Creative Gardening

Found this on the net - if my car isn't running by next spring I may have a new use for it LOL.

Not a Great Season

The season is almost over and I haven't accomplished much this year. After the injury in June I have been even more limited than usual in my mobility. I had placed the garden in a back area that was too far for me to walk many days. I was lucky that we had plenty of rain most of the summer. We did go through a drought period in Aug and I had to let my mini pumpkins, gourds, okra and a few other things go even before they produced anything. There was not enough rain water left to go around.

I was able to keep the cherry and romano tomatoes going. With just 2 plants each I didn't get as much output as I would like but they have suddenly come to the life the last few weeks and I am suddenly gathering enough for a salad every few days.
Another surprise, the mini watermelons are suddenly trying to make a few. There were 3 tiny melons the size of marbles on them Friday so I fed them a little Miracle Grow to see if they might develop before the cold rolls in. Another surprise, the pole beans are suddenly trying to produce but only one of the 8 plants. I ask, what do you do with 6 beans LOL.

Altogether I have harvested almost nothing this year. I have narrowed it down to several mistakes that I think I can fix next year.

Mistake #1 - The Wrong Fertilizer
It took so long for anything to develop this year. I think I am using the wrong Miracle Grow. This one says it is good for flowers and garden plants and is blue. However, the one I always used before said it was for the garden only and was pink. I know my tomatoes shot up 4 feet in a week. They were much too tall and spindly and never spread out properly. Once I got flowers it was another 2 weeks before any fruit showed up then it took another 3-4 weeks for it to ripen.

Mistake #2 - The Wrong Soil Mix
Another problem was the dirt I used. I purchased some of the cheap "under $2 a bag" potting soil from WM. I also had a couple bags each of manure and the expensive lightweight stuff. I had trouble handling the bags after my fall and dumped the dirt into the pots direct from the bags - big mistake. The cheapo soil had too much clay in it and would cake over with a hard crust. I tried starting carrots and lettuce 3 times. They would seem to be sprouting then we would get a rain and it would dry out with that hard crust and the plants dead.

In the meantime I used the lightweight stuff in the hanging baskets and was tickled with how easy it was for me to handle them. I was thinking about splurging and buying a few more bags until I discovered it also does not hold water very well. Within 24 hours of a soaking rain I already had plants wilting.

Next year I will dump all the various kinds of dirt into the wheelbarrow and mix them together then redo all of the pots. I think this will solve the problem. I also want to check into these new polymer crystals that you can add to the dirt to keep things from drying out too soon.

Mistake #3 - Starting too late
I was teaching a few days a week and very sick in the winter and spring so I was late getting my plants started. I finally bought a few plants at the store but it was still a few weeks later until I got them planted.

Mistake #4 - Placed it Wrong/Not enough Sun
I had tried tracking the sun the first two years and thought I had a pretty good idea of where to put the garden. Unfortunately that area is smaller this year because some more limbs and scrub trees have grown up and blocked more sunlight. With my bad leg I was unable to climb up the hill and cut them back but didn't realize it would be a problem until we were well into summer and I was unable to move the garden. I need to move it about 10 ft forward and about 15 ft to the right and I will be positioned for longer hours.



I still have no running water, I'm trying to get someone over to look at the well but it is like pulling teeth. If I have enough money leftover, I am thinking about buying one or two of those AeroGardens so I can have lettuce and tomatoes all winter or I may just try to set up my own system inside. Right now I don't have heat except in the bedroom so I would have to make room for them.

I was thinking about putting in some fruit trees next year but a member of our church has taken over caring for an apple orchard and has offered us all we want. Since I just need a few for applesauce I may just rely on that. Seems every year I stumble over someone giving away more than they can handle. Since I have very little area that gets sunlight, I may save that for the basic garden.

Slow Progress

Things are moving along slowly. I looked up some of the planting charts and many things I am at the very last chance of planting them. Some should have been in by the end of June or even midJune so I am pushing it. It is coming to a point now of doing fall crops.

