Our first head of romaine, last bit from the first planting of mixed greens, radishes from the second planting of those, a ton of peapods, and two more sweet red onions.
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Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Another harvest!
The garden has been doing well. We had flea beetles that were eating nearly everything. Using some Ortho Max spray once a week took care of that.
Our first head of romaine, last bit from the first planting of mixed greens, radishes from the second planting of those, a ton of peapods, and two more sweet red onions.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Our first head of romaine, last bit from the first planting of mixed greens, radishes from the second planting of those, a ton of peapods, and two more sweet red onions.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
What does one make with a $270 radish?
Ages ago, Bill and I had discussed our grand celebration of the garden's first harvest. Little did we expect it was going to be on a Tuesday night during an exceptionally hectic week. Nevertheless, we decided to celebrate and create a special dish fit for our first crop.
The star of the show!
That dressed up a salad like a bow tie dresses up a tux :) We served this with...
Proscuitto-wrapped, pan-seared cod with a modified (LOW FAT!) vichyssoise (a fancy french potato and leek puree for those not in the know- like Bill about three hours ago).
Oh, and we had saved this bottle for this very occasion:
(yes, that is a very blurry cooler with Moet et Chandon White Star)
All in all, a very nice cap to a regular Tuesday night :)
The star of the show!
That dressed up a salad like a bow tie dresses up a tux :) We served this with...
Proscuitto-wrapped, pan-seared cod with a modified (LOW FAT!) vichyssoise (a fancy french potato and leek puree for those not in the know- like Bill about three hours ago).
Oh, and we had saved this bottle for this very occasion:
(yes, that is a very blurry cooler with Moet et Chandon White Star)
All in all, a very nice cap to a regular Tuesday night :)
Big Update!
It's been a short month for us as we've been quite busy so this update is long overdue. The garden has been quite the learning experience to say the least. On to the pictures.
Our herb disc's arrived and we placed them in the included pots. Included in the pack were arugula, chives, parsley, thyme, chives, basil, and cilantro. All of them are doing nicely except for the thyme. Only a couple of seeds came up and it them proceeded to die for whatever reason. Thankfully we have another thyme disc that we'll be potting. The tomatoes in the clear plastic dish are doing great and are ready for potting, which we'll do this week. There is also a hot pepper plant that Anne picked up ready for potting as well.
This is our partial shade bed. The radishes in the lower left have continued to grow extremely well, we even harvested our first radish yesterday with several more on the way for this week. Just to the right of the radishes is our lettuce greens mix, also doing extremely well. To the right of that is the romaine lettuce with has perked back up after the bit of cold weather we had. In the upper left we have the red onions we bought at Home Depot, which are doing nicely. Lastly in the upper right we have the garlic bulbs that went in, they are also doing well.
Here's our tub of pre-purchased plants. One strawberry plant which is beginning to bear fruit and two broccoli plants which are doing great.
This is full sun bed number one. Along the back we have the pea plants which have thrived and started to attach themselves to the trellis. Two more broccoli plants in the lower right are ping great. We're onto the third of our zucchini plants that we started indoors. The previous two died fairly quickly simply because it was too cold outside at night. Same goes for the four cucumber plants we had along the back, just too cold. We'll replant the dukes from seed when it's good and hot out. Lesson learn on that one.
Here we have full sun bed number two. As with the zucchini plant we're on the third squash plant that we had started inside. It was just too cold outside for them. In the lower right are two more broccoli plants that are doing great just like the others.
Lastly, the corn. I had started some Silver Queen inside and because of the brief cold snap we had they don't look too good. Not quite dead yet so we'll see how it goes. Now that the weather has stabilized and warm enough I started the sweet corn and early and often varieties as well as some additional silver queen. Some of the early and often has already poked up through the soil after only 4 days so i'm optimistic that the corn will do better in the stable weather.
Our first radish!
