Update

Okay, so I admit: I am horrible at keeping up with things! I'm great at starting new adventures but so like Julie, from the recent movie " Julie & Julia ", I find it hard to finish things.


So here is an update on what happened in my garden after my last post, oh so long ago.

Of what I planted, I had great success with the sweet basil, which I let go to seed. I also had another variety which showed up in a plant I had bartered for and I transplanted to under my pesky black walnut tree. It was the Purple Ruffles variety and quite aromatic and flavorful! If you like different varieties, I recommend this one! Even now, in the deepness of winter, the dried stalks and seed heads still have that enticing aroma when touched.




I finally, at the very end of the season, obtained three summer squash from the total of six plants I had. My grandfather on the other hand, had mammoth plants that could have fed me and every single one of my neighbors! I am, through this experience, more a fan of the straightneck summer squash because you get more edible volume than with the crookneck.



The lemon cucumber was exceptional in its yield and was a delight to my family. I tried it because it was different for one, but also because when pregnant with my first child I adored cucumbers but had to stop eating them for the horrible indigestion. I have since discovered I no longer enjoy the taste, but I did share them with quite a few family members and they were all consumed with compliments. They are very easy to grow, and a fun plant to watch grow. The vine itself is thick, woody, and prickly, besides being extraordinarily long in length. At one point, one branch of the vine was over eight feet long! After that point, I quit measuring! So, if you plant this variety, make sure you have a way to train it to a trellis.




The two variety of beans didn't grow very well for me, and we found out our family doesn't really care for green bean varieties. Although the Bluelake string beans were very good in a curry stir fry my niece and I tried.



I did have to transplant the green bell peppers to another square in my garden, but even then of the three plants, I only had one deformed, odd pepper the size of my five year old's fist. Hopefully, I have better luck this year!



The eight stalks of corn never grew any taller than five feet, and I'm sure I did not have enough cross pollination, but I had never grown any corn before so it was a learning feat for me! The red corn was beautiful though, even the stalks! I did not know corn stalks could be any different in color than the green I grew up seeing. I did have two small ears from the sweet corn and one from the red corn, and the red corn proved to be a great science experiment for my daughter's K5 lesson.



The most pleasant surprise was the Ghostbuster eggplant. If you like eggplant in the least, I highly recommend this variety. It was very easy to grow, just one stalk in a square (square foot gardening), and once I staked it with a scrap piece of wood, it yielded four good sized eggplants. The skin is oddly smooth, like a baby's skin, and the interior is white and full of seeds. It is less bitter than the normal purple varieties we are used to seeing. It cooks up well, too, especially in curries and stir frys. My dad grew two Japanese varities and they paired well to the Ghostbuster, with even a milder taste than the Ghostbuster. I will grow the Ghostbuster again, but add one of the Japanese varieties to my list as well.



In three of the squares, on the southwestern side of the box, I planted tomatoes with marigolds planted underneath as a natural pest repellant. The tomatoes literally outdid me! I gave and gave and gave them away and canned four quarts and 1 pint worth! Plus all the wonderful, juicy fresh ones I ate! My grandfather gave me the three plants from what he had bought for himself and my dad. Out of those, mine yielded the most. I'm sure with the combination of Mel's mix (for SFG) and the application of the general fertilizer granules my dad gave me to add, the tomatoes were able to become the sweet delicacies they were! They yielded from late June to late October, and were worth growing in my mind. This year I actually want to plant more, believe it or not!



The cauliflower, beets, carrots, winter squash, black beauty eggplant, sunflowers, and pumpkins did not make it, for whatever reasons. A few of these I plan to try again, but won't hold too much hope for them.

Now, I'm counting down the days to start seedlings indoors and planning out what I want to plant this year! Hopefully, this time I will keep up with sharing my happenings with you a little better. Who knows?

Another Planting Frenzy

I went outside yesterday morning with the intent of putting up a support for my tomato plants that were spread out on the ground. That only took me about ten minutes, and the next thing I knew this overwhelming urge to plant plant plant overcame me! So here is what happened...

This is a view of what the garden looks like from the southwest corner of the garden. Where you see pink "Here" are the three spots I didn't have anything planted. Of course, me being who I am, I couldn't leave it that way for long!


In the middle of the three squares I planted Black Beauty Eggplant. I already have one eggplant that has teeny tiny fruits forming, but it is the white Ghostbuster variety. Even if I am the only one in the family who eats it, I still like variety.

In the last of the three spots I planted cauliflower, Snowball X. I might have to thin it if they sprout; I might have been overzealous. Because I wanted to make sure I got at least one, I planted four.

In the spot where I previously planted the lemon cucumber, only one came up, so I planted another seed in place of the one that didn't sprout.

I also planted Burpee's Golden Beets in the first empty square. I had to soak the seeds for a couple of hours and ended up with more soaked than I intended. I believe I ended up with about six in the one square and two in the middle of the corn squares. After I planted the seeds I actually read the packet and found out they do best in the south from fall to spring. I thought it said spring to fall when I read the packet the first time! Oh well.


This is my formerly blank bed I created with rocks and mostly decomposed compost. I plan on topping it off and making it deeper in the next few months.


