Vegetable Gardens @ my house '06

I thought winter would never leave (fingers crossed it is gone). Welcome back to the continuing saga of veg gardening year three. We had pretty good weather in March so John decided we needed another garden bed and I did not argue - more room for tomatoes. Here is the picture of all three beds. Will number 4 be next year? There was discussion about leaving one fallow or just a cover crop each year. I say crop rotation, add compost and grass clippings and we will have happy plants. We had two containers of compost ready so they were mixed in the three beds along with purchased leafgro/compost mix. Finally did a soil test and the pH is 6.5.

That is John in the back tilling for our new asparagus bed! All my begging has paid off.

We have planted some broccoli, onions, radishes, lettuces and beets so far - all in the bed we weren't going to use:)

-Kim

Lovely!

Bluekat, you got it BAD. There won't be a square foot of grass down there in two years...

Hmmm, I like that goal!

Here are the future transplants. Mostly tomatoes but also cauliflower, eggplants, leeks, herbs, 4 o'clocks and Eskimo marigolds.

-Kim

The top shelf has our winter lettuce we grew under the lights along with some spinach that didn't do as well. I bought the sign for John - they call him Mr. Compost at work.

Fabulous! And I must say -- it looks even more impressive in person! (I saw it yesterday.)

My favorite thing about that first picture is John in the background, tilling up the soon-to-be asparagus bed!

Looks wonderful--just one question....what do you put in the blocks with the rocks? The curiousity is killing me!
Debbie

Wow! So clean! So organized! Sigh........

I wish mine looked that good. You should see it. It's a mess.

The guy that bulldozed the tree's down, then put fill dirt on top of it, created something that I can only describe as a "Disaster Area".

I wanted the tree's cut down and hauled out or pushed off to the side and then the fill dirt put in. When I say, "Fill Dirt", I mean, "Clean" fill dirt. What I have is just about every rock and bolder there is in all of New Brunswick all in one place, my garden.

Even though I'm planting in raised beds, boxes, I won't be able to sit the boxes on the ground. There are raised parts that are a foot higher than some parts and sink holes a foot deep in other area's. The boxes would never sit flat.

True, I love a challenge, but I didn't want one, just yet.

I'll work at it and get it fixed, but Lordy! I'm not as young as I used to be.

I have 2 Tandum loads of gravel in the back that needs to be moved to the front. Then I have 2 Tandum loads of cow manure in the front that needs to be moved to the back. 150 bales of Pro Mix BX in strategic places throughout the garden and 75 bags of extra cow manure, just in case the 2 truck loads aren't enough to mix with the ProMix and put it all in boxes.

I've taken down last years market and have all the materials for this years new one. It's a little bit bigger at, 40 feet long and 20 feet wide.

I hope to have a nice garden, but it will never look as good as yours.

Darrell

wow, it looks beautiful!! We've not even plowed the garden yet this year.... hoping soon!

Debbie those are steps; our backyard is on quite a slope. I am open to all suggestions as to what to plant for groundcover there. Maybe a hardy thyme? then again maybe I will mulch - right Debbie?!?

Darrell - John is MR. Clean & Organized. Left to my own devices....truthfully - probably Earthboxes. You know it is not about how it looks but what comes out! You do have your work cut out for you and I can sympathize about rocks everywhere. I just looked it up, you are only 94 miles from where we are staying on PEI this summer! Maybe a road trip is in order.

My mom wonders what happened to her daughter. We didn't garden growing up (my grandparents did) and I never grew anything in Florida although I did kill lots of things. My interest started when I moved to MD two years ago. John has always had a garden and is happy to have the occasional help:)

You brought a smile to my face.

I think it's great that you and John are doing this garden. It looks really great.

It would be great too, if you and John were to stop by. I only wish I could put you guys up for the night. or two or three. But you saw the condition of my place and it just isn't possible. I have one bed, one table, one lawn chair for the computer desk and that's about it.

