'm looking more into companion planting. I've dabbled in the past, but this year I've been trying to put it more into practice.
A good friend bought me
this book for Xmas, and it's a pretty good source of info. It's more a 'look up what you want' kind of reference than a 'read this entire thing and try and remember it all' book.. If you're interested in planting things together to increase your yields or to cut down on pests, there are worse places to start. It also has good info on how to rotate crops and other tidbits.
Around from the Peas we have that 'tucked away' corner bed that doesn't see that much action. It's fiddly and is the first to see the afternoon shade, as well as getting it's share of rainfall off the roof. If it wasn't set out when I moved here I wouldn't have used it at all... This year though it's doing ok, so maybe just the right combo of plants to make it useful. With the water and shade issues I've put in all leafy greens and things I just want to tinker with.
Collards that self planted are up the back, and Swiss Chard in front of it. Cucumbers I'm playing with to see how they go have sprouted at the far end, and I'll be watching them to see how they need to be thinned - I don't expect much from them, so we'll see. Up front is Cauliflower. I had goodish luck with broccoli there last year - but couldn't get the knack of the harvest. So this year I'm doing something a little different.
What a barren wasteland! Well not really - if you look close at the foreground there are Eggplant sprouted and starting to do well. Last year I tried growing Eggplant in a container and it sort of stopped, so I transplanted 2 here and they did really well. This year I planted 6 directly, but they seem to be starting out slowly. I also sprouted 2 in containers at the germination station on the steps, and low and behold they sprouted and grew faster. They're staying there in case i need backups - but from this I've learned that for Eggplant, start in a small pot and then transplant. The other 6 squares are planted with Sweet Peppers. They'll take a while to germinate - and that always makes me anxious, so I've hedged my bets. I have 6 in the ground, 6 in a self watering pot, and 6 inside with me in one of those 'jiffy greenhouses'. Normally I prefer to sprout outside because you don't have to deal with hardening plants off when you move them, but in this case I'm trying to find the best way to deal with peppers. So far nothing has come up in any of them.
The station. This is where I sprout things that need transplanting in, and when I thin plants I transplant them out to here. I don't like waste, and especially don't like wasting time. When I thin plants down I try and be gentle and do 'transplant thinning' - I'll take the extra plants to these self watering window planters and put them in here. You water these from the bottom and capillary action draws the water up through the soil - so it's always nice and moist (provided you keep watering them....) It makes for a great transplant environment for most plants. Then later if one of the plants die out, I usually have a spare or two that can be transplanted back into the garden.
I also use these for sprouting lettuce. The last 2 contained the 12 plants I just put in, so they've been replanted with Grand Rapids and Salad Bowl varieties. I'm still trying to track down 'that perfect lettuce' for Summer burgers and sandwiches. Other pots in the background (the square ones) are planted out with Eggplant, and another with Oregano. Oregano and Rosemary are the 2 herbs I really enjoy using but can't seem to get growing, so I'm trying extra hard this year.. usually once I do it once I have very little problem repeating it - but these two elude me still.
My teacup rose, still growing well. What do I use it for? It smells pretty and makes my wife happy. It's also the last surviving rose from our old rental house.
Circular pots along the back are Tomatoes.
... and they carry on down the steps. Last year we had Queen of Hearts tomatoes, and although they were a vine plant, by keeping them in smaller planters they only grew as high as a bush variety. By keeping them pruned and rootbound we had a very nice solution for growing toms here. This year I'm trying a Beefsteak variety my mother suggested. So I have to keep her informed of how well it does. She lives in Sydney Australia, so as I'm done here with mine, she can put that info to immediate use (our seasons are reversed). Last year I did 4 and did well - this year I'm upping it to 8. All of them are sprouted and several are on their way to good growth. In the foreground is the salvaged blueberry from the farm. With the shock of being saved and replanted here it's skipped it's budding - but that's ok as they usually need 2 plants to cross pollinate anyways. By the end of the spring I should have found another to go with it, and start my 'edible hedge' to separate the garden from the rest of the yard.
Despite the best efforts of 'Littlefoot', I have my quota for squash. I was shooting for 6 plants in this 12ish foot long area, and just the other day the last one peeked up through. I wanted 2 yellow squash, 2 zucchini and 2 butternut squash, but in the washouts, stompings, replanting and transplanting I can only be sure that the last 2 are the butternut. I lost track of which were which at the top so I could get anything. Also around here I planted radishes, as they should (if left to grow and bolt to seed) help repel squash bugs and other nasties... I'm interested to see how this goes - also a suggestion is to use cigarette ash around the seed when it's planted (??!!) - I haven't tried this - but I might and keep folks informed.
Ahh the wilds.. The herb garden. You can see where Basil is coming up of its own accord - more than enough to replace the plants of last year. Up the back is still bare as I'm hoping to transplant oregano there when (if) it sprouts, also coriander (cilantro) should go there, but I've misplaced my seeds - and Dill. Dill is seriously wishful thinking on my part to use to make pickles should I actually get anything out of my cucumbers.
The chives and sage are in bloom, and it won't be long till they go to seed. Before that I'm going to take as much of the sage as I can to dry and cure, and after that the Thyme that is growing under it will be split in half and moved, hopefully doubling what I have eventually. I like the wild look of this, and I'm thinking of letting this run it's course as an experiment in permaculture. I will maintain the needs of the soil and weed out undesirables, but the actual herb plants can grow, seed, die, and regrow as they see fit.
I think that would be interesting. I can tell all the plants apart instantly, so really it isn't a problem with them not being organized - and lets face it, wouldn't it be really nice to have herbs on demand without having to do anything to keep them going? Talk about lazy gardening!
I'm going to be very busy over the next couple of weeks, but I am working on a few upcoming projects. If I'm not too late I'll be revisiting potatoes (as I said I would last year) with a head to head fair comparison of 3 different methods, as well as 'home built' vs. 'store bought'. And within the next week I'll be starting a semi-regular article here with it's own tag '5 dollar garden'. Where I return to my 'ghetto fabulous' roots and show people how to start, maintain, grown and improve a garden spending no more than 5 dollars per article, to show how little you need if you want to get started growing your own veg.
Cheers!
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