Dividing the length of the bed into three rows visually, I planted Long Imperator carrots,

In the second row, I planted Danver Halflong carrots,

Then I planted the remainder of the Burpee's Golden Beet seeds in the third row.

Still not satisfied that I had planted enough, I grabbed my two packets of sunflower seeds. I love the look of sunflowers! There is a farm just down from us with lots of sunflowers, and I admit I am jealous, so I wanted some of my own.
The first variety is Dwarf Sunspot sunflower which only reaches about two feet tall. I planted a row of these along the length of our house. It receives full sun from about midday on, which should be adequate for the plants and the house will provide support if the sunflowers need it.

Next, I planted Mammoth Sunflowers. I don't know if these will be only the yellow variety or if there will be more variation. Time will hopefully tell! I planted these along one corner of the square foot garden to provide shade on the far southwest corner during August or so. This time is generally our hottest (even though it is already in the 100's now with the heat index) so I wanted to provide some eventual shade to prevent scorching.

There were also a few spots in the yard that I planted these at random. Quite a few seeds came in the packet, so I just put them wherever I thought we would see them best. FYI, the seeds are huge! They are about three times the size of the kind people buy in the stores to eat.
After all of this planting, my frenzy was satisfied for another day, so I quit my insanity and returned to the air conditioned living room and recovered from this horrible Alabama heat!

Bean Trellis and Garden Update

My beans are beginning to look very well, but they needed a trellis. So, on the same day I put in my bed around the black walnut tree, I put in a trellis for my beans.

I didn't really have anything to use, so I got inventive. We have lots of small saplings growing around the edge of our yard, so I took our limb cutters and traipsed around the front part of the yard looking for something to use. I found several mimosa trees that I cut off 3/4" branches about five feet long. I then found some old fallen branches in the woods that were about 1" thick. After sticking them in the ground gently, around the beans, I tied the mimosa branches together at the top, next adding the other branches until I had a trellis for the beans to grow up. To make sure the trellis wouldn't blow over, I tied each branch to the grid it was resting next to. It should be pretty sturdy now.


Here is an update view on one side of the bed. The eggplant looked a little worse for the wear, but now has new leaves budding out, so I think it was just shock from being planted. The tomatoes are doing pretty well, and have flowered now. I will be putting in a support for them this week that I will post about later. Marigolds are beginning to come up around the tomatoes. The corn is doing well next to the tomatoes and of course the beans are coming up nicely.


I have started a new bed for my carrots and potatoes. I might even add onions to this one. I didn't have anymore would and money was tight so I gathered up rocks and compost to use in this one. I have to add more rocks to the top to get it deep enough, since it is only about 6" deep right now and I need at least another 3-6".

I hope to add some mulch or something on the black weed blocker so it will look a little nicer, but time will tell. I still have space for another large planting area next to all of this, so I will try to do it in time to actually plant something, even if it is for winter veggies. Post more soon!

Something accomplished

Remember me showing you the before picture around my black walnut tree? To refresh your memory, here is the pic...


After a wonderful morning in the garden it now looks like this,

and on the other side like this,

I tried to label the plants for you to see what they are, but the font did not come out big enough. Oh well, I will describe instead
The purple bush is called loropetalum and will eventually have to be moved as it can get as tall as 12'. But for at least this year it will provide some structure here. It is a semi-evergreen with fushia colored blooms in early spring and late summer.
I also have four daylillies that should all be the orange kind, usually called tiger lillies.
There is lavender lantana on both sides of the tree and this particular one grows slowly through spring and then bounds through late summer and fall. In the winter cleanup, we have had branches as long as five feet from this thing, and the lavender blooms are gorgeous.
I also have purple ruffles basil and some plant I found growing in our yard. It is small, with compact green leaves and yellow cone shaped flower heads. I have no idea what it is, but it is pretty.
There is also a vine I found to grow against the tree, and will find out what it is later.
A butterfly bush and spiderwort are the last additions to this bed.
Once everything fills out I will post another picture.
And by the way, the bed edging is a composit material that I found marked 75% off at Lowe's one afternoon. I bought two containers of it and it took my one entire afternoon to clear the space for the bed, put down the edging and fill it with dirt.

Those Seeds Have Sprouted!

After 7 days some of our seeds have sprung! It is so exciting to see this happen, especially with the very small amount of sunlight we have had lately. Even today, before I took the pictures, half our day was spent with thunderstorms. Oh well, the rain is helping my garden grow.
Here is what has happened so far:
To refresh your memory, we planted tendergreen improved beans, which will look like this,

and look like this when they sprout. I don't know if you can tell but you can see the bean seed halves hanging from the leaves.


The other beans we planted were blue lake string beans and they look like this right now,

but will look like this,


Here is what sweet basil looks like when it has its first two leaves,

but it will look like this,


We also planted Goldencross Bantam Hybrid corn, which looks like this,

but will look like this,

We have some other things starting to come up, but you can't see them well in the pictures. I will update sometime soon, weather permitting.