Keep me in mind though. I hope to do really good this summer and if all goes well, I just might be able to afford a nicer place. Safe at least to live in, and a guest bedroom. If not this year, next year for sure. :)

One of the neighbors is outside cutting down tree's along the road side. Last year, people were telling me they couldn't find me because they couldn't see me. Now they won't have an excuse. I'm having all the tree's cut down along the road, and back a bit so people coming down the road will be able to see the NEW sign. :)

Put me on your list of stops. I'm looking forward to seeing you both.

Darrell

This message was edited Apr 7, 2006 2:35 PM

Bluekat, your mom and mine would have something to talk about. I grew up being told (to my endless questions about plants and animals) that forsythia was "goldenrod," and that fresh dog poop could be used to fertilize tomatoes (I should point out that no one ate those particular tomatoes, which did NOT thrive). Took me a while to get back to this gardening interest. Now, I make sure to answer my kids' questions carefully and to look it up together if I don't know the answer. I mean, geez...

Zep, you are passing on a good and valuable thing to your children.
They will have many fond memories.

looking forward to future pics bluekat--beautiful garden!
Debbie
:) yep- mulch is always my answer!

We planted asparagus crowns the other day. I am very happy! It will be hard to resist picking any spears....maybe just one? I seem to think I am in a higher zone lately as my tomato plants have been outside this week hardening off. We have had such great weather I am lulled into a false sense of security. I do have row cover and some Wall O Waters so maybe I will plant just a few and try my luck. It doesn't hurt that I have backup transplants!

We are talking about starting watermelon & squash indoors - is this a good idea? We have always direct seeded them.

Here are the 50+ crowns waiting being covered. Notice who is doing all the work!

Works for me Kim--you know they are really happiest when they THINK they are helping.....LOL
Debbie

Hey Kim
Lookin' really good. Can't wait to see your gardens in full bloom.
Flip

I like a man with a shovel and some knowledge of drip irrigation. That's going to be a great asparagus bed, Kim. Do you have a weeding plan? I'm going to use some planter's paper (the biodegradable kind) this year just to get the crowns off to a good start.

If you start the wmelon and squash indoors (I did and it went fine), you could just toss a seed or two near them when you plant.

I was going to put down corn gluten meal and then mulch once the trench gets filled in- with grass, straw or regular mulch? Weed barrier paper would be a better idea under the mulch. Thanks! Good thinking about the seed when transplanting - let's hope I would have come up with that eventually...

Hey Flip - I could be Dirt Girl!

John put pine bark around the steps in the garden this am. I think he wants to show off for his family this weekend:-)

-Kim

Well - I started a new job so I haven't updated in a while. Here are some pics of the gardens now. We put down weed paper on the beds and John did the asparagus bed and coved the paper with soil. The asparagus are up and they are wispy things. It has come to my attention that we may have overplanted :-) What else is new?!? What do you mean 2 people don't need a 50ft row of asparagus?

You can't even see the asparagus in the picture from the deck! The top bed has the broccoli, cauliflower, lettuces, arugula and onions. The middle bed will have beans, eggplant, okra, beets, carrots and squashes. The bottom bed has my tomatoes! There are 28 plants in that bed so far, the other 12 are being hardened off this week.

I grew 173 tomato plants, gave away around 30, planting 40 and John put up a sign @ work and sold the rest for $1 each!! That is sure to buy me some more seeds:) On a sad note I accidently sold all my Coustralee tomato plants so none for me....

We put a fence around all 3 beds. The blue tarp is covering my 'cooking' straw bales. I hope to plant in them the end of next week if they have cooled down enough. The bluebird house is empty at the moment - they grew up and flew away. They have been back today so maybe they will lay more eggs.

We are prepping food for Mother's Day tomorrow and planting in containers on the deck with herbs and annuals.
-Kim

C'mon Ms Kim, you can show us an updated pic or two of your beeyootiful layout there! I'll bet it's really going good now.
You ol' S. Fla buddy whose gardens are history (almost),
Flip

Here is a picture of my Aunt Gertie's gold - taken yesterday. The tomatoes are happier now that the heat is here. Today it is supposed to reach 90!

