Humble Garden

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am mapping out where and how each seed is planted in the beds. This may seem to be overwrought but I do not think so. The reason I am doing this is so that I can know what each seedling is as it grows so that I can watch it’s morphology change, be alert to the different types of insect predators, see which seeds do not like this soil, see which are thriving, which like being next to the other, etc. I think it is worth the time to know what I have planted, where and when so that this sort of analysis is easier.

I am also planting in the vein of “Square Foot Gardening” (though with some pretty big differences) by Mel Bartholomew which means that I am planting intensively. I am also seeding in companion crops to bolster the health of the micro-ecosystems I am creating.

The four maps below are for the beds we have completed and seeded. I have also put a link to the flickr page for each if you would like to look at the images closer up. There are two more 8×16 beds and then a 8×8 bed. We are also finishing off the 4×8 bed for the asparagus (companion planted with tomatoes? perhaps though I am still thinking about it)

Bed 2

Flickr link

Bed 3

Flickr link

Bed 4

Flickr link

Bed 5

Flickr link

More to come!

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• Planting Cartography

See that little black speck to the right of center? That little guy is eating little holes in some of my tomatoes and also in some of the other seedlings.

I looked on the internet and have found that it is called a Flea Beetle. When you go to pick them off the leaf you have to be careful because they will jump away like a flea. They are very easy to kill tho, very unlike a flea.

Since this is an organic garden, I want to deal with this problem with no chemicals.

The internet says to:

• Use covers (not an option because these guys likely came with the dirt)
• Use a trap crop like radishes
• Use a pesticide
• Use onion or garlic or pepper spray

Its this last one that I will be trying today. I am going to get some garlic and make a solution of it and then swab it onto my affected plants. I am going to start it off at a relatively (as it seems to me) concentration.

I am also having another issue.

My transplanted pimento peppers (Bonnie from Walmart) are growing some gnarly looking leaves since their transplantation. Is this a fertilizer issue? A too much water issue? A pH issue? If you know, drop me a note!

Ed is working on the fifth bed today, 6th soon and then a large 8×8 herb garden.

We got some Mary Washington asparagus (with a bonus extra pack), 40 in all. Now we are deciding where we will put these guys. As you may know, eating these wont happen until like 3 years from now. They take up a lot of space vertically so they do not want to be IN the garden…

I am still working on the 4th garden in terms of seed placement, almost there. I am also working on seeding in the companion crops to help deal with bugs and get some synergistic benefits.

This guy is growing like a weed but we are not going to weed him.

Here is the latest panorama. You can see that Ed has finished the 4th bed on the right! I need to plant that one and the ends of the bed furthest to the left.

I have put a small preview of the map template for each bed (below). I measured the pH of various parts of each bed (as well as nutrient content) so I will be adding that to the maps as well. I will share those when I finish them.

Every day I spend time picking weedlets. I use it as a growing zazen practice. Its precious quiet time.

Sometimes I put on my Maya wrap and take Baby Oh out so he can have some freedom from the tyranny of the older middle 3 year old sister.

He loves it. He listens to the birds, he watches me weed, he doesn’t make a sound and has huge eyes, looking at everything.

Here is bit of an update on the most advanced bed.

The mesclun has moved on to it’s secondary leaves and is looking much like mesclun. Its almost time to plant the next batch in the succession.

The radishes have also gotten their secondary leaves. These are the itchy scratchy ones.

Here is the cinnamon basil which has ALREADY gone to flower. I snipped them and have pruned it to make sure its going to get bushy.

Thankfully, rain and mist has been our weather so our plants are germinating and growing nicely.

Dragon carrots, horizontally.

Seeds of Change basil diversity pack of 6 types of basils.

• Genovese Basil
• Greek Basil
• Cinnamon Basil
• Lemon Basil
• Lime Basil
• Opal Purple Basil

View from the end of one of the beds.

Things are sprouting in the first raised bed. In the shot above, you see a sprouting melon.