With the weather being good this week we are planning on potting the tomato plants we started from seed. It's also time for second plantings of things like romaine lettuce, mixed lettuce greens, and more radishes! We also have dill, carrots, two varieties of peppers, and brussels sprouts that can get planted in the beds.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Our herb disc's arrived and we placed them in the included pots. Included in the pack were arugula, chives, parsley, thyme, chives, basil, and cilantro. All of them are doing nicely except for the thyme. Only a couple of seeds came up and it them proceeded to die for whatever reason. Thankfully we have another thyme disc that we'll be potting. The tomatoes in the clear plastic dish are doing great and are ready for potting, which we'll do this week. There is also a hot pepper plant that Anne picked up ready for potting as well.
This is our partial shade bed. The radishes in the lower left have continued to grow extremely well, we even harvested our first radish yesterday with several more on the way for this week. Just to the right of the radishes is our lettuce greens mix, also doing extremely well. To the right of that is the romaine lettuce with has perked back up after the bit of cold weather we had. In the upper left we have the red onions we bought at Home Depot, which are doing nicely. Lastly in the upper right we have the garlic bulbs that went in, they are also doing well.
Here's our tub of pre-purchased plants. One strawberry plant which is beginning to bear fruit and two broccoli plants which are doing great.
This is full sun bed number one. Along the back we have the pea plants which have thrived and started to attach themselves to the trellis. Two more broccoli plants in the lower right are ping great. We're onto the third of our zucchini plants that we started indoors. The previous two died fairly quickly simply because it was too cold outside at night. Same goes for the four cucumber plants we had along the back, just too cold. We'll replant the dukes from seed when it's good and hot out. Lesson learn on that one.
Here we have full sun bed number two. As with the zucchini plant we're on the third squash plant that we had started inside. It was just too cold outside for them. In the lower right are two more broccoli plants that are doing great just like the others.
Lastly, the corn. I had started some Silver Queen inside and because of the brief cold snap we had they don't look too good. Not quite dead yet so we'll see how it goes. Now that the weather has stabilized and warm enough I started the sweet corn and early and often varieties as well as some additional silver queen. Some of the early and often has already poked up through the soil after only 4 days so i'm optimistic that the corn will do better in the stable weather.
Our first radish!
With the weather being good this week we are planning on potting the tomato plants we started from seed. It's also time for second plantings of things like romaine lettuce, mixed lettuce greens, and more radishes! We also have dill, carrots, two varieties of peppers, and brussels sprouts that can get planted in the beds.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Plants!
We've been busy on the garden, and just busy in general, so here is an update.
We built the square foot divider for each of the three 4x4 beds. We used some 1x2 strapping and tacked it in place with some nails.
Here is the galvanized metal tub we've used for an additional planting bed. We placed two broccoli plants and strawberry plant that we bought from Home Depot already started. Next year it will just be for the strawberry plant.
We transplanted the radishes that were started inside. Since SFG says you can plant 16 radishes per square we planted some seeds as well. Radishes seem to grow like wildfire, the seeds came up in about 4 days.
Here are two more of the broccoli plants. The tray we bought had nine total, and since we have the spare space for now we planted a total of 6. We also got the peas planted after soaking the seeds in water for the day. So far, after a week the peas haven't come up yet.
Our mixed lettuce greens seeds went in and came up in about 4 days. The romaine lettuce went in at the same time, but like the peas, we have no sign of sprouts yet.
Our mixed lettuce greens seeds went in and came up in about 4 days. The romaine lettuce went in at the same time, but like the peas, we have no sign of sprouts yet.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Day 15: Holy. Crap. VEGGIES.
Getting up to look at our indoor greenhouse rivals being four and running downstairs on Christmas morning. Today, we had a great surprise waiting for us. Not only have our radishes doubled in size (IN A DAY!!), but ALL of our cucumbers and brussel sprouts are up too! Checking the germination time and temp for our system, we should expect over half of the cells to be green next week
Day 14: Garden of Manly Delight
Yesterday was a big day- the boxes became beds to house our wonderful veggies that are sprouting. Bill and I went out to in the AM to get our materials for what's described in the SFG book as "Mel's Magic Mix". While that sounds like something you'd probably buy on a street corner, it actually means a 1:1:1 ratio of peat, compost/manure, and vermiculite. Since we have 3 garden boxes that hold about 8 cubic feet of material, we had to get a LOT of each of the ingredients. We ended up with 9 cuft of peat, about 9 cuft of two different types of compost, and 8 cuft of vermiculite (which we had to order online, since it's a rare and expensive commodity in big-box stores). The other thing that we purchased to go into these beds was pea-stone. The small river pebbles line the bottoms of the beds for proper drainage to avoid root-rot and total garden meltdown. So, 16 bags of stone, 3 large bags of peat, 9 bags of compost, and 2 unruly bags of vermiculite had to be hauled into our backyard, which is about 1.5 stories higher than our garage. My back started cringing when I was doing that math.