We planted 17 eggplant - just like with my Coustralee tomato I must have given away my Cloud 9 eggplant :(( I like the white ones! Oh well the other 5 varieties will have to do. There were little green aphids on the them - just from hardening off on the deck. I sprayed them and then the row cover went on nice and tight. There was one extra that didn't fit so he is over in my perennial bed - poor thing is going to get eaten for sure.

We put in a row of wax beans. The other rows will wait 2 weeks apart. Critterologist gave me 4 pepper plants and 3 tomatillos so they went in the weekend also. We harvested more spinach and arugula but with this heat that might be the last of it.

We are going to have fresh broccoli this week! Lots of little side shoots too.

Here is the view from the deck - The eggplants before they were covered are in the 2nd bed just below the straw bales. I planted 3 types of zucchini and a buttercup squash in the bales - I still have 4 bales left to plant. I need to get a picture for the bale gardening thread. If you look closely in the corner of the 3rd bed with tomatoes there is a really tall metal pole; this is our new staking method for four lucky tomato plants this year:)

I am going to put it on its own thread but basically it is a 4' section of rebar pounded in and then 10' of 3/4" conduit put over the rebar and into the ground.

With all the rain we have been having (6+ inches) here I haven't seen our garden in quite a few days. Today is somewhat sunny so on went the sunscreen and hat and down I went. First I scanned the perennial side bed, lots of weeds, 5 volunteer tomato plants - they are Sungold - that is what was there last year, and a huge Borage plant with lots of flowers and bees. I didn't weed as I needed to save my strength for tomatoes :-) Then I moved on to the black raspberries. There are lots of ripe ones so I had me a little snack-YUM. Just standing there tugging the ripe ones off eating away reminded me of picking as a kid in Tennessee while on summer vacation at my grandparents. One of those flavor moments that takes you back. The red raspberry canes are out of control (Thank You Shirley) so John and I will have to put on the big gloves and decide on a plan to keep them upright and in line so we can pick them.

Following the outline of our fence next came the asparagus. We just planted the crowns this year so they are growing nice and ferny since we didn't pick any. I did weed here; there were lots of volunteers of all sorts including more tomatoes but I couldn't let them stay. The crowns are still growing spears which is a good thing. I wasn't full from my raspberries so I just HAD to have one - very tender and juicy - I am sure the rain helped. I only ate that one in the middle of the row then I had to practice restraint for the last 15 feet.

All this snacking had made me hungry...for more! Lucky for me the blueberry plants were next on my route. I ate lots of these, some were warm from the sun and some cooler from the shady parts of the bush and both were delish! I didn't eat enough though there are still lots to pick. John is more diligent than I am; last week he picked a couple of gallons. When he picks more I will make a blueberry slump for dessert.

Next up were my babies! All 41 tomato plants needed pruning! Before I got to the tomato babies I heard other babies - our bluebird box has bluebird babies!! Mom and Dad went back and forth feeding them the whole time I was pruning. The babies really started chirping when their parents left to find more food. Wait! One more snack before pruning - my only store bought tomato, Nyagous, had a ripe one that had split from all the rains. Off it came and after I wiped in on my somewhat clean shirt I ate the whole thing. Okay it wasn't that big (bigger than a golf ball but smaller than a tennis ball-see picture) It was very tasty, juicy and spicy. I hope there are more to come! Since my snacking was over I finally got down to work.

All the tomatoes looked good, lots of flowers and green fruits. I pruned the lower branches and pinched some suckers on the plants. Anytime I thought about leaving some plants with double or triple stems I would remember last year's jungle and prune away. They will get sprayed with fungicide tonight. My Dr. Carolyn seems to have unfurled itself from whatever was wrong - I hope. It still doesn't look like any cherry I have ever seen but at least it's not dead! My Brandywine OTV's have the thickest stems I have ever seen!