Square Foot Gardening Basics

Alright before getting started, I will first of all say that all of this information either comes from the book All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, copyrighted 2005 or from his website, http://www.squarefootgardening.com/old/index_2.html. I might make notes or tell it my own way, but the information and ideas are his.

The reason for doing a square foot garden is simply less time, maintenance, effort, watering, and weeds. Plus getting a larger yield in less space.

First of all you will need a roll of weed blocker paper, which is black and can be bought at Walmart for less than $8. It covered my entire area, with some left over, so it is well worth the money.

Next you will need something to clear the area you want to put your square. We used a hoe, small pickax, and old newspaper to cover the ground inbetween sessions of clearing. For most people it doesn't take this long, but we have some persistant vines growing through our yard.

Next you will need four boards that measure 6" wide and are 4' long. Don't get pressure treated but untreated boards, so the stuff won't seep into your soil. The book has some ideas on how to acquire these, but we just bought them at the lowe's and had them cut the wood for free. So you need 2 boards that are 2" x 6" x 8' and have the boards cut in half to four feet long.
Purchase some deck screws to join the boards and alternate the corners to get a square box.
Okay, now I will admit a goof up I made. You are supposed to make a grid to go on top of the box using thin strips of wood, such as lathes (the boards in lattice fencing). Well, even as adept as I might be in construction material, I goofed when looking at the price of the wood I bought. I couldn't find the lathes in home depot, which would be somewhere about a dollar a piece ( you need six), and instead settled on flat pine moulding for what I thought said 73 cents. It was instead that price per linear feet (lf) and it cost $23 for all the wood I got. I was so sticker shocked it almost ruined my day (I am that way). Make sure you get cheap stuff or use unclaimed stuff from a construction site.

To create the dirt inside your box you will need peat moss, the bigger size the better. Mine cost $9.99 at walmart and I had a five dollar gift card so it cost me even less.

Next you will need coarse vermiculite which improves the drainage of your soil mix. I bought mine at Hanna's Garden Shop in Greystone area for five dollars less than the other guys.


If you don't have any compost already going on your own, you will need to purchase some. Don't get the dirt cheap stuff, because it usually is not well rotted and is mostly cow manure. The best kind to me says it has at least 7 ingredients and limited weed seeds. Sometimes you can find compost at waste management places, etc.
I already had compost started last year. I now have five piles going, and will talk about composting on its own at a later time.

Alrighty, step 1:
Screw your boards together
Step 2
Remove the weeds from your plot of level well drained ground
Step 3
Cover area with weed blocker
Step 4
Place box on top of weed blocker
Step 5
Take a large tarp or old blanket and mix together your three dirts on top of it to where there is a 1/3 of compost, 1/3 of peat moss, and 1/3 vermiculite to fill your box. Mix the three together with a garden rake, hoe, or shovel, while misting or spraying with water from a hose.
Step 6
Place dirt in the box and level out
Step 7
Create a grid with your strips of wood, making even squares on top of your box. Screw into the frame and where the strips join.
Step 8
Plant!
Your finished product will look like this:

Square Foot Gardening Finished Product

Woo-hoo! I have at least partially finished something!! Yea!!

Here is what the ground looks like after it has been de-weeded and the black weed blocker fabric put on top. I held it down with rocks since I haven't decided what to cover the unused portions, or walkways, with yet.


This is what the dirt looks like in the box without the grid on it.


This is when we had planted almost all the squares. My oops is showing again! I don't know what happened; if we didn't put the box together square or if I had the strips cut to the wrong size, but after I screwed the first row of strips on, the second row didn't reach from end to end. So, like all true southerners, I improvised. You are supposed to screw or bolt the pieces together where they meet at each intersection, so I suspended the pieces where the screws at these points is what keeps the strips together. I really do think we did the box wrong, because I wasn't able to get all of the squares the same size, which you will notice if you look hard enough.


Here are the things planted in our garden; I had lots of help from my five year old daughter and it will be a great learning experience for both of us.

First I have three Atchison Tomatoes my grandfather gave me, but the internet refuses to believe there are actually tomatoes named that, so I don't know what to call them. I will post pictures of them later as tomatoes start forming on them.
At the base of each tomato plant, we planted seeds of Cracker Jack Marigolds,


Next to the tomatoes is a Ghostbuster Eggplant,


On the opposite corner from the eggplant are three green bell pepper plants in the same square,



We planted 2 lemon cucumber seeds in another square,


Also, we planted 2 Early Yellow Crookneck Squash,


And, we planted 2 Straightneck Early Yellow Squash,


In between the squash and bell pepper, we planted a square full of Common Sweet Basil seeds,


On the other side of the tomatoes, we planted 4 Golden Cross Bantam Hybrid Corn,


Next to that, we planted 4 Ruby Queen Hybrid Corn,


Next to that, we planted 4 Blue Lake Stringless Beans


Its neighbor is 4 Tendergreen Improved Beans,


In our pesky ditch for run off, I took my neighbor/cousin-in-law's advice, and planted Jack O Lantern pumpkins, which I have promised my daughter for two years we would plant.


We also scattered red poppy, morning glory, and zinnia seeds in various other ditches around our property. I will make certain to post pictures of them at a later time if they grow.