Time to call in the Crazy Js.
Our friends Jared and Jake came over yesterday afternoon to help us schlep bags and mix the soil for the beds, in exchange for a cookout dinner and cookies (and rock band and beer, but that's kind of only remotely related to helping). Without Jared's muscle man power Bill and I would have been pronate on the ground in about 3 trips with all that stuff. Seriously, I have no idea where he gets his strength (other than the fact that I know he goes to the gym on a daily basis), but it did our garden good.
First, the pea-stone. Each bed took about 5 bags of rock to cover the bottom.
OH, also. See those black things in the middle of each side of the box? Those are garden stakes. Using those and some short screws, we firmly anchored the boxes into the ground, and placed large stones in the corners to even out the gradation so the stone wouldn't pour out of an uneven side.
Next, the weed barrier. According to our SFG book, we did these first two steps backwards, but we pooh-poohed their ideology with the barrier on the ground. First, the soil would unevenly seep into the rocks and we'd lose precious growing volume, and then we might have had issues with un-evenness of drainage with the weed mat acting like a tarp on our concrete-like ground. Sorry Mel, sometimes we have to take matters into our own hands.
Jared and Bill came up with a method for mixing in the beds that worked really well. Mel suggests to place each of the ingredients into a large tarp, and then fold the tarp in half, unfold, rotating corners, until everything is well homogenized. That would have taken hours. We're not fans of ANYTHING taking hours, especially when there's a grill to be fired up and rock band to be played. So we mixed the batch in two layers, wetting each down as we went so we weren't inhaling the pulverized rock and peat:
First, the heavy wet stuff- compost/manure mix. We used two different brands of this and blended them to get a better, well-rounded balance of nutrients.
Then, the peat...
And finally the vermiculite. Lather, rinse, repeat for the final layer on top.
With the four of us, it took no time at all to mix the soil (by hand, on our hands and knees on the ground- we got niiiiiice and dirty...).
Ta-da! Our beds are ready for slats and plants!
It's pouring today, so we're really taking the drainage system for a test drive. Plus, the Mix will have plenty of time to get settled in. ETA for planting some things outside: Wednesday.
Time to call in the Crazy Js.
Our friends Jared and Jake came over yesterday afternoon to help us schlep bags and mix the soil for the beds, in exchange for a cookout dinner and cookies (and rock band and beer, but that's kind of only remotely related to helping). Without Jared's muscle man power Bill and I would have been pronate on the ground in about 3 trips with all that stuff. Seriously, I have no idea where he gets his strength (other than the fact that I know he goes to the gym on a daily basis), but it did our garden good.
First, the pea-stone. Each bed took about 5 bags of rock to cover the bottom.
OH, also. See those black things in the middle of each side of the box? Those are garden stakes. Using those and some short screws, we firmly anchored the boxes into the ground, and placed large stones in the corners to even out the gradation so the stone wouldn't pour out of an uneven side.
Next, the weed barrier. According to our SFG book, we did these first two steps backwards, but we pooh-poohed their ideology with the barrier on the ground. First, the soil would unevenly seep into the rocks and we'd lose precious growing volume, and then we might have had issues with un-evenness of drainage with the weed mat acting like a tarp on our concrete-like ground. Sorry Mel, sometimes we have to take matters into our own hands.
