frogmanjared's Blog

Happy fathers day to everyone!  I won't have time tomorrow, so I'll say it now.  Everyone have a safe, fun weekend.  The last lily started blooming, just in time too.  There is only 1 orange flower left.

 If you remember, I made a hosta ring around the flowering crab.  Before edging...

 
...and after!  I had to use the dremel to cut the edging over the surface roots, but it still looks good!  Next year we will have some dark mulch to help make the white rims stand out, the straw is just temporary and to help build some organic matter into the soil.

 I just had to add a picture of the mesclun lettuce mix.  Tasty!  The beets and beans are to the right of the lettuce.  So far so good with the beans, they are developing a strong root, so germination is going fast.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this in my previous blog, but ALL of my bush beans were eaten by corn seed maggots!  Most of the runner beans didn't make it either, but at least some survived.  That cold, wet weather really did a number on the beans!  I have decided to restart with new bush beans, sprout them, and plant them shallow.  These are 'provider' bush beans, hopefully the warmer weather will give them the kick start to beat the flies!

After work, I put up the garden fence, mowed the lawn, and made a flower bed for some hostas.  You could call this fence, semi-permanent.  I haven't decided how I'm going to do the gate yet, but at least the rabbits won't have any more free dinners!

 Her
e is the hosta bed I dug around the flowering crab tree.  We need some type of border, but it will be tough because there are 3 surface roots that will disrupt the border.  Once we do that the bed will be mulched.  Most of the yard work is done for now... we might get a day to relax soon!

 It's in the mid 60s today!!!  A heat wave!  Finally the sun has poked through after 4 days of cold, wet, weather.  The peach tree survived its transplant and is doing well.

 We didn't have time to start the strawberry patch, so they will just have to stay in the container a little longer.  The flowers had a visitor while I was taking photos, a hover fly. 

 Here is a shot of the tomatoes and peppers, you can also see the lettuce mix in the dirt to the left.  I stuffed straw down the deep watering tubes so the holes won't fully collapse when they break down later in the year.

 This is my first time dealing with heirloom tomatoes.  There is a very strange flower on the largest Aunty Ruby's German Green, it looks like more than 4 flowers clustered together?  Could it be the worlds largest tomato in the making, or maybe this cold weather has dealt a blow to the tomatoes.

 Ev
erything is starting to poke through the surface!  These are the rattlesnake pole beans, and just happened to germinate in perfect order for a picture.  Enjoy the weather, and happy gardening!

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I'm so excited!  Somebody was getting rid of their raspberry patch and was giving away the plants.  I planted 4, we'll see how many survive.  There wasn't much of a crown to any of them, but I also know how hard it is to kill a raspberry bush!  The lettuce and chard are coming up... the beans are taking their sweet time with the cool weather.  That pile to the right is all of the sod clumps, so I decided to make a temporary compost bin with living walls, ha!  I will be building 2 more beds next year, and that is the location of one.

 Sean 'helped' me string the bean teepees this morning.  He was very good about not digging in the dirt when I ask him not to.  The lettuce is coming up, and the beans must be very close to breaking the soil.  I decided to string the teepees so that I wouldn't break any fragile seedlings.  This teepee is the rattlesnake pole.

 I'm pleased with how well it seems to have turned out.  Only 3 sides have string, the north was kept open for easy harvesting.  I planted some lettuce underneath this teepee, the other has a kale plant.  Only time and weather will tell if I did this right.  In the lower right corner you can see the candy onions.  Happy gardening everyone!

I managed to buy all the remaining plants and seeds I needed to finish off the garden!  There is a row of 8 peppers, 4 each of Red Beauty and Golden bell sweet peppers.  The remaining 4 I tucked into the back corners and in-between the tomatoes.  I'm not expecting much from the extra 4, but maybe they will surprise me.  There are also 6 small marigolds in and around the tomatoes.  I planted 48 Candy onions (9/sq ft), and around 80 Dragon carrots (16/sq ft).  If you don't know what dragon carrots are, google them, they are amazing!

From
left to right: Tomatoes, Peppers, Lettuce, Bush Beans,  in the right bed: pole beans and tomatoes, Kale, Onions and Carrots, Chard.  I am doing square foot gardening, but not so strict in the bush beans, lettuce, and chard rows.  I have to make a better seeding pattern to help with the exact amount per square foot for next year.  Once everything is germinated and sturdy enough, I will mulch the rest and put the string on the teepees.  There is only one thing left to plant this year, the free raspberry bushes!  Hopefully they will survive until this weekend.  Hope everyone is doing well!