Here are some tiny broccoli plants. All of these will be thinned down to the best plants (ok, best guess in the best plant). Next planting spree I will be planting only one seed, I dont think I need to plant many and then thin, seems like a waste with such a high germination rate.

Here the radishes are on their first set of leaves. Growing like gangbusters.

Here is a comparison on the mesclun lettuce. The one on the left is 5-27-07. The right is 5-31-07.

Planted our store bought non-organic tomatoes. You can not see the cage around it in this shot.

Leaf from a pimento pepper plant.

Rows of sprouting collard greens.

Planted the second bed yesterday. Here are a few photos of how I set up the bed and the map I make up for myself to set out the plants. These may be seeded a bit tight but we will see. I will be needing to cull some by design.

I hate forgetting what I planted so this year I am mapping it out. Will transfer this to an electronic copy so that, when the paper is lost as it is bound to be, I have a permanent record. I marked off rough 1 foot sections to help me with the planting. I used a 2×4 to make the marks after using a ruler to mark off feet.

Tomatoes, rosemary, some flowers, cant remember what else right now While out watering these two beds I noticed that we have sprouts already!

mesclun lettuce sprouting – Pack says 10-14 days to germination but these little guys are on their third day, good start. Hope you can see them.

Radishes sprouting – planted 5-24, sprouted 5-27 – pack says 3-10 days for germination.. guess they like their new home. The collards are sprouting too. Nothing else besides the fact that Ed is almost done with the third bed and will be starting on the fourth tomorrow. It seems we are going to have six (6) total! We have decided to change the sandbox idea into the “kid’s garden”. We have also set up a screen tent in the backyard (photo coming) so that the kids can play in the shade and a bit less bug.

The driveway and the greenery.

Here is a panorama of the driveway.

Well, we are on our own now with the carpentry. It will be fine and it will be SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper. Here is a shot of the raised beds. Right one has been planted, middle is waiting, left is being built and the 4th is in the queue.

Here are a few panoramas around the house.

Today is Tuesday and the first day in a while that work can get done because its been raining cats and dogs here.

Fill and top soil – loam continues to come although today the dump truck got stuck in our soft lawn, no more until tomorrow.

Here are a few shots of how the raised beds are coming along today.

There is some interpersonal “excitement” going on right now with the construction team, its possible we may have to finish the other two beds and the whole chicken house ourselves.

Gotta butch up for that (making grunty lumberjack noises).

Yesterday and today, the first of six raised beds has been built. They will be lined at the bottom with wire mesh to keep out the burrowing rodentia. They are lined on the sides to keep the wood from leaching chemicals into our food. On top of the wire mesh are radiant flooring heating tubing which will heat the beds in the winter. The tubing will be filled with polypropylene glycol (PPG) that circulates into a heat exchange manifold associated with the biomass generator/boiler.

Here is the raised bed from our back door.

Here is the raised bed from slightly above.

You can see a closer shot of the interior here.

A really close up shot of the tubing and how it is tied down.

What it looks like if you were laying down inside (as if!)

We are having to bring in fill to create a level surface in our backyard for the raised beds. We learned that this fill, which is palm sized smooth rocks and black earth, is the scrape from a nearby dairy farm that has been sold and is being torn down for a subdivision. Crimes!We will benefit from this because this fill has loads of cow manure and, oddly enough, cow bones (think calcium). The story is that when a cow has passed away, the farmer takes the carcass out into the pasture and lets nature re-assimilate it. The bones we come across look pretty old and moldy, well taken care of by the elements.

We may have the greenest yard/garden for miles.

The truck is seen here, backing up our driveway and up past our house and hopefully missing the wellhead.

As seen from inside the house, truck makes the house look small. Notice our grill. We are very low tech. It would be awesome to have a deck that wraps around our house and in the backyard. It would be awesome to have a gas grill or just a much more butch charcoal one. We tend to be utilitarian so we do not have those sorta of amenities.

The truck is tearing up the side yard. It will come through here some 8 times today to get the amount of fill we need.

Dumping the fill.