Jared and Bill came up with a method for mixing in the beds that worked really well. Mel suggests to place each of the ingredients into a large tarp, and then fold the tarp in half, unfold, rotating corners, until everything is well homogenized. That would have taken hours. We're not fans of ANYTHING taking hours, especially when there's a grill to be fired up and rock band to be played. So we mixed the batch in two layers, wetting each down as we went so we weren't inhaling the pulverized rock and peat:
First, the heavy wet stuff- compost/manure mix. We used two different brands of this and blended them to get a better, well-rounded balance of nutrients.
Then, the peat...
And finally the vermiculite. Lather, rinse, repeat for the final layer on top.
With the four of us, it took no time at all to mix the soil (by hand, on our hands and knees on the ground- we got niiiiiice and dirty...).
Ta-da! Our beds are ready for slats and plants!
It's pouring today, so we're really taking the drainage system for a test drive. Plus, the Mix will have plenty of time to get settled in. ETA for planting some things outside: Wednesday.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Day 13: Holy. Crap. Radishes.
Bill texted me during my workday yesterday, which he usually doesn't do unless it's an urgent matter. This was definitely urgent:
"There are two radish sprouts!!!"
In the words of Lolcat, NO WAI.
By this morning, ALL of the radishes were up. Seriously, 3 days and we're already seeing results. We are atwitter with excitement.
"There are two radish sprouts!!!"
In the words of Lolcat, NO WAI.
By this morning, ALL of the radishes were up. Seriously, 3 days and we're already seeing results. We are atwitter with excitement.
Also Day 11: The Great Corn Debate
When I got home from work on Wednesday, I ran to check on our seeds. And much to my surprise, found that our seed starter kit adopted a little brother.
Oh no.
Bill and I have been debating for months now, ever since we dreamed up this garden, about growing corn. Now, I've had first-hand failed attempts at growing this stuff, and feel it should be left to farmers with huge tracts of land, the proper amount of time and dedication to it, etc. Corn takes up a HUGE amount of space, and I didn't see the need for wasting half of our garden space on these tall unruly stalks that would be shading the rest of our full-sun plants. Plus corn roots spread, a lot, and I worried about root infiltration with my beloved cucumbers (Bill also envisions pickling at the end of summer). So basically, Not In My Backyard (square foot garden).
He promised me he'd take care of the corn, and that he even found another vessel (an old galvanized tub used for keg chilling in his bachelor days) so that his Silver Queen and Early and Often wouldn't bother my showstopping Saffron squash. This corn is becoming a pet project to him, so I'll let it slide for now, until he gets so frustrated with it that he abandons it.
-Bill's note: Key point that Anne left out, the plan was always to grow the corn in there own bed nowhere near the rest of the garden. Since the corn stalks could reach six foot tall they would cast a shadow over everything else.
Oh no.
Bill and I have been debating for months now, ever since we dreamed up this garden, about growing corn. Now, I've had first-hand failed attempts at growing this stuff, and feel it should be left to farmers with huge tracts of land, the proper amount of time and dedication to it, etc. Corn takes up a HUGE amount of space, and I didn't see the need for wasting half of our garden space on these tall unruly stalks that would be shading the rest of our full-sun plants. Plus corn roots spread, a lot, and I worried about root infiltration with my beloved cucumbers (Bill also envisions pickling at the end of summer). So basically, Not In My Backyard (square foot garden).
He promised me he'd take care of the corn, and that he even found another vessel (an old galvanized tub used for keg chilling in his bachelor days) so that his Silver Queen and Early and Often wouldn't bother my showstopping Saffron squash. This corn is becoming a pet project to him, so I'll let it slide for now, until he gets so frustrated with it that he abandons it.
-Bill's note: Key point that Anne left out, the plan was always to grow the corn in there own bed nowhere near the rest of the garden. Since the corn stalks could reach six foot tall they would cast a shadow over everything else.
Day 11: Boxing
We absolutely took advantage of the gorgeous, near-70 weather on Wednesday and built the outdoor boxes to get an idea of spacing. We revisited the impossibly hard wood and contributed to our carpal tunnel issues with the 18V drill, trying to get 3 deck screws in each end of the box.
There are two boxes in front of our deck...
...and one against our fence. This one gets less sun (what would be considered "partial sun", ie less than 6 hours a day), so our partial sun veggies will be going in here. The front of the deck is full-blast sun from dawn til dusk. This definitely helped dictate what kinds of veggies we planned on growing.