Well, its just a small jungle, but its my first in ground garden of my own!  I dug these 2   4'x8' beds last night and got 4 tomatoes planted before it got too dark.  I did it all by hand, no gas guzzling tools for this guy!  I mixed in coco coir (water retention), two types of compost, and my worm compost bin.

I asked my dad to cut down some 1" thick saplings to use for my bean teepees.  He got nearly 3" 8' tall trees!  I hope I dug them deep enough, they seem sturdy and should hold up to the wind here.  I still have to twine them up when I get a chance, maybe this weekend.  I didn't have enough tomato cages, so I am going to try staking and see how that works for me.

What's planted so far?  4 Aunt Ruby's German Green tomatoes, 2 Cherry Roma tomatoes, Mesclun lettuce mix, Bright lights chard, Dwarf Blue Kale, Tiger Eye Bean, Rattlesnake pole bean, and Scarlet runner bean.  We have to get 8 peppers, carrots, and onions planted yet.  I got the seeds planted just in time, it started to rain 15 minutes later!  Happy gardening everyone, I will keep you updated when its all planted. 

I went back to the house to plant our peach tree, and decided to take a shot of the flowering crab.  This picture can't replace the real thing, its very impressive.  Tomorrow might be an even larger flowering.

He
re is the peach tree.  A semi-dwarf Contender Peach.  I'm thinking about making a ring of pavers and adding some annuals to the base.  Hope everyone is staying safe with all the storms.

We closed on the house Friday!  Sean and I had food poisoning on Wed, so we are not completely recovered yet.  This week is cleaning, planting, and then we move on the weekend.

 Thi
s is the view of the back

 Three different colors of Norway maples

 The garden will go between the garage and shed

 The dwarf iris are blooming again, they will get a permanent home soon!

Its getting closer to being a done deal (only 2 weeks has passed, but it seems like an eternity)... so in the meantime, I've been planning out the garden so I can have the first bed in the correct place the first year.  I will also have to build the compost bins 3'x3' this year.  The top 4'x8' bed will be the only one this year.  Hopefully this will be finished within 3-4 years with all the fencing and extra beds.   I was thinking to add some small triangle beds in the south (bottom) corners since it seems like a waste of space.  This should be plenty of space to grow enough vegetables and workable for crop rotation. 

I still need some help!  If anyone has seen a garden similar, and if so, is there usually grass or mulch?  Each square is 1 foot, that would get very pricey for mulch, so maybe I'll just stick with grass.  Any other suggestions?  

Well, its a 'pending' present... I don't want to say more just in case things fall through, but I might get a real garden just in time for planting! 

I have 2 types of tomatoes started; Cherry Roma, and Aunt Rubys German Green.  The German Greens were getting pretty large for the peat pots.  

I started saving some 'milk' cartons a while back, and I'm glad I found a use for them!  I always plant my tomatoes a few nodes deep, since it was just the first transplant, I only buried the first leaves.  The cherry romas will be re-potted in a week or two, depending on growth.  These containers should hold up well enough until its planting time!

Since the lettuce in stores hasn't been very good lately, I decided to grow my own this winter!  I got a pack of baby mesclun mix and a pack of kale.  The mesclun has spinach, chards, mustard, arugula, and mixed lettuces.  This picture is from day 3, I was amazed it sprouted so fast!

 On day 10, things are going well, the plants are getting a little leggy and stretching toward the center of the light, so I decide to upgrade.  That setup was over 5 years old, a hand-me-down light from my brother's fish tank.  The bulbs are that old also.  It was also an energy hog, using 80w to power two long cfl's plus the power to run the fan... not very efficient or powerful.  The bulbs are pricey, and the entire setup I had in mind cost a little more than just the bulbs for this dinosaur!

The next day... my setup arrives in the mail!  20w T5HO with amazing reflectors, and height adjustment!  These bulbs are tiny, probably pinky thick, but are the most powerful fluorescent out there.  There is very little heat generated, so no fan required, which means I can keep them a few inches away from the plants, if they can handle it, without burning them.  In just a few days there is dramatic growth.

 This is day 17, today... ready for the first harvest!  The kale grows more slowly, maybe it will be ready by next harvest time.  This is before...

 ... and after!  I'm amazed that there was enough for a large salad bowl in only 3 squares!  Its a shame we had to mix it with store bought, but it did improve the flavor and texture by leaps and bounds.  In the next week or two I will be starting my tomato plants under the lights, I can't wait!  Oh yes, I came across a design for a self-watering bucket, and combining with a few other ideas, we have decided to grow 2 tomato plants!  Hope your planning is going well, happy gardening!