garden prep.
update 11- 7-2014
Some wilting of leaves in the squash, cucumbers and beans, whiteflies? I’ll have to try a homemade spray?
Tomatoes are actually doing ok.
Shade is overtaking the black pot area, which tells me in winter there’s no sun and summer it’s a furnace.
That idea is a complete flop.
I picked the first green beans and they are wonderful, nibbled on some greens too. Turnips and kohlrabi are looking good.
First cucumber this week, “sweeter yet”
ninth bed
Sun is lower so pots are getting even less sun. Cherry tomato is hanging on. Beans are doing well, setting fruit. Csi Csa thinks its her domain. She loves the bean poles and does her slalom run through them all.
She is a pest and companion. I shoo her away and she’s right back again. Love what Chris Condello has to say about cats in the garden.
eighth bed
Yesterday I put in the eight bed. Found the wonky poles behind the shed, won’t be able to see how crooked they are after the beans grow on them.
Yellow squash seed in #1
Thinned bush cukes in #2
Kinko carrots & pot transplant #3
Nasturtiums & pole beans end of #4
Nasturtiums & pole beans end of #5
Marrow squash transplant from black pots, nasturtiums & pole beans end of #6
Carrots, corn & pole beans, nasturtiums end of #7
Pole beans, carrots, parsnips, turnips #8
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Panoramic view of my progress:
fifth bed
The fifth bed is started, planted two new tomato plants and transplanted the very sad Roma from the black pots hope it survives, also put out four teeny tiny baby pepper seedlings; hungarian golden wax, Romanian anthoni, hamson and big red tomato seedlings. Transplanted kohlrabi, beet and turnip seedlings. I think I’ll just sprinkle seeds for the next generations. Planted sweeter yet cucumber seedling in second bed. Calendar said best for leafy, so I do the root and fruit but they’ll still be happier than in the starter pots. The bush cucumbers are doing better with the fertilizer application, greened up within the week, radish companions going fine. Beans and weeds are doing alright in first bed, lost a few varieties, too much rain, everyday for two weeks. Runner beans are doing better, but they were higher on the slope.
Lost
top crop
strike
slenderette
commodore improved
top notch wax
harvester
cherokee wax
pension
Weak
provider
royal burgundy
blue lake
Doing Well
wax goldcrop
tendergreen
roma II
Jade treated
Jumbo
stringless green pod
Gita
smeraldo
helda
white mountain
Pots Update:
Heinz Tomato dead
green bush marrow ok
pension bean ok
golden crop bean ok
lebanese white marrow weak
jumbo bean ok
roma II bean ok
tatume squash turning white, mildew?
orient express cuke ok
White flies all over papaya leaves, info PDF
Attracting beneficials
Is it over fertilized or white flies? Have no clue
compost
I’ve been doing it wrong, throwing everything in the bucket pile, scraps, shredded paper, clippings, I’m not bringing free compost from the municipal holding tank like I did years ago, so at least the toxins I’m throwing out are my own. No consolation whatsoever. I ordered the paper copy of Steve Solomon’s book after borrowing it from the library. I’ll need it as a good reference for the soil balancing. I also downloaded compost book. It’s free. I cleared an area next to the first bed and fenced in the new compost area. I don’t have all the straw and clippings and all the right stuff recommended, but I will at least put in healthy, clean stuff from the garden.
Csi Csa is mad she can’t get into the pile.
black pot tomatoes
Progress of three plants purchased from Lowes to get a jump on the garden, Bonnie growers brand. Roma, Heinz and cherry tomato.
Same soil, same pots, same location. Three different outcomes, major differences in plant reactions. Added Bio-tone and Superbloom but may be too late.
Last week, looked promising.
Now:
Roma
Cherry Tomato.