And now, a brief reminder of why we're going the raised bed route. See all that dirt over yonder? See how red it is? That's Virgina clay. The only thing that stuff is good for is making terra cotta pots (which could be another blog in an of itself).
A completed box! We built them with rotating edges for a sturdier, truer square. There are definitely no action shots this time because it took everything both of us had to get 3 1/2" screws through these boards while holding the corners square.
Et voila, the finished boxes, roughly in their resting places. This weekend we've suckered, er, nicely asked some friends to come over to help us complete the boxes with drainage stone, weed shielding, and hopefully soil!
There are two boxes in front of our deck...
...and one against our fence. This one gets less sun (what would be considered "partial sun", ie less than 6 hours a day), so our partial sun veggies will be going in here. The front of the deck is full-blast sun from dawn til dusk. This definitely helped dictate what kinds of veggies we planned on growing.
And now, a brief reminder of why we're going the raised bed route. See all that dirt over yonder? See how red it is? That's Virgina clay. The only thing that stuff is good for is making terra cotta pots (which could be another blog in an of itself).
A completed box! We built them with rotating edges for a sturdier, truer square. There are definitely no action shots this time because it took everything both of us had to get 3 1/2" screws through these boards while holding the corners square.
Et voila, the finished boxes, roughly in their resting places. This weekend we've suckered, er, nicely asked some friends to come over to help us complete the boxes with drainage stone, weed shielding, and hopefully soil!
Day 10: Planting a Radish
Our seeds and seed starter kit arrived while we were in Rhode Island (marveling at my parents' in-ground garden space and germinated sprouts in their sun room). We made quick time of getting the seeds started on Tuesday night.
If you've never dreamed of creating an indoor greenhouse before, look no further than this $20 kit that you can pick up in a big-box home improvement store (or order direct from Burpees). All it takes to get 72 (well, 144 if you do 2 per cell) seed started is some warm water and a space with adequate light.
first, you take about a gazillion cups of warm water and fill each cell (containing what I deem a "soil cell- basically soil that's been freeze-dried and vacuum packed into a vitamin-sized pod) until the soil cell expands. Remember those awesome dinosaurs that magically grew before your eyes when you added water? Same idea. Except less paleozoic nostalgia.
Once the cells have expanded, it's best to fluff them with a fork and to make sure the soil then fills the compartments. We noticed that not all of the cells expanded evenly, so we had to go back and touch up and assist their proper expansion.
Now, the really fun part! First we took the back of the soil fluffing fork and made 1/4-1/2" deep slits in the soil for the seeds. Adding the seeds is not as daunting as you'd think. Bill thought that it would take forever, mostly because the seeds are microscopic in nature and his hands are, well, large enough to palm a beach ball. I remembered a trick that my dad uses, which is to put the seeds in a dixie cup (we graduated to a real glass), and pinch one or two seeds against the side of the glass to get the right amount for each seed hole.
One of the best things about this particular kit is that it's SELF WATERING. It has a funky absorbent mat that sits on a platform, and the soil cells rest on top of the mat. We filled the entire container with water, up to the top of the platform, and the magic of cohesion-adhesion does the rest. It will be interesting to see how long we can go before we have to add more water.
Not even 5 minutes after topping our contraption off, we noticed some sweet condensation. Greenhouse effect: achieved.
The seeds we planted inside (as opposed to outside at a much later date): Dill, cukes, summer squash, zucchini, capsicum peppers, sweet italian red peppers, carrots, radishes (a late addition to our roster, thanks to Bill), brandywine and amish red tomatoes (from seeds that I had saved from my deck adventure last year, brussel sprouts, and shallots.
Up next: the outdoor adventure begins!
If you've never dreamed of creating an indoor greenhouse before, look no further than this $20 kit that you can pick up in a big-box home improvement store (or order direct from Burpees). All it takes to get 72 (well, 144 if you do 2 per cell) seed started is some warm water and a space with adequate light.
first, you take about a gazillion cups of warm water and fill each cell (containing what I deem a "soil cell- basically soil that's been freeze-dried and vacuum packed into a vitamin-sized pod) until the soil cell expands. Remember those awesome dinosaurs that magically grew before your eyes when you added water? Same idea. Except less paleozoic nostalgia.
