Fall

It is Fall now and all I can think about is Spring. Have a million things to clean up and tiller.
I decided to move my garden to my front yard instead of wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy out back.
More work. I have to level out the area------ugggggg.
Instead of doing your basic garden and rows, i decided to make raised beds using cinder blocks.
I have 208 blocks now, need 44 more to complete the design.
It's nothing spectacular, but its better than plain jane garden.
I drew the garden out on graph paper. Each square = 16 inches (cinder block)
Trying to figure out how to get it on here as a picture.
It will be a total of 563 square feet of growing space. 31x56.
I will level out the area with a tractor bucket , (would surely hate to do that by shovel) put my blocks in place, fill the block grow bed boxes with soil, lay out black plastic between the beds and outer walkway, put mulch on the black plastic, then wait for spring.
It will look like a Garden Court Yard in the middle of my partially empty front yard.
Will take before, during, and after pictures. And will post a drawing here soon.

happy gardening dreams
Cricket

seeing if my garden graph scan will post

Did you grow any giant pumpkins this year?

in between all tht work do you think you would have time to find a peaceful solution in the middle east, reduce our gas price to a dollar a gallon and maybe innvite us over for a bbq after you are done with your garden. LOL just kidding you. i would like to see a picture of your garden when you are done.

as far as the pictutre, just take it and it will be fine to post here but if it is to big go to www.picassa.com and click onto file then export to folder then resize, type in size and picassa expor to my pictures. after that it should show up in your pictures.

i did it once and it worked.

Wow. That looks like a really good plan. Can't wait to see the photos.

I like how you've included flowers and herbs as well as vegetables. Are you planting some of them in the holes in the cinder blocks? My only suggestion would be to maybe include some pretty vines that spill over the cinder blocks.

Shame on ME.
I changed the plans.
Accidentally----by plowing up too much sod.
So---i drew a new plan, already been laying out my cinder blocks--the Southeast corner is finished already.



New drawing----on a smaller scale cause the graph paper wasnt big enough. My own drawing actually has two sheets of graph paper taped together.

Yes, filling the cinder blocks with soil.
Will be growing Pink and Purple Wave Petunias in the outer border cinder blocks,
Will be growing Double Petunias , and waves inside border blocks, with some
marigolds, impatiens, begonias,

No, I did not grow a giant pumpkin this year, but already tilling area for pumpkin next year. along with some giant melons.

I have a before picture----before any blocks laid out.
More pictures tomorrow.

I been trying to complete one corner of the garden court so I can plant my cold crop plants.

Almost finished with cold crop plants.
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Brussel

Good start!

I am going to be absolutely fascinated with how this works out for you. A couple of years ago I tried the same thing: making my raised beds and the paths between them with concrete blocks. After 2 years of watering, rain and winter frosts, the blocks crumbled so that my lovely garden looked like the ruins of Nineveh!

Nice.

What is the white structure in the background? Are you growing something over there, too?

Portagere, are you trying to tell me in a nice way that my garden is going to crumble?
I feel sorry for all the cinder block homes around here. That means in 2 years their home is goin to crumble.

I haven't filled the inside of the concrete blocks with soil yet. When I get through making the raised beds, I will paint the blocks with that white roof coating stuff. Forgot the name of it.
Sorry.

That White structure is a Lattice - Pergola type structure over my goldfish and koi pond to help prevent the water from heating up so high during summer. There is Pink, Yellow, And REd water lilies. The pond has water umbrella plants too. Some other small plants.
The pond is a total of 3 feet deep in the center. I used Cross Ties to build the sides up--2 cross ties high. Then I painted the cross ties gray. The inside lining around the cross ties was lined with roofing felt. The bottom was lined with old tarps and old carpet. Then we put the pond liner in place. Capped the top ridges of the cross-ties with 2x10s.
Around the pond is Hardy Hibiscus which are two years old, Pink and White Pampass Grass, and some Verigated Cane. One end of the pond has a small newly planted Wisteria Vine.

one of the pink hibiscus

Cinder Block Flower Bed---3 years old and still kicking. Blocks 5 yrs old.

Hi Cricket!
No, I was not trying to tell you anything. I am just fascinated by such a huge project in light of my own experience.
I live in a 20+-yr-old house built of concrete blocks. In fact, except for the really old houses and municipal buildings, which were built of stone, nearly all construction in this part of France is of "cinder" blocks. Of course, the blocks are then coated inside and out with a layer of cement with chemicals added to be impervious to water and then stuccoed. The open ends, of course, are protected by the roofs. When I built my beds and paths I had not noticed that even the simplest concrete block constructions around here are always treated and those open ends that you are using for plantings are never left exposed (or even that the companies that sell construction supplies always have their stocks under cover!). I wouldn't have treated my paths and beds anyway because I wouldn't have wanted the chemicals in the garden. Do you suppose it's a function of climate?
Your 5-yr-old blocks in a 3-yr-old bed don't seem to have been treated in any way.

