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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)