I spent last Tues starting some seeds for beans, squash, peas, kholrabi and some other things that can be fall crops. It is late but I am trying again on the cucumber seeds. I lost the packet of new ones so I drug out some seeds from previous years. The transplants look awful except for one healthy looking plant. Only two of the cherry tomato plants survived but they are looking very good.

Most of my squash and pumpkin seeds said I could get away with planting last week and possibly make it so I am trying a few old seeds in the starter flat. I also found that my melons only need 60 days so I went ahead and planted the cannonball watermelons and mini canteloupes.

I thought I would get some more done but the area around the garden was getting overgrown and I tried to weedeat a bit Wed. It pretty much did me in and I haven't been able to do anything since. My ankle and heel are still in terrible pain so I can't do much walking right now.

I noticed a bad sign this evening. Everytime I thought it was getting dry enough for me to water, we have had rain. This is good because I didn't have to fight with dragging buckets of water over to the plants. However this is bad because I have not added any nutrients to the plants for almost 4 weeks. Plants in pots need nutrients every 7 - 14 days. When I glanced over at the garden area this evening my large tomato plants and the Roma tomato plants look like they are suddenly going a bit yellow so I better tend to them tomorrow and give everything a good dose of plant food.

The seeds I got from the give away did not have any markings as to type, i.e. beans just said beans, not the type of beans or whether they were pole or bush. They gave me large bags of them and I couldn't use that much so I just grabbed small amounts of each and gave the rest to the pastor's son. Sunday the pastor brought me a bag filled with small yellow crookneck and straight neck squash. He said that is what is coming up from the squash seeds.

Another Setback

Well digging up the papers and typing up the pages needed to prove my income for the past two years proved a daunting job and took until late Wed night. I finally finished about 2am and then discovered I had an order for lip balms. I grabbed a bit of sleep and got up early to try and catch the mail with the balms. She runs anywhere from 9am until 1pm. Of course she was early today and had already run by 10am.

I finished packaging the order firguring I would run it to the P.O. later today. Right now it was cool and shady outside so I thought it would be a great time to get some work done. I hadn't done anything since last Fri except that little bit of watering so I am slipping further and further behind. Still sore and tender, I was not looking forward to moving concrete blocks but I thought I might manage a few at least and to get the pots filled with dirt.

I was able to get the cucumber seedlings and cherry tomato seedlings transplanted but there were only a few and they looked rather sad so I am not sure how they will do. I put them in hanging baskets so I can hang them up later in the season.

Now came the job of moving the blocks. I moved the first two and rested. When I went to move the next two I slipped and fell again. This time I did something major to my right leg. I am not sure but I think I tore the calf muscle. I was stepping up from a hole the dog had dug and my foot slipped backwards. The foot bent forward like a "V" in line with the shin. I can't even begin to describe the pain of trying to walk, took me 20 minutes to crab walk my way the 30 feet to the front door. I crawled in bed and stayed there all day. I am slightly ambulatory but the pain is awful.

Anyway this may set me back to the point that I will stop bothering with anything new until I can put in a fall garden in July and August. It will depend on how well I can get around over the next few days. I know if I don't get my melons, pumpkins and corn in by next week, they won't have time to finish. I will update you in a few days.

Seedlings and Rain

Well, the rain finally moved out and I thought I would get some work done Friday. I needed to move some blocks and am still trying to find places to stash the skirting and deck parts until I can get them installed. Silly me I figured out a way to slow things down even more. After all the rain I have lots of rainwater collected so I wanted to move the buckets over by the garden area (I know, I know, should have put them there to begin with). I was pouring a few together when I slipped on the muddy/wet deck and fell. I managed to catch both knees, my right shoulder and right cheekbone. Everything is black and blue, swollen and extremely tender so I have spent the weekend in bed. Oh well, it gave me a good reason to goof off and watch the Open :)

I got a call Fri afternoon and need to chase down some paperwork for my Social Security claim tomorrow plus the forecast is for more rain. I am hoping to get back to work Tues. The seeds I planted recently have produced some sturdy looking cucumber plants that are ready to transplant but nothing else has come up. Also the heavy rains last week washed out the tiny bits of lettuce and carrots that were trying to come up. I will have to replant them.