Once the cells have expanded, it's best to fluff them with a fork and to make sure the soil then fills the compartments. We noticed that not all of the cells expanded evenly, so we had to go back and touch up and assist their proper expansion.
Now, the really fun part! First we took the back of the soil fluffing fork and made 1/4-1/2" deep slits in the soil for the seeds. Adding the seeds is not as daunting as you'd think. Bill thought that it would take forever, mostly because the seeds are microscopic in nature and his hands are, well, large enough to palm a beach ball. I remembered a trick that my dad uses, which is to put the seeds in a dixie cup (we graduated to a real glass), and pinch one or two seeds against the side of the glass to get the right amount for each seed hole.
One of the best things about this particular kit is that it's SELF WATERING. It has a funky absorbent mat that sits on a platform, and the soil cells rest on top of the mat. We filled the entire container with water, up to the top of the platform, and the magic of cohesion-adhesion does the rest. It will be interesting to see how long we can go before we have to add more water.
Not even 5 minutes after topping our contraption off, we noticed some sweet condensation. Greenhouse effect: achieved.
The seeds we planted inside (as opposed to outside at a much later date): Dill, cukes, summer squash, zucchini, capsicum peppers, sweet italian red peppers, carrots, radishes (a late addition to our roster, thanks to Bill), brandywine and amish red tomatoes (from seeds that I had saved from my deck adventure last year, brussel sprouts, and shallots.
Up next: the outdoor adventure begins!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Water sealing all the wood parts
These are all of the wooden parts that needed to be finished in some fashion so they can brave the elements. We chose to use Thompsons Water seal on the surfaces that won't have contact with the plants and soil. The inside if each bed box will go untreated.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Day 1: Screwing, drilling, and dusting
What do these three things have to do with gardening?!?!?
After looking at the plethora of available kits for raised garden beds, we decided to build our own. A kit on the market averages about $60 for a 3x7 bed, depending on its main material (anything from Trex-like recycled plastic to straight-up cedar). Well, for about $100 for ALL the materials, we are building 3 4x4 beds, for 48 square feet of sfg goodness.
Why not build a mega-bed? Our answer has everything to do with location. Our backyard is literally a postage stamp- well, a stamp with a deck covering quite a bit of it. And since our development hires out landscapers who are fairly picky about how they mow and maintain the "yards", we couldn't cover our entire parcel with beds. So we'll end up putting 2 of the 3 units against the back of the deck (which optimizes trellis action for vine plants like cukes), and one in a more shaded area against our side fence (definitely a lot more shade, which is ideal for our lettuces and lily family members).
Since this blog has lacked pictures thus far, I now present to you our photo-documented building extravaganza!
Our material list:
6* 2x8x8 kiln-dried douglas fir
10*2x4x8 kiln-dried douglas fir
1 box 3.5" deck screws
1 bottle tite-bond outdoor wood glue
seriously, that's it. what we didn't get today are the optional lats to literally mark out square feet in our beds, some weed-blocking mesh for under the beds, the mesh or chicken wire that will be our pest-patrol netting, and the twine net and pvc for securing for our trellis. but after roughly pricing those out today at the HD, that will only be another $20-30. Not too shabby. Considering a good tiller for breaking earth runs about twice the total price of our beds, I'd say we're coming out ahead.
first things first- cutting the wood to size, as the following:
12 2x8x4 pieces for the main boxes
11 2x4x2 pieces for the pest patrol frames
and
13 2x4x4 pieces for the pest patrol frames and trellis
now- we rip each piece for the pest patrol frames down the middle for desired width, giving us 22 2x2x2 and 26 2x2x4 pieces
holy sawdust, batman!
wood, post-ripping
that's one 4x4 trellis, and 11 2x4 pest control frame pieces that will sit on top of the boxes when they are assembled (which will be done outside, in place, in the backyard).
assembling these pieces wasn't exactly ridiculous fun. the trellis and pest pieces were select premium douglas fir, ie HOUSE STUD GRADE material. let's just say, after an hour of gluing and screwing, it's a bit painful to be typing this (all in the name of SFG!!)
so, there you have it. 4.5 hours, $100, and some valuable lessons for me on how to use Bill's New River Valley Workshop...
