#Raised garden beds

[oh-he-grows]

Quick little garden tour:

the wildflowers are immaculate despite the heat and drought

peppers of all shapes and sizes- Txorixero, Jigsaw, Chinese 5-color, Tsin Tsin, Poblano, Jalapeno. in the background is my onion bed (overtaken by weeds that were impossible to deal with) and behind that is the pea/spinach/carrot bed which is dried up. I've plucked plenty of peas and pinach pods and i'm drying them elsewhere for seed saving.

herb bed, with blank spots filled in by zinnias and a bitter melon chives, parsley, thyme from left to right

cranberry beans, which have just started producing pods

the watermelon patch between the beans and tomatoes, with another zinnia that i'm too kind to tear up, and the wild tomato jungle strung up with a semi-florida weave

a 4x4 section entirely dedicated to lemongrass because I love thai curry, with a wall of zinnias and gifted tomato plants, then zucchini on the right side

the last-finished garden bed where I tried to plant bare-root strawberries but it's been so hot and dry only a couple survived. I replaced the bare space with some late-started exotic peppers. also in containers are some perennials, succulents, and crispy ass lavender

the sunflower bed is doing great with regular sprinkling

the left half of my garden which is still missing about 12 yards of compost, but we'll get to that before the next growing season. next to the wildflowers are two owari satsumas that i keep meaning to plant but really i'm too lazy so they've stayed in their pots next to the wildflowers. I have a meyer lemon and a calamondin orange in the same situation just off-camera.

[gardening-guy]

a very autumnal gardening update || 11/08/2024

happy autumn everyone!!! here's a very very big gardening update as i've been hoarding photos to share since a couple days before halloween yippee!!

to begin, i've got progress photos of lots of different fall crops that i planted from seeds!

if you'd like to know what plant something is, read the image description for plant name and usually where i bought it from!

up above are pictures of my crops that have sprouted or long since sprouted and are now growing growing (i have a lot more that i'm not consistently taking photos of tbh). i'm really excited for everything to start being a lot bigger so the raised beds will look much more filled in.

i recently did a round of fertilizer water too! i make my own fertilizer and then add it to my watering can after straining out the big bits. my fertilizer water recipe is to put eggshells, used coffee grounds, used teabags, and banana peels to this big container i have and let it sit all in water for a couple days; then i strain it and put the water into my watering can and fill the watering can the rest of the way with regular water from my tap (i don't have a hose unfortunately and i live in a rental).

i also harvested a bunch of lil tomatillos recently, i wasn't expecting them to actually finish growing at this point, but somehow it was successful!

here's a bunch of photos from the greenhouse box too! most of the lil seedlings are doing really well, and i'm eager to get to transplant them soon (and those that don't get transplanted will go to friends as gifts or be given away on fb marketplace).

i'm also pleasantly surprised that my basil plant and coleus plant are doing well still in the greenhouse! after all, the greenhouse box isn't properly sealed and isn't fully insulated, it's mostly just a cold sun box. but somehow, they're doing pretty damn well, yay!!

i also repotted a few plants: my butterfly bush, my dieffenbachia, and one of my basil plants! my poor dieffenbachia was really going through it, so i figured he really needed a repotting. here's to hoping he starts recovering!

also... the table on my back deck finally gave out lmaoooo! i was repotted my butterfly bush on it and i was pushing down on the dirt in the pot onto the table and... perfectly pot-shaped hole was born! i have stuck an identical pot into the hole and i might seal up the drainage holes on it so i can collect a bit of rainwater?? maybe?? idk for sure yet to be honest, but i'll figure it out! :)

and that's all for this update!! i really hope you all enjoyed, it's been a bit tedious typing all of this out admittedly lol, so thank you for sticking around! lmk in the replies what you think and if you've got any ideas on what to do next! :)

[tomorrowsgardennc]

garden update // september 24th

phew! today was busy! rain is supposed to fly right on thru our area very quickly because of Helene so i have been busy shifting gears into prep mode for that.