Not Much Progress

Monday was hot again and I was running out of water but managed to scrape together enough to dampen all the plants. Tues the rain came in and we have had continuing thunder and lightning storms so I have stayed indoors. The good news, with the cooler temps I have been getting a little bit done inside.

The Week in Review

Well I worked when I could this past week but I didn't make much progress. I spent Sun, Mon and Tues weedeating the area for the dogs and garden. As mentioned before, I can only do very small sections then I have to rest for 10-30 minutes so this is a long process. LOL several times I fell asleep in the chair while sitting in the shade trying to cool off.Wed I transplated the only 3 cherry tomatoes that had grown from seedlings into individual cups. I also reseeded parts of the flat with newer seeds for cucumbers, bell peppers and cherry tomatoes. A few are already popping through so maybe I will have something besides tomatoes and onions LOL.

Thurs I finished transplating the tomato plants I purchased from Walmart, 2 Big Boys and 2 Romas. I soaked everything with water with Miracle Grow. I also took pictures but so far have been unable to load any of them. The giant pots to the left hold the tomatoes. You also see about 8 medium white pots in the middle. They are hanging baskets that I filled and will, hopefully, eventually hold cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and a few other goodies.

Way over to the right is a bright blue blip. That is the water well. It is wrapped with insulation, an ugly blue tarp and some steel skirting around the bottom. My mh is only 50 ft long but the one before me was around 75to80 ft so there is a long flat area back there. I need to clear out some weeds but that area gets great sun all winter long. I would like to either buy a small camper and put it there or put up a small green house. You can see the corner of a 3 shelf plastic bookcase back there and I also have one of those large Rubbermaid brand storage sheds. I can't decide if I want to set up this stuff out back or put them on my deck when I get it installed.

Friday I filled the two large rectangle containers in the front left of this picture with dirt and manure so I can plant watermelons and canteloupes in them. I added another set of blocks and two long boards to make another planting row like the one behind it. The back row has lettuce and carrots in the large long green container. The 2 dark green containers and the round white ones have not been planted yet. I am still trying to figure out what will go in them. The 2 long green containers on the ground are both planted with onions. One has bulbs and one plants.The reddish bowls sitting in the foreground are going to have peas with teepee stakes. I haven't tried this before . I will be moving the tomatoes to the end of the row in front and try to place some containers with peas and pole beans where they are sitting now.

The area in front of the blocks was just weedeated so you can tell how hot it has been because everything is grey and dead where I cut.

The heat has been almost unbearable since Thurs, in the high 90's with humidity putting us over 100. Normally we are in the 80's this time of year so no one was prepared for this heat. In addition it is causing a problem because we have not had any rain in over a week. I am running out of water and what little I had has been evaporating. I have stayed in bed until late evenings and come out and piddle for an hour or two then play with the dogs and head back inside just before dark to fix dinner. Sometimes I come back out after dinner and sit with the boys and watch the fireflies. They are just beginning to thicken up in our area.

Did you notice the totes filled with soda bottles behind the back row? I have plans for using them as planters and will show you soon :) And all those pieces of wood? Those are for that deck that I am still trying to get installed :)

Getting the platforms set up

Well, the curse continues. I spent Tues gathering all my pots, trying to get as much mud and ants out as possible and had them ready to wash and clean. I finished one pot and the well quit again so I am without water again.

I did manage to get several bags of dirt moved over to the garden area. I was discouraged to see they were already getting overrun by ants. I sprinkled some Ortho Ant & Spider flakes and sprayed some Ortho Lawn & Garden Pest spray. I had really intended to try to stay organic but physical problems are slowing me down. I have to completely give up the garden last year so this year I am going to accept it as whatever I have to do to get it done. This area has for acres and acres been nothing but cattle land so it is teaming with ticks, ants, and every other kind of crawling critter.

