Jacquelita and I put up a garden
 

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I always said I might rip up a corner of the yard and put in a row of tomatoes and corn, and when J suggested we could make it a project, this is finally the year. What we have constructed is two raised beds, 8 foot by 3 foot. The yard in this area is marshy a lot, so I figured raised bed was the only way to go. We used treated lumber so that it wouldn't rot. It would appear that the "bad" treated lumber, which killed every single child of every single deck owner, and which would poison you instantly if used to grow things, is now reformulated. Phew!

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Only the first bed has soil so far. Here you can see the simple-but-effective bolt-into-post method of securing everything. None of this stuff is going anywhere.

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Implements of destruction

There are three rows of carrots set in already. Not pictured is 72 seeds in 72 little peat pots that are germinating. These are tomatoes and squash. In two weeks frost period will be over and the rest goes in, peas, beans, corn.

The crazy thing is that if it's messed up somehow, if mistakes are made, one can only wait another year and try again. What a learning experience.

Tell the Bean story. That's Bean with a capital B.

Judging by what appears to be vermiculite particles, you purchased a metric buttload of potting soil...

That's right. It may be a miscalculation, but by the bale, it seems to be as cheap as getting a delivery of the best soil from the local garden place or renting a truck. At lower levels it mixes with the local soil...

The bean story is that the Beaner, the dog, couldn't help but dive right in. He's fearless, is that dog... fearless and not really all that bright...

How do we know that you aren't snipping this from a magazine or something?

We did almost exactly the same thing...except we went a little higher since the soil underneath was mostly rock and we also got our soil as composted leaves from the Manchester landfill....5 bucks a trailer load! Darkest soil I have ever seen.

FD, you work to "closer tolerances" than we do. :D

As if beans and dirt and carrots care.

It is very nice to enjoy the gardening process.

Nah...just good lumber in this case...was very straight and it was kinda easy to get it looking like we knew what we were doing... we planted corn, carrots and green peppers the first year... I overseeded the carrots so they were so crowded they barely produced, the corn was allowed to grow to almost maturity before the deer yanked them out of the ground over the fence and ate them ... and the green peppers just didn't do that well ... oh well...it was fun anyway.

If you've ever noticed...well, even if you haven't....corn doesn't grow as tall along the edge of a plot/field. The tops seem to be pretty uniform height until you get to the last few rows at the edge.
Corn doesn't seem to do as well when there are only a row or two. You'll only get 1 or 2 ears per stalk and with a raised bed it'll need watering even when the ground in wet under the bed.
I'd give up the corn for things that will give you more bang for the buck, more eating per square foot. :2cents:

I just bought a house - well, almost bought it, and I guess there was a garage and now it's just a pile of dirt, so I'm intrigued by these garden boxes. You just build the box and fill it with dirt? Did you have plans on how to make these or did you just do it?

I really like them and I want to grow stuff - especially since i don't have a job to look forward to after graduation.

Any guidance is much appreciated :).

Start your compost pile(s) if you havent already!
The allotment that I rented last year has gone total community(8 gardners) , so we are planning together the whole site. What I'm looking forward to is learning about rotation and interplanting. I can make it attractive, but I want it to produce as well! Here's last year's dining room project done. 10 x 10 patch of brick pavers in the sunken spot. My favorite coffe spot. Now the baby trees just need to get big!

!!!

Damn, that is *nice*. I am so incredibly envious. Not of the work, just the result.

Beautiful, Warch. Nice garden as well. :blush:

We liked our first raised bed so much we made a second one for roses on the side of our garage.

And we liked that one so much, well, you get the picture.

Here is the first bed with green things growing ... and one cat named bosley since we made the mistake of also planting catnip.

He looks like he's enjoying himself.

Too much.

Has he recovered the ability to walk straight?

How deep are the corner posts? How did you get them in there, and are they secured in any way? I am interested in trying this at my home...neat, guys! That cat in the garden is a riot.

I bought a post hole digger but it turned out that a hole-diggin' shovel did a better job, more precise and faster. Actually you can see these in the "implements of destruction" picture in the first post. The holes go down about a foot. None of this stuff is going to move.

The expenses involved are higher than I first thought but many of them are one-time expenses such as the lumber and tools.

So no cement or anything to secure their bases, just packed dirt in around? I have one of those shovels, the black one with the torn label, that's the one you used, yes?

Yes, we just packed in the dirt, and since it was muddy I think that helped stabilize everything when it dried up. Even then, a few of the posts were not perfectly stable, but after bolting the planks to them everything is so solid that it can't move.