the biggest deal was getting these basil seeds inside. i would rather have them sit on the plant for another 3 or 4 days... but i also would rather not have them drenched in downpours and end up rotted. so i cut a majority of the basil heads and will let them dry inside in a paper bag before processing. it's spicy globe basil - my absolute favorite basil variety ever - and since it's so tight and compact the bees love sleeping there at night, like this little guy. so i did leave some for them, especially the not-too-developed seed heads. hopefully it'll all be ok.

a lot of the no longer baby plants in the greenhouse are now in their semi-final home. transplanted like crazy the past two days! the cilantro doesn't have true leaves uet, but they were stretching like cray cray in the greenhouse since i have shade cloth on it, so i went ahead and put them in their pot. i say semi-final home because it's their final home in my garden before they are sold at the market. typically i transplant, let them grow in their new pot for 2 weeks, then consider them for market inventory. those 2 weeks allow for root growth and for them to get used to their new surroundings outside the greenhouse. kinda like hardening off, but not really.

went from 8 trays down to 4 in the greenhouse. the heating pads are NOT on, just don't have anywhere to store them so they just stay put. next week this will be back to full after i start more seeds. these were the only babies left without any true leaves. kohlrabi, cabbage, lettuce, collards, and celery.

so early this spring hubs and i pruned a pomegranate tree that's at the farmers market. not the best time to prune tbh but that's ok. i took 50ish cuttings and tried to root them. only these two did so. admittedly i'm a novice at rooting cuttings so honestly surprised i got these two. now i need to find a final home for them by next fall... for this winter they'll go in the greenhouse.

pro tip (like, the only tip i know about cuttings): the best way to tell if your cutting is still alive or transformed into a stick is to take your thumbnail and scrape a tiny dent into the bark. if the layer underneath is green, it's still alive and would prefer to not be knicked again plz thank you. if brown, then it's now a stick and you can toss it in the compost pile or to your dog. they are still babies so they don't like to be knicked so do this test as tiny as possible. its like checking to see if the chicken is raw after cooking... if you have to squint and hold it up to your face to try and tell, then its cooked dont worry. if you have to hold the cutting up and squint at it to find the green layer then its cooked, too.

peas are happy. the daikon totally wasabi *wink wonk* radishes have transplanted well. the cantalope from the compost pile is photobombing the peas and daikons.

last but not least, cascading over the raised bed edge appreciation photos. although deer have been coming by to eat the sweet potato leaves. but that's ok. and the creeping rosemary is absolutely loving its spot under the blueberry bush. i have had horrible luck trying to grow normal rosemary, but this creeping variety is more visually fun.

hopefully next week we will get a break from freak pop up tropical systems and i can finally get my two new metal raised beds in place! yippee!!

[bumblebeeappletree]

Costa is in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney with good friends Manu and Jude, lending a hand with a garden project for a neighbour. Their mission is to set a tea patch and wicking bed planters for a member of Manu’s Farm It Forward movement, Riri, who is vision impaired.

Riri explains that she lost her eyesight more than 30 years ago but she never had the courage or confidence to walk down her street on her own, as there are no footpaths. But when she heard that Farm It Forward had set up at the end of her street she took the plunge to walk down there. “I met Manu and that’s how it all started,” she says.

“When you can’t see, you tend to stay indoors a lot,” Riri says, “but this will get me out.”

To create two no-dig patches, Manu and Jude first lay down some cardboard across the whole area to help suppress weeds. The sticky tape and staples have to be removed first. Next, they build two long rows of compost and soil mix to form the raised no-dig beds, leaving a pathway in the middle between the beds that they then cover with mulch.

At the end, two wicking beds are made up and planted out.

When the work is complete, the team invites Riri out to help her explore her new gardens.

Filmed on Dharug & Gundungurra Country in the Blue Mountains, NSW

[ghettogardener]

Very proud of myself. I got all of my gardening goals met for my days off this week.

I cleaned up a bunch of the mess that was piled up all over. I found ot all homes, or I got rid of it.

I spray painted almost all of those random planters black, so it's looking a bit neater where the plants are grouped together.

I planted 3 different lemon grass pots, 12 Marigolds (some in-ground, some container) for companions to the three different types of tomatoes that I got planted in the first raised bed.

I planted, Black Krim, Beefsteak, and Brandywine varieties of toms next to those Marigolds.

I also got my dill, oregano, and cherry toms potted in more permanent containers.