Until next time (when hopefully our seeds and seed starter pack arrives!)
~Cupcake
After looking at the plethora of available kits for raised garden beds, we decided to build our own. A kit on the market averages about $60 for a 3x7 bed, depending on its main material (anything from Trex-like recycled plastic to straight-up cedar). Well, for about $100 for ALL the materials, we are building 3 4x4 beds, for 48 square feet of sfg goodness.
Why not build a mega-bed? Our answer has everything to do with location. Our backyard is literally a postage stamp- well, a stamp with a deck covering quite a bit of it. And since our development hires out landscapers who are fairly picky about how they mow and maintain the "yards", we couldn't cover our entire parcel with beds. So we'll end up putting 2 of the 3 units against the back of the deck (which optimizes trellis action for vine plants like cukes), and one in a more shaded area against our side fence (definitely a lot more shade, which is ideal for our lettuces and lily family members).
Since this blog has lacked pictures thus far, I now present to you our photo-documented building extravaganza!
Our material list:
6* 2x8x8 kiln-dried douglas fir
10*2x4x8 kiln-dried douglas fir
1 box 3.5" deck screws
1 bottle tite-bond outdoor wood glue
seriously, that's it. what we didn't get today are the optional lats to literally mark out square feet in our beds, some weed-blocking mesh for under the beds, the mesh or chicken wire that will be our pest-patrol netting, and the twine net and pvc for securing for our trellis. but after roughly pricing those out today at the HD, that will only be another $20-30. Not too shabby. Considering a good tiller for breaking earth runs about twice the total price of our beds, I'd say we're coming out ahead.
first things first- cutting the wood to size, as the following:
12 2x8x4 pieces for the main boxes
11 2x4x2 pieces for the pest patrol frames
and
13 2x4x4 pieces for the pest patrol frames and trellis
now- we rip each piece for the pest patrol frames down the middle for desired width, giving us 22 2x2x2 and 26 2x2x4 pieces
holy sawdust, batman!
wood, post-ripping
that's one 4x4 trellis, and 11 2x4 pest control frame pieces that will sit on top of the boxes when they are assembled (which will be done outside, in place, in the backyard).
assembling these pieces wasn't exactly ridiculous fun. the trellis and pest pieces were select premium douglas fir, ie HOUSE STUD GRADE material. let's just say, after an hour of gluing and screwing, it's a bit painful to be typing this (all in the name of SFG!!)
so, there you have it. 4.5 hours, $100, and some valuable lessons for me on how to use Bill's New River Valley Workshop...
Until next time (when hopefully our seeds and seed starter pack arrives!)
~Cupcake
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Quick note on Square Foot Gardening
We're using this book as our guide. Put simply it's a method to maximize a small amount of space to plant your garden.
All New Square Foot Gardening
All New Square Foot Gardening
Our very first post!
We ordered our seeds today. We'll be starting all of our vegetables inside, except the peas and lettuces, indoors.
Here's the list:
herb starter disks
ambition shallots
alibi cucumbers
ovations greens mix
winter density romaine
provider bush beans
carmen sweet peppers
hercules baller spice
sugar snap peas
silver rose garlic
short n sweet carrots
carnival hybrid pepper mix
saffron summer squash
burpee hybrid zucchini
tasty nuggets brussel sprouts
and rosemary
Tomorrow it's off to Home Depot to purchase the lumber for our raised beds.
Here's the list:
herb starter disks
ambition shallots
alibi cucumbers
ovations greens mix
winter density romaine
provider bush beans
carmen sweet peppers
hercules baller spice
sugar snap peas
silver rose garlic
short n sweet carrots
carnival hybrid pepper mix
saffron summer squash
burpee hybrid zucchini
tasty nuggets brussel sprouts
and rosemary
Tomorrow it's off to Home Depot to purchase the lumber for our raised beds.
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