The bolts are "lag bolts" and I pre-drilled a hole about the size of the core of the bolt and let the bolt screw itself in very firmly.

Thanks!

We should really put a garden in this year. I love having fresh tomatoes that actually have flavor and fresh basil too. Both are easy to grow. We've had gardens in the past, but didn't get around to it last summer. We had no need for a raised bed. The ground worked fine for us.

The mosquitos are so bad here that it's a pain to water the garden in the evenings without being eaten alive. I like to shower after I douse myself with bug spray. During the weekends, it's not so bad, because I'll load up on bug spray and be outside all day, but during the weeks, the payoff is hardly worth the hassle. Kind of turns it into a big production when I'm only outside for 5 minutes.

Each year I think that I need to set up some sort of path for the water to follow, so I can leave a hose in the garden, attached to an open faucet outside, and control it with the water shut-off valve in the basement. Don't have to go outside for that. Take that, you fucking tiger mosquitos. I imagine myself saying.

We actually just left the posts a little long, level on the otherside, then flipped it when ready ... dug the sod out and made large enough holes for the posts. (just a normal shovel).

Bosley the cat is a riot for sure...he would go sit in the cat nip and get quite contented.

How about this shot...does he look zoned or what??? :lol:

That is one VERY happy cat.

Reminds me of Stoner Kat..a neighborhood stray that ate 3 catnip plants to the ground.

And drove my own Maxwell nuts in the process.

Glatt , we have a skeeter problem here as well , what we did this last year and for here ever after , is bought a soaker hose( you know it has small holes all along the length and a cap on the end ) , ziged zaged it back and forth under the black plastic , i got one of those 2 way diverters ( buy a good one , they are worth it ) drag one hose to the soaker hose in the garden ( under the black plastic ) hook it up to the soaker hose and turn on the water for about 30- 45 minets , that gives me time to speed water the rest of the flowers all the FUCK over the place .

OH , by the way short ( 2-3 ft ) lengths of 1-2 inch PVC pipe driven into the ground in the corners of those raised beds works well to .

I will post a few pics of our raised 'erb garden and our tilled but unplanted veg garden in a few days .

Project continues!

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Overall. I have to talk the neighbor into letting me cut down that section of brush.

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Beans. It's cool, they come out of their bean shell looking like a bean, and drop off the shell part and then start leaves. The got it all worked out, how to save up energy in the seed and such. Pretty amazing.

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Zucchini, coming out of its original jiffy pot thingie where it started indoors. An earlier set was planted outside too early and didn't survive.

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Carrot row.

Additional tomato plants are started indoors. Not really visible yet are peas and cauliflower. I don't have high hopes for the cauliflower.

Neat, UT! Looks great so far. Mine is coming along too, but is halfway covered in Jerusalem artichokes from last year's gardeners. I have to go out there and weed them out one of these days.

I'm excited! I have limited space for sunny tomatoes, but this is what I found to try this year...

Nyagous Black Tomato
Origin: Russia
This variety was originally introduced to the United States from the collection of the famous tomato enthusiast, Reinhard Kraft of Germany. Of late, Nyagous Black has become one of the more highly sought after Russian tomatoes by tomato lovers.

Nyagous produces wonderful globe shaped tomatoes in small clusters of 3 to 6 tomatoes each. The tomatoes produced by Nyagous have a very smooth, round shape which makes this an ideal tomato for market growers. Unlike many other black tomatoes, Nyagous Black is much less prone to cracking or cat-facing. The tomatoes are typically a dusky-red color (but lighter and darker variations do exist, ranging from typical red to a near black with an emerald green interior) with meaty flesh and possess a sweet, aromatic taste.

Can't wait! Got 4 plants. Grow babies, grow!

awesome project =) Home grown stuff rocks. I lack garden but my desk is slowly being colonised by a growing cluster of basil, parsley, thyme & tomato plants in pots. An early experiment with putting tomato plants on the windowsill ended in trajedy - came home & leaned out the window to find a shattered pot and broken stem 4 stories down.

WOW...
Are you a tomato aficionado, or do you just like to research your projects? When Tony and i started we found one decent PA gardening book and a good seed provider on the web - so far it seems to be working out!

In fact we're growing some bean varieties I never heard of - I don't know what they'll taste like - but it's fun watching them actually sprout and take off. I can't wait until we can harvest something.

BTW honey - the plants look great - I can't believe how much the beans spouted over night - I think it is so cool the way the leaves come out of the middle of the bean "meat".

