very good!!! so did you dig down and then put the mels mix in?? ~Medo

medontdo:
Yes-in the early stages (2 years ago), I had the old "bust-a-row" and "break-a-back" kind of garden. (will send pics soon)...but since then, I found out there was/is a better way (SFG). I had a hard time trying to find all ingredients for mel's mix here, so I did the next best thing called "modified SFG". I bought several bags of Jungle-Growth Professional Mix (which happen to have vemiculite already in it) and some Black-Kow manure compost.

I re-did my whole garden. I raked the old soil(fertile) into my SFG box, put the mix right on top to build it up to 8" and then planted. I used Miracle-grow "Tomato" plant food for all my plants with a little added "bloodmeal" for the corn.

My garden seems to be happy. I didn't put the mulch (walkway) this time because it just attracted every kind of bug. Without any mulch this year, I had very few bugs (hmmmm).

Color me impressed! Your garden is awesome! I first looked at these on my blackberry and let me tell you they're far more impressive on the big screen.

Glad you've got such great results. It's always better that way, hehe!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure!

I would also like to comment on your garden. It's very neat and tidy - showing that you take alot of pride in your work! Good job. Thanks for sharing.

wow awesome pics! love it!

WOW!! that did take alot of work!! right now ours is the old way, instead of a regular tiller i used the mantis tiller, ummm... all i had to use so, i'm one of the use what you have type of people and let nothing get in your way!! LOL so i have a grassy garden, so i look at ya'lls and am soooo very impressed, i show my hubs and say, "seee honey!! that's what we want for next year!! then i wont be saying geee we have to get out there and weed that danged thing" LOL and i won't have the excess tiles laying inbetween the rows. he just rolls his eyes and laughs (lovingly/onrily mind ya) he's a neat and tidy and i'm a messy and unorganized!!! LOL but love the look of neat and tidy!! HEE HEE i so love your garden!! ~Medo

ok people...get ready...here is the history of my garden from start to finish (year-by-year).

Comments will be appreciated.

Enjoy!

My first garden (Spring 2006) 2 tomatoes and one lonely hot pepper. It went from this...
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to this: My second garden: Husband busting sweat..(old way)...hehehe (Spring 2007)
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to this: All done...(Spring 2007)
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Tomatoes (Celebrity)
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Cucumbers (built trellis but these were "bush" kind...Grrr!)
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Cucumber pic (with cukes...whoopie!)
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Strawberries
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Hot Peppers (Habanero)
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Snap Beans
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Peppers (Banana)
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Tomatoes 2 (Turning red...bring on the salad dressing!)
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Watermelons (Sugar Baby)
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Baby Watermelon
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Watermelon (almost ready).
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------------------------------------------------------------
To this:
*Boxes (unpainted)
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*Boxes (painted)
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*Boxes (painted-closeup)
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*Cabbage & Broccoli
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*Collards
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*Romaine Lettuce
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*Beets (Purple-top white Globe)
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*Carrots
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*Spinach
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*Turnips
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*Now these are pics of my "Real SFG" (Fall 2007). I like the way it turned out but quickly realized how "hard" it was to cover each box when the first frost came.

Krintis!

WOW that was alot of hard work!! LOL thank you so much for sharing your whole process with us!! :') that is sooo awesomely cool!! you had 3 turning the other was hiding on ya!! LOL mine hide on me all the time! (tomatoe's) i need to hang up laundry and check them baby's!! LOL did you use any particular feeder? your watermelon plant looks good! kinda like this mystery one i have! LOL so do your strawberries! :') ~Medo

Love all the pics! Looks great :) I really enjoyed seeing the history from empty to full of growth!

Thanks!
As you can see, this garden evolved thru the years. Getting started was the hardest part. After that it was small work due to me keeping occasional weeds (in isles) at bay with a "scaffold hoe." Great product!

Medo: I bought several bags of Jungle-Growth Professional Planters Mix (Lowes), which happen to have vemiculite already in it and some Black-Kow manure compost.
I used Miracle-grow "Tomato" plant food for all my plants with a little added "bloodmeal" for the corn.
The watermelon in question is called "Sugar Baby" from Burpee. The strawberries did well, picked a few but instead I transfered them to strawberry pots.

crystabel:
Before I began my SFG, I could not find "full growth" gardens posted (only sprouts and 1/2 growth). It almost discouraged me at first to going totally SFG. So, this is the reason I posted my "History Garden" so others can see how the process REALLY WORKS! I hope to inspire others as others have inspired me.

Thanks again to ALL of my fellow gardners.

Krintis :)

You've done an excellent job on your garden! When can I move in?

whoops...i'm sorry "engineeredgarden". once i got the hang of posting to photobucket and pasting to SFG, i didn't realized until now the mistake of too many pics. I only joined SFG a day or two ago and all is still new to me, but next time (2009), i'll post another link to go to my photobucket page. Hopefully that will help.