By the time I was finished with all the tomato plants I was hot and sweaty & it was almost time to pack it in but I still had two beds left to check. I thinned the carrots and beets, saw leaf miner tracks on the beans and DRUMROLL please, uncovered all 19 eggplant plants from their row cover! They are beautiful and healthy and I would like to keep them that way (part of me wants to cover them back up). They are going to be sprayed with a pyrethrin product this evening along with my melons growing in the straw bales - something has really feasted on them! Then I saw the cucumber beetles on the zucchini plants. Had to squish them- a strange spotted orange stink bug on the cauliflower - 2 dead. Most of the bugs were on the top two beds and not on the new bottom bed with the tomatoes. There were some over grown purple cauliflower which were never going to do anything in this heat and were full of bugs so they came out - big suckers for such a small root system.

John planted LOTS of fennel and the all seem to be doing well. The tomatillos have lots of flowers and the peppers have baby peppers on them! I am looking forward to tasting my 'Tennessee Cheese' pepper. I read that is the one they use to make paprika! I have 3 tomatillo plants but only two varieties. Thanks to DG I know they need partners so I hope they will cross with each other, be fruitful and multiply:)

If you have made it this far, thank you! It is a joy to share my garden adventures with all the people who have taught me so much!
-Kim


This message was edited Jun 28, 2006 5:03 PM

Kim,
That's like a great gardening story!! Sounds like all the rain hasn't dampened things for you too much. I envy you and other low zoners all those neat berries and asparagus you can grow. That don't happen down thisaway.
You sure are growing a big variety. That's what I hope to do this fall/winter. I'm thinkin' of enlarging the strip garden (along the back fence) so I can accomodate more variety and not have to cut back too many mater plants.
So, now that you have everything looking wonderful, you need to post a few pics. Keep up the good work and great gardening. Your S Fl Buddy,
Flipxo

Here is an almost overall pic from a couple of days ago. The bottom of the pic has fennel, renegade sunflowers and cauliflower - tied up and now already harvested. We are roasting them for dinner tonight. The next bed has bush beans (staggered plantings) next to the steps, then edamame, a mixed bed of carrots, beets, peppers,okra and zukes and then all eggplants. Of course my tomato babies in the last bed - couldn't fit them all in the picture!

Impressive! Is that just black plastic, or a weed cloth?

Thanks Darius! It is weed cloth - 2 different brands. You can barely see the difference in the bottom left of the tomato bed -one is lighter than the other. The lighter more grayish one does not stop weeds! The weed cloth is tacked down here and there and the greyer one was all puffed up with weeds underneath! I am pretty sure it was some cheap kind from the discount store.

I am looking forward to following your threads on the new homestead.
-Kim

Here are a few pics from yesterday. The first one are Juane Flamme tomatoes

There are some Aunt Gertie's Gold in my future. Thank You Carolyn for the seeds! Check out the size of those leaves.

We have baby figs! These are Celeste in a container on my deck. How long should I wait to buy the proscuitto?!?

Plant from: http://www.paradisenursery.com/

Kim, great pics! Can't wait to try the AGGold this winter. That plant looks really nice. I hope they're good tastin'. Your Flamme looks good also - I ate my last few about 3 weeks ago. See ya,
Flip

I haven't updated in a month! Well, we were gone for two weeks of that. Here is the garden as of this morning.

I am thinking about starting some seeds for the fall/winter, stuff like kale, broccoli and ordering some garlic for fall planting.

That's a good idea. I think I'll get moving on that, as well.

Everything looks great!

Here is my row of eggplants. They are doing quite well, just some flea beetles here and there. No major attacks :) There are 4 or 5 varieties. I am starting to get them confused - except for the cloud 9 and pintung long.

Here are some of the eggplants Antigua (lighter streaked), Listada de Gandia, possibly Zebra (top two streaked), Pingtung Long and Cloud 9. The Pingtung long are for dinner tonight. Spicy pork and eggplant stir fry with onions and lots of garlic.

Hey Kim, nice looking eggplants. How'd your maters do this season?
Flip

Just a few.....

I have 42 plants, haven't tasted Eva Purple Ball, Dr. Carolyn (it was all curled over-had a rough start) or Gregori's Altai but they are out there! You can see from the pic some plants are over their 10 and 8 foot poles! Stink bug population is down this year - knock on wood. I am going to start some tomatoes for my mom - when do you start?

I also have this pic over in Tomatoes http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/620364/