I love your lattice pergola over the Koi pond. How big is the pond? Mine is 12' x 16'. Maybe a bit big to cover completely, but I could do the south end, huh?

Cheers,
Potagere

i'm almost embarassed to show you a picture of my garden now that the season is over but here it is. LOL i usually bring all my containers back into the garage and then bring them up again in the spring but i am getting lazy or old (probablyboth) so i decided to take a big thick tarp and just cover the containers along with all the stuff i need to grow the vegetables. i think this is a better plan. wifey wasn't to happy about this "white whale" on the deck but she is o.k. with it now.

OOoo, a pond. I'm glad I asked. I had no idea. The wisteria will be beautiful.

Herbie, I like the portability of your garden.

Cricket, I'm impressed with your raised beds AND the cool pond you built. Way to go! (The pond is a real inspiration! Did you use the hard poly liner or the flexible stuff that molds to the hole?)

Great planning on your part with the garden. Will be looking forward to more progress report pics as it comes along. I think that'll really be a showcase for your customers as well!

Shoe

I used the flexible liner on the pond.

About those cinder blocks. I got in the habbit of calling concrete blocks cinder blocks a few years ago because several folks did not know what concrete blocks were, but they did know what a cinder block was. What I am actually using is concrete blocks and not the old fashion cinder block material. Thats probably where the confusion is at----on my behalf.
The garden is built up with concrete blocks.

I cannot remember the exact measurements on the pond. Something like 16x28????
The pergola is 5 feet longer than the pond and slightly wider.

You can surely cover any part of the pond that you wish to. I am assuming that your pond is running north and south long ways and you want to cover the south end cause it would be easier than covering the long West side where the evening sun shines. I would try shading the West side if possible.

Thanks Shoe, My goal here is to make a garden maze, But If I never make it that far, I wish to have a Garden Park for my customers and neighbors. I already have customers who have children that feed my fish when they stop by the greenhouse.

My garden court was put on hold over the weekend cause my chickens were eating my plants. I had to put the chickens in the Horse barn in a stall. Then we built a chicken run 16ftx16ft outside the barn connected to the barn where the chickens are at. Then we cut a small square hole in the side of the barn so they could run from indoors to outdoors. I clipped one wing feathers so they don't fly the coop while I am still in the process of putting chicken wire over the top of the chicken run. Fun HUH. Will start back on the garden court in a day or two.

I found a picture of the pond from last year before the plants grew big and before the pergola was built.

This past Late Spring.

A view of the pond form my house deck.

Not sure how much you want to see of the progress on the garden court. Just hope I don't bore you to death.
The other end of the East side of the garden court is in place. All it needs now is soil. I will do that later after I finish the blocks on the other side .

I can surely say the blocks whooped my dreary air today.

The hibiscus that is in the bed is mixed ( white, and hot pink) and very showy during the summer. Like a large bouquet.

I was not aware when I first queried you that this was part of a business. I just always assume that we are all just "people".
Nonetheless, I am looking at that pond and that pergola and trying to think in terns of 16 x 18 ft + 5 ft each way = 21 x 30 ft minimum and I am thinking: there is no way you can run a 21 foot unsupported beam. That's 6+ metres. It's not possible to even buy an unbroken beam that long here unless you are Saudi or just benefited from the latest US taxpayer bailout! A 21 ft piece of wood? Big money here!
And 21 ft unsupported? Are you sure of the numbers>

I have plenty of west shade: comes from being on the western slope of a mountain. It's the long, slow southern sun that's the killer.

I do have a greenhouse business. I grow and sell veggie plants in the Spring. I garden the rest of the year. I always have even before I had a greenhouse business. I am just a people. My work just happens to be on the same property as my home----well not exactly. I have a separate Deed that the greenhouses sit on.
Lets pretend that I dont have a greenhouse business. Pretend that I work on the internet. I like to garden and I have alot of friends and family.
The GArden and POnd is on my personal home property. Not on the business property.
They just happen to sit side by side.

Repeating what I had wrote before:::::::::
I cannot remember the exact measurements on the pond. Something like 16x28????
The pergola is 5 feet longer than the pond and slightly wider.

I never said it was 5 feet longer than pergola on both ends and 5 feet wider on both sides. Sorry for the confusion.

To be more Exact, The pond is 15 ft 8 inches wide and 27 ft long from outside edge to outside edge give or take an inch because it is not exactly a perfect rectangle.
The Pergola is 17 foot and 4 inches wide Exactly and 32 feet long Exactly. give or take an 1/8 of an inch because it is slightly off square..

We used 16 ft long 2x6s
The 2x6 was placed on the 4x4 post to the inside of the pond area instead of the outside to gain more inches for the 16 ft 2x6 to fit.
So you have the length of the 2x6x16ft + the 1 1/2 inch thickness of the 2x6 times 2 sides + the 3 1/2 inch thickness of the 4x4 times 2 sides = 16ft and 10 inches plus+ the lattice over hang which is 3 inches on each side = 17ft 4 inches wide.
There are 5 4x4 post down each side of the pond---long side----. The post are set 8 feet apart. Which makes it 32 feet long.