Apologies are extended to all whom i offended with my long post.!!!

Krintis :(

that is a totally awesome thing!! :') i love how you did that!! no apologies!! "some" people are just behind!!! LOL (ya know i'm just giving ya a hard time!! LOL) LOL i used the fast scroll its much easier, ummmm makesit faster, LOL
back to mary poppins again!! ~Medo

Thanks so much for sharing.

I'm going from a mish mosh of containers with a temporary fence around them this year to a planned sqft garden next year.

And the best thing about all of your pictures, my husband has offered to help me build it! He just said, after my showing him your pics, tell me where you want it and how big and I will prepare the ground for you (the proposed section of the yard is bumpy with gopher mounds and tunnels), put the fence in, and help you build the raised beds!

My only regret is it hardly rains out here so I will have to limit my garden size to keep the water bills down. If we go above 9000 gal per month, the rates increase quite a bit as a penalty for high water use.

Great job! I enjoy looking at beautiful gardens like yours. It inspires me and makes me feel like I can do a good job as well. Lama, if water is a problem, maybe self-watering containers are the answer for you.
Here are some things I am trying this year:
1) home-made "earthboxes" (www.josho.com/gardening.htm)
2) rain barrel - I bought mine but since I have seen home-made ones (plastic trash bins) that are just as good.
3) Ollas - Ok, I haven't actually found an olla yet, but as soon as I have, I will try it.

Next year, I will only do SFG and self-watering containers.

Hi Krintis. Thanks for posting pics of your beautiful and successful garden. How I wish you were my neighbor so I could really bend your ear:)

I do have a couple of questions for you.
What is the covering you've placed over your boxes?
What type of wire are you using to create the hoops over your boxes?
Where did you buy the covering and wire?
And lastly, how do you know when the sugar baby watermelon is ripe???

I have one fruit (I think my watermelon is bush baby) that is probably about as big as it's going to get but I don't know how to tell if it is ready. A google search has yielded little in the way of answers.

I so appreciate your taking the time to answer my questions.

Thanks,
Michelle

"shellva" (Michelle) :
The covering is simple "insect screening"(used as shade cloth), nine-guage wire bent over box (from side-to-side) to form hoops. I bought the screening, wire, and "small" spring clamps at Home Depot (Lowes or any home improvement store should have it). The "small" green clamps just hold it in place so i can work on eith side of box. The cloth also kept most bugs at bay.

As for the melon ripeness (count the days when you "seeded" (planted in seeds in ground). Each type of melon have different lengths of maturity (days till harvest). Then (at maturity), start to look for four things:
(1) the 2 small leaves next to the stem of the melon (it looks like little cupped leaves, if they are shrived brown, you are almost there.
(2) the melon should have a "dull" look to it.
(3) look underneath the "belly" of the melon (the part resting on ground), it should have a "dark yellow color".
4) when you can't stand to follow the three signs any longer, get your knife/scissors ready to cut it off the vine (this is your instincts (tummy) talking)...hehehe..lol.
But that is how you can tell. It is READY!!!!!!!

Krintis!

I have to agree ... Wow is the right word. It's funny, but the thing that really struck me at first as silly, but after looking at it a couple of times as wonderful is simply painting the wood. I'd never have thought it would add so much to the finished look. Very nice. Guess that's a project for the winter when nothing's hanging out.

I've got a couple of questions though ...

- Do you really think the mulch being gone is helping with the bugs? I'm overrun with mulch just so I don't have to mess with weeds in the aisles.

- How is your yield this year using SFG compared to last year using the more traditional row methods?

- How long do you leave your nets on? Is it just while they are seedlings or as long as they fit?

Thanks, and again a beautiful garden.
David

Yea! The T1 internet connection at work opened all the pics no problem! It all looks very good, and your pictures are like a sfg album. I think it is one of the better gardens on here! Thanks for taking the time to share with us.

EG

"oasis_226"
the mulch helped conserve moisture and i get few (flying bugs), but few crawling ones which the birds eat. I get few weeds because in the early stages of my garden, (before SFG), i had scraped the grass off, so those that do grow are marginal. sometimes i have to go looking for them...(lol). So (for me) it did help.
The yield for my SFG compared to "old traditional way" is superb. I canned some of my tomatoes and made salsa, and saved some for sauces. I made dill, bread and butter pickles, froze my corn and bell peppers. Boy!..those cucumbers were "PROLIFIC." I have so much i had to give a lot away. Next year, i'll plant just one of those.
The "netting" stays on all the time. It's only for the cole crops.

Thank for the wonderful coment on the garden.

lama26-
This is why I posted my pics so everyone who have not attempted to go whole hog can get ideas to use.
Oh...(almost forgot)...to water your garden try this:
"RAINDRIP" Drip Watering Vegetable Kit! (got from Home Depot)...hubby uses it to water his melon patch....great stuff!
Thanks again!

"Krintis"