I was also able to haul 6 concrete blocks over to set up and place boards across them. These are for placing the pots that are growing the vegetables so I can sit down and manage the garden. I will try to get some pics soon so you can see the layout. With my physical problems I cannot get down to ground level and must sit a great deal of the time. This is why I do the container gardening so I can do plenty and be able to take care of it all. I was hoping to get two or three sets done but my arms and legs gave out on me.

I was able to get several more pots ready for lettuce and carrots. We were expecting very heavy rain Tues night and today so I haven't seeded them yet. The seeds are so tiny they could have washed out. I will get to them tomorrow.

Oh and I finally got my Mother's Day gift of petunias potted.

Onions in Containers

My back is still giving me a fit but I was able to get some more weedeating done Thurs and finally got a few pots planted this evening.

For my onions I use rectangle planters. They are 4 inches by 36 inches by about 8 inches deep. I put the Texas Sweet onion plants in a container filled about 4 inches deep and 25 yellow onion bulbs in about 6 inches of dirt. The bulbs and sets were placed on a close grid of 3 then 2 across the width of the planter. The tinier ones went in the 2 spots and the larger in the 3 grid. I keep all of it around an inch apart. Around the bulbs I sprinkled a few odd Short n Sweet carrot seeds.

I don't fill the containers too deep because the onions only need a couple of inches to grow. Most of the Texas Sweet will be pulled when they are about one to two inches diameter and added to salads. Over half of the yellow onions will be grown to about 2-3 inch diameter for cooking. The remainder will be allowed to grow as large as possible by winter.

The reason for the shallow dirt, when winter arrives I will pile tons of mulch on top of and around the planters and still be able to pull onions on through out the winter months.

I did one more rectangle planter today. I planted Parris Island Cos lettuce and Black Seed Simpson lettuce in rows about 3 inches apart. In between I added some Nanteses and Short n Sweet carrots. I usually put lettuce in flats about 3 inches deep but this one was 8 inches deep because it was more for the Nanteses carrots which grow about 6" long. I will be seeding at least 4 or more containers of lettuce because I eat a lot of salads from my garden.

Tomorrow I hope to get the cherry tomatoes transferred into bigger starter pots. They are very spindly but I am surprised I got anything since the seeds are so old.

Progress is Slow

Sorry, I haven't gotten anything done in the past week. I hurt my back weedeating last Tuesday then had to teach school the rest of the week. Monday was my court hearing and I stopped by on the way home and picked up 6 bags of potting soil and 2 bags of manure. I was going to snag some more of the ten cent morning glory seeds but four giant displays of seeds were already gone!!!! There were just two small displays left and they were almost empty. People must be really serious about putting in gardens this year.



I hurt my back again Monday unloading all that soil and manure plus I stopped by my friends' house and they brought my glider and chair over. I have been dragging it around the yard trying to find the perfect place to set up the "oasis" but I am still undecided. The glider hasn't been used for anything but collecting trash behind the barn for the past 3 years so it is rusted and will need a good sanding and coat of paint but I will wait until later in summer to tackle that.



I may have to spend one more day in bed but am hoping to get started with the planting tomorrow.

Gardening My Style

This is going to be a place to refer friends to tell them about my gardening. I discovered Dick Raymond's wide row gardening in the 70's. In the 80's I discovered Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot gardening. In the late 90's I moved into a campground with a small 6x16 cement patio. I mixed the ideas from Raymond and Bartholomew's ideas with some container gardening tips I picked up from a British book. Since then I have experimented with a ton of variations and lots of friends ask for more ideas each year. I grow cucumbers, tomatoes and strawberries in hanging baskets and lots of potting flats for shallow growers.

I was going to put my onions, carrots and some lettuce out today but I was sore from all the weedeating yesterday and then the rain came in so I happily dove in the bed. As soon as I drifted off the phone started with friends, people trying to sell me stuff and a call for me to work tomorrow. So I am off to grab a shower and will try again Friday:)