Wish I had a blue print.

WOW!!! That's an incredible unsupported run that I would not have thought possible. It gives me hope.

Looks good Cricket

What are your plans for irrigation?

BB

I am going to try sprayer stakes on polyethylene lines. I already have the supplies. Home Depot had a clearance on some poly tubing that I could not walk away from.
Once a week I will give the plants special treatments manually with a hose end garden sprayer. I like Ortho garden hose sprayers.


I completed the center of the garden today. I am going to put soil in the beds that are completed before i finish the other side. This way I can cheat by using the tractor to fill the beds with some top soil using the tractor bucket. If I complete the other side before I fill with soil , I wont be able to reach the center beds with tractor.

Wow, sure is looking good! You must be building up some good muscles, too, handling all those blocks!

I don't remember reading anything further up the thread but are you using your local dirt or did you decide to make a nice soil mix with peat and other ingredients?

Shoe

I use some of my lands top soil after I scape off the sod layer. It is a sandy top soil from a very old garden plot. I have only been here 3 years and the old garden plot was unused for 7 years. Then adding peat moss and compost manure to it. And some used Pro-mix.
There is no way I could afford to buy enough soil to fill all those beds.
I will be adding fresh homemade compost to the beds in the spring.
Wish I could add some horse manure to it but I dont want too many weed seeds
in it. I can get all the horse manure I want from the neighbors horses. They use our land for pasture.

Thanks, Cricket. I'm leaning towards making some beds similar to yours and I am pretty strapped for cash so, like you, could never afford buying all the ingredients. (Fortunately I have loads of leaves the city brings me each Fall so that goes a long ways towards "making dirt", or compost, and adding it in.)

Happy Day to ya!
Shoe

Hey Shoe:

I know the feeling!

BB

BB, your raised beds are probably payed for themselves this past year, right?

I can't remember if you made your "dirt" or used what you had on the property.

Shoe

My sister puts straw under her rabbit cages and straw in the chicken coop. I will rake it up and put it in the beds during the winter.
I have been thinking about putting black plastic down between the beds and covering it with pine mulch but ---I think I have changed my mind. I am not really crazy about the black plastic idea. I just want to stop weeds and grass from growing.
Someone suggested that I save all my news paper all winter and use it as mulch between the beds in thick layers then putting straw mulch on top of that. Do that every year and before you know it, you have rich soil between the beds to scoop up and put in new bed areas.
Thought::::::::::: If I put the chicken litter mixed with chopped straw just outside the block beds that the beds will get nutrients every time it rains without burning the plants up, Right?
I have one of those Compost Tumblers but it is very slow during the winter.
It amazes me how stuff will decompose faster in the ground during winter than it will in the compost tumblers during winter even when the stuff is on top of the ground.
Im just ramblin on. I'll have a book written with just my thoughts if I dont stop now.

Anyone can share their raised bed experience. It's kinda lonely in here.


Im still working on the beds. Almost done. I have to finish two end beds.
Finish filling with top soil from out back. Then add peat moss and compost manure.

A different viewpoint

To the left on this end of the bed with the young Mimosa Tree, I planted some strawberry plants.




This message was edited Oct 22, 2008 6:26 PM

I got some square foot gardening dvds in the mail.
This garden can grow a lot of food and flowers.
I was very impressed with the square foot gardening.
It sheds new light on everything.
Just to name a few plantings:::: you can grow 16 radishes in one square foot. 4 french marigold in one square foot.
One cabbage family plant in one square foot, grow 9 garlic in one square foot,
9 onion in one square foot, 16 carrots in one square foot. I personally rather grow a few less per square foot. But.........
I am having fun just thinking about Spring.

Cricket, I put in a raised bed using concrete blocks two years ago and doubled its size this fall. I have to do a few blocks a week as I am limited by time, strength and have to travel to get there. (Mine is not level!)

Anyway I wanted to share with you that the beds I put in were 2 blocks wide, not 3 like you are using. I have found that with the size (width)of the block itself, that it can be difficult to reach across the bed all the way. While you might think you could go to the other side, I've found that once the plants are in and growing, the larger ones can block you from one side. I am not sure if you will like 3 blocks wide. This issue will also crop up in the corners of your beds where they change directions.

Also, wanted to ask you what you will use to top off the blocks. I used pavers on the bed I have, but now think it would have been better to use solid 1/2 blocks for slightly greater depth. The higher the bed, the easier it will also be to reach and work (I need to use a chair at times, as my endurance is not what I would like - there is also the pleasure of just taking a break and sitting there :) ) If I had the time, dirt and money, I think it would have been great to go two blocks high. (I had to haul the dirt in from buying at Lowes and used my car)

Anyway, I like your thread and pics as well. Raised bed gardening is so much easier for me, I'm sure you'll agree its a good way to go as you are doing it yourself.. Of course, that is after the setup work has been done.