Garden update - with photos

18 years ago

I posted a while back my original square foot beds, sans soil and plants. Well, after 6 weeks post soil, and just over 3 weeks post planting, things are going just fine. I have two beds, one L-shaped and the other U-shaped. In retrospect, what I gained in ergonomic convenience, I lost in flexibility when I had to cover the whole bed. Oh well, lesson learned.

Here is a quick view of the two beds and the back of the house. The one of the left is 24 sq ft, and the one on the right is 14 sq ft. Note the recently installed anti-bunny barrier (i.e. electric fence):

Here is the east bed. Looking pretty sparse right now, but hey, I'm on a schedule you know? :-)

My spinach is coming along. Growth of all veggies has slowed down a little. Planting temperatures were in the mid to high 70's. Since then, they have dropped down to normal 50's and 60's.

Thai green lettuce planted a few weeks ago. Was looking pretty "floppy" when it went in, but looking much stronger now.

Onions. Not sure how these will do as they went in fairly small, but we will see.

In front of the 'west' bed, I have some border beds for things such as marigolds, herbs, and such. Here (from left to right) is a mum that sprouted in my front garden, some oregano, and some garlic.

New York head lettuce doing exceptionally well, with the requisite slug barrier. None so far [knocks on wood].

One of two cauliflower. Slow growing indeed, as this was planted on April 14th.

The "bid-daddy" of the garden: Nutri-Bud Broccoli. Despite losing a leaf, this one is powering on at about 9 inches tall and nice and strong:

Some shell peas (bush variety):

And the sugar snaps. My brother-in-law has already claimed the harvest on no fewer than four of these:

And finally, the composter. Took it's temperature last night and it is sitting at a nice balmy 140F. Right in the 'zone'. It's size has reduced considerably, so I will have to add some more as soon as I cut the lawn.

Thanks for looking, and happy digging!

Michael

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Comments (16)

kwik1
18 years ago
Great pictures. Thanks for sharing. How far along is your spinach?
engineeredgarden
18 years ago
looking good,dude.Please follw up with pictures as the garden progresses.
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m_lorne
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks kwik, sometimes a feel a little strange wandering around my garden with the camera, and then even stranger posting the images for others to see. What's next, pulling photos of my cabbage out of my wallet at a cocktail party??? LOL

Spinach was direct seeded on the 14th of April, and germinated in just over a week. Is it looking a little small to you? (Yet another awkward question...)
kwik1
18 years ago
Ha! I know how you feel wandering around with the camera and showing off pictures. My family has given up on getting email pictures of my 2 yr old daughter and now expect "pictures of dirt and plants."

I don't think the spinach looks too small. I direct seeded myself on April 24 and mine have not yet developed the rounded middle sprouts - just the grass-blade looking sprouts. I have been comparing spinach seedlings with another member who has kept his covered and they are huge. I was simply trying to figure out whether a "hot house" type approach was beneficial.
ctnewbie08
18 years ago
Looks great!! Can I ask where you got your plant tags? Did you make them?
m_lorne
Original Author
18 years ago
kwik, let me guess, you are comparing them to Sinfonians? lol I was on his blog today looking at his and thinking the same thing. However, he planted much earlier I think. I'm going to see what I can get going au naturel, and maybe give the hot house a try next season. (remember to write that one down).

ctnewbie, the tags are home made. I designed them in Illustrator (I do some designing as part of my day job) and printed off an 8 1/2 x 11 and then had it laminated at Business Depot. After that, I cut them out and punched a hole in them. Did them for all the plants I planned on putting out, but have to do some more now to fill some gaps.
arjo_reich
18 years ago
The marigolds are in the garden beds or only near it? The reason I ask is because pest-repelling properties are only experienced when the plants share the same soil, preferably as close to the plants as you intend to companion with...

The roots give of a chemical as the plant goes that does all the work...
gumby_ct
18 years ago
I never heard that before - very interesting.
spat72
18 years ago
Wow, I never saw anyone put an electric fence around a raised bed! Hope you don't ever forget to turn it off before working in it.

I really like the tag system you got going. Inspires me to do the same!
snibb
18 years ago
nice going mlorne!
sinfonian
18 years ago
Your spinach looks great! And I love the garden. Very cool. Don't compare any growth to mine. I've got 80 day radishes when the package says 22. I've done impromptu winter sowing with seeds that I direct sowed that finally sprouted 30 days later. Don't worry when the sprout, just be happy if the do at all.

But your spinach looks just like my spinach looked at some point. At that point I was THRILLED that I got more than the blades of grass leaves. I was grass for a long long time. My assumption is for cool weather plants they don't grow that great in 40 and 50 degree weather. Hehe.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's Garden Adventure!
chudak
18 years ago
What did you use to make the tag holders out of?
bak7
18 years ago
What material did you use to make the sides of your compost bin? Is it 3x3x3? It has a nice look to it.
m_lorne
Original Author
18 years ago
Sorry, been away for a few days.

Thanks for all of the comments.

Sinfonian - I have very much enjoyed following along on your blog and have learned a great deal from your experiences, good and bad. The tricky part will be knowing when to harvest because when it comes to salad greens I am a big fan of baby spinach. Now I know why it's so expensive :-)

Chudak - tag holders. The tags themselves are fully laminated so they don't really need a "holder" per se. If you are referring to the metal rods holding them, I just used some old gas line/water line markers. I twisted the ends around a piece of 1/4" dowling to make a "hook" of sorts.

bak7 - compost bin is made from left over 1x3's and some plastic hardware mesh. Total cost was around $12 for the mesh. Not too happy with the front "door" as I don't currently have a mechanism to keep it shut very well. Will have to sort that out after this batch is done.

Ciao for now.
Michael
ginabob
18 years ago
Hi ! Can you provide more info about the compost bin...like the final dimensions... it looks good !!
thanks !
m_lorne
Original Author
18 years ago
ginabob,

Composter was put together in an afternoon. Dimensions are 3'x3'x3'. All lumber is untreated 2x3. There is no bottom, nor top. Once the cube was assembled, I cut the plastic mesh to the vertical height, and then unrolled it around the inside, stapling as I went. I would suggest a second set of hands to help with this. I hinged the front panel to make a swinging door, but in retrospect I would not bother. It's easy enough to mix the pile without it.

Hope this helps.