I found a 4 pack of these guys at a hippie school plant fundraising sale, just hand labeled heirloom Nyagous...They looked the healthiest, then I came home and had to look them up. What's a black tomato like? We'll see!

these little beanies are like time lapsed photography with a majestic sountrack..maybe the theme from 2001?

Warch - You're supporting hippie school?!? :eek:

Hey Chica, hows about you save me a few seeds this fall? We'll figure out a barter.

Rodale Press and the county extension agent are good sources of info. ;)

My mom's flower garden is working out well:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/happymonkey/13954676/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://photos10.flickr.com/13954676_5cd9d58fc2.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Purple Jack-in-the-Pulpit" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/happymonkey/13955010/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://photos10.flickr.com/13955010_0bb4c18ab5.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Columbine" /></a>

Columbines are so bizarre looking.

I love the Jack in the Pulpit. Mine haven't come up yet.

Yeah, there are a lot in the woods near my house, but no purple ones, and none of them are as big.

(hippie school is actually a small Quaker school where my friend's kids go. I support!)

I seem to have a bumper crop of Jacks this year- more the woodland variety. Anyone nearby can come for some freebies! Jacks are both sexes at the same time. Plants are freaky.

If I get some lucky tomatoes, I will definitely save you some seedage, Griff. Do I just dry a tomato to get em? Who knows about proper seed saving?

Before its too late, plant some dinosaur kale/lacinato kale and some nasturtiums. They win for beautiful plants, healthy and tasty.

My garden. 2 years ago I flipped a coin to see if make bigger or let grass have it. I lost. So I had 2 truck loads of old saw dust hauled in. Let that set over winter, then 100 bucks of top soil on top. County extension agent checked soil and said good to go. On far right are blueberry bushes. 1st row on right LA. purple pod beans. I can see them to pick. Next maters 3 kinds, some bush type. One grape mater in the bunch paid 2.94 for the flapping thing. Next more maters, egg plants and a few hot peppers. Next row will be okra and what ever. Wire on left is for cucumbers. In back ground in the county jail, boy it's close :mg:

Maybe you could hire a few from the jail when you have some hauling or want to expand.

Right. Hell they want even mow the land line right.:smack: I saw today when I cut grass someone has been using my yard for a shortcut around jail w/pickup or truck. Trustees I guess. But that crap will stop!

Time for a few strategically placed steel-reinforced concrete birdbaths?

I have a friend here whose house backs up onto the SCI Graterford Property. He got a great deal on the house for obvious reasons ... and expects never to have a problem given his location since the last place an escaped prisoner wants to be is right next to the prison.

I don't lock my doors. Before they built the new jail, one night a young kid ran out of lockup into woods, boy it was so thick you couldn't get though there in daylight. Anyway my dog was getting reved up over all the shit. So I hollowed did they want me to turn my dog loose. The kid came out. looked like he had been rolled in barbed wire. BTW they built all that shit years after my house was here.

By the by, that's a beautiful garden you have there, buster.

:)
This is from memory but I'll check before fall. Take the seeds and pulp out (you can still use the meat) and soak them in a glass of water for a few days. The water ferments a little bit separating the seed and pulp. Floaters are bad seeds sinkers are good'uns. You then lay them out to dry. I'll check specifics, I've got a seed savers handbook around here somewhere, but Grifftopias library isn't exactly laid out Dewey decimal...

Take the seeds and pulp out... soak... Floaters...bad...sinkers..good

Can do. Please alter protocol to match documented best practice. :coffee:

Those are Columbines!! :eek: I didn't know that and I've eaten a ton of those suckers.

Are you thinking of Nasturtiums? peppery, also have the kinda cone-tail-like things. They are more of an edible flower. I dunno about eating columbines.

As an aside, all gardens should have nasturtiums. Pack of seeds, grow anywhere, any time, great in salads and beautiful too.

Not sure, but they look just like those and grow wild all over New England. Not peppery at all, we'd bite off the little bulbs at the end of the cones which is filled with sweet nectar.
I eat, therefore I bee. ;)

buster how the hell do you live with a backyard so exposed?? !!

cant you plant a heddge or some trees to protect your privacy in your yard??

Well my yard, I kinda do as I please. I try not to embarrass the folks in the dentist office next door. But hey I was here first.:) Butt holes have got kinda narrow-minded about the discharging of firearms though. :smack:

Grow all over New England and sweet - honeysuckle?

yep, definitely honeysuckle! I used to slurp them in PA, too.

<a href="http://images.google.com/images?q=honeysuckle&hl=en">Here's honeysuckle.</a>