My seedlings have a ways to go
They’re not doing so well in this potting soil. I will have to make my own starter next time.
weed beds
I love the weeds in a weird way. I let them grow for the bugs and bees. It was too hot the last few months anyway. I always get teased about my jungle, but it’s so beautiful in it’s way. There are so many bugs buzzing around in there. It’s so alive.
second and third bed
I miscalculated the bed plan. I have two 4′ wide beds and one 2′ wide with two feet on either side. Might have to rethink that one, but the soil there is great and full of fat worms. The soil in this bed combined with soil next to the fence is like butter. It was so soft to run my hands through. My past problem has been that the texture of the soil has nothing to do with the viability for plants. I’ve been reading Steve Solomon’s book and I’m doing everything wrong, but what he says makes sense.
My Dad was so structured and scientific, my Mother will follow instructions and do things the right way. I don’t know where I came from. Maybe I’m best suited to be in charge of mutations. I remember the year I planted yellow and green squash together and surprisingly (to me) got striped ones.
I found some fertilizer and stuff in the shed. I didn’t know what I was buying most of the time, but I think I l got lucky with this. I put some bio-tone humate mix on the squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and beans in pots right before the rains came yesterday.
I also found some green light superbloom too.
Pots need relocation due to rain pouring off the roof, dirt is splashing on the house and the plants aren’t happy there. Mom put in her opinion to wean it down to no more than nine pots.
Cat is no where to be found today because she knows she’s guilty of messing around in the first bed and pots, the evidence is everywhere.
I’ll have to make her a catnip patch to stay away from MY stuff.
first bed
Finished clearing weeds and measuring up the first bed. Thinking of names to call them as the nifty planner has a title block, good idea to keep track.
I didn’t bother marking the squares too accurately. I was going to use chopsticks and string but I don’t have enough of them yet, so I just dragged the hoe through the foot increments. It’ll do for the bean trial garden I want to put in right now. The biodynamic Calendar says it’s a good time for fruits so it’s a go. I bought Maria Thuns book a few years ago, and read Steiner. I read and study so much, but the actual practice of gardening is a disaster.
I love love fresh green beans, I’ll eat them off the vine raw. My favorite bean dish is definitely green bean stew, sometimes with sour cream, or made with wax beans. To kick it up a few rich notches, dollop a spoonful of beef stew in the middle, rich! Yum. Oh yeah, add a splash of the spiced vinegar to cut the richness. I’m thinking I’ll have to start a recipe page if all goes well. Hungarian food as I knew it was vegetable heavy, so many great meals.
I did get soil from two places so I can sift it and send the two cups to the lab. I’m forcing myself to be scientific and as methodical as possible, it’s tough, by nature I’m impulsive and a little haphazard.
Csi Csa, big help, but better than walking over everything I’m doing as usual.
I’m tired of getting my seed packets full of soil, so I decided to make my seed tray based on my sfg plan.
This idea works well in theory, but I bumped it a little and they jumped spaces. Good thing I could tell them apart.
I’m thinking I need something like a pez dispenser instead.
I got the beans planted, marrow and cucumber seedlings planted. Trellis for the pole beans (thinking positive)
And…sifted my soil sample. I was going to leave it on the porch to dry, but thought not in case Kitty thinks its her litter box.
Not that she uses it all the time, she’s mostly an outside cat who lived her formative years under the shed and inside my husbands car.
But that’s another story for a rainy day.
I officially hate this game. I was putting in bean maturity dates and I inadvertently deleted the bed. No undo. This is all that’s left.
I’m going back to my notebook with a pencil and big fat eraser and not playing with this planner anymore, instead I’m going to make some squash soup.
south of shed garden
Here it is. Full of weeds and rampant papayas. I used to have one papaya tree, however composting spoiled fruits and the helpful animals around here clusters of papayas are running rampant.
There’s room on both sides of the path leading to the rear gate. I’m planning on cleaning up and reorganizing the beds I had dug a few years ago. Hopefully the soil will be in good shape.
I only added some (homemade) compost, but avoided stepping on the beds themselves. The weeds are healthy so there may be hope. Long beds on the shed side, short beds on the fence side which back up to neighbors citrus trees. Peas grew very well on the short side a couple of years ago.
And Seeds 