I had a bunch of flowers grown from seed, but I put them outside too soon and they died. I learned from them to expose my baby plants more slowly to the garden.

Anyway, I have been picking up some flowers sporadically over the last 3 weeks from nurseries and home improvement stores.

Portulaca, pansies, blue cone flowers, Marigolds, and not pictured I also potted up primroses, snapdragons, 2 artichoke plants, wild flowers from seed, and a pretty purple bell plant.

Stage 2 will be getting the peppers (mixed, Sweet, Serrano, Hot) into their larger and more permanent containers.

Also, getting the cucumbers planted into the second raised bed.

Anyway. I worked hard today, and I'm so happy right now! Can't wait until it all becomes more full and mature.

[chaptertwo-thepacnw]

this summer was all about flowers |2024|

[thestudentfarmer]

9-5-2024 Garden and homesteading update,

Hello, hello!

Life's been keeping me a bit busy recently but I do have a bit of an update for the garden~

Finally Got manure in to fill in a few beds and top off rows. (Which I've started and got going to prep for winter)

Pulled everything but the carrots, cucumber, peppers and 1 tomato (tho the tomatoes on a wire line. I'm still thinking bout pulling it)

I found a few of the armenian cucumbers that might have viable seed, ive got to pull them apart and clean them tonight to dry and give a viability test. I'll leave the cucumbers growing for now. The pollinators and hummingbirds have been using them for shade and fuel. Plus I like the flush of lush foilage and ground cover. It's been extra hot this summer so we haven't seen as much produce as I usually crow about from them. When the weather starts going back to regulalry below 95*f I'm hoping to see more fruiting.

Started up a new bed in the garden. Its a raised bed, two boards tall. This one will be layered on the bottom as usual with cardboard thickly to repell and deter the grass a little bit. Instea dof paper shreds, i cracked up the sunflower stalks I've been saving up to fit the bed size and filled it a good bit with the smaller ones. Topping it off with the manur/compost. I also threw some of the dead cucumber vines with the sunflower stalks to sort of fill it. Not tight packed, just loosely. Just wanna see of it'll work similar to hugelkultur. (Link at end to Wikipedia page).

The sweet potato vines are starting to take off. Thankfully this means I'll have some greens to split between family and the chickens soon. Maybe even some spuds at the end of the season 🤞

The thyme plant kicked the can, the asparagus is ferning out, but not stalking. The basil is seeding pretty good. So with luck some wild seeded basil starts soon.

The sunchokes have stunted a bit, this week I'm gonna see about putting a shade up to see if that'll help them out.

The hollyhocks in the hen alley have been sort of taken over by grasshoppers. So not too much growth among them. Think I'll need to spend a few nights catching them, freezing them and giving them to the chickens for a little extra snack time delight. (Plus getting them out of the garden) I think at that time I'll also lay out some new cardboard as the ground cover has disintegrated pretty well. Looking good beneath on the soil.

Started filling in the area I wanted to put melons in, may instead end up using that area to grow winter veggies, like cauliflower, cabbage or broccoli.

Still need to mix the seed starting soil, cut up some cardboard tubes (gonna try to use them for some seed starting) and get those winter crops started up.

Getting ready to dig out my floral patch to plant elsewhere. (I've been waiting for cooler weather.)

And start up the new direct seed rotation plan (carrots, lettuce, radish, nasturtium and other)

And a few other minor tasks related to the garden and some major ones later too that I'm not gonna get ahead of myself yet on grandoise plans 😂

That's the garden update for now :)

🌱💚Happy Gardening and homesteading💚🌱

Links for additional infos:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%BCgelkultur

[bwabbitv3s]

Finished staining the first raised bed. Next up is lining it with plastic and adding the drainage.

[letsgogardening]

GARDENING UPDATE 1-11-2023

Front section

First update of the year! There hasn't been too much work done in the garden due to everyone getting sick and life in general.

Row 1- Pumpkins! we 've finally gotten a pumpkin! I'll post a picture of it towards the end

Row2- carrots and radish. Carrots are sweeter in the winter due to turning starches into sugars

Row 3- the okra will be ready to harvest seeds soon, in front of it is the nasturtiums we planted. On the back side is peas.

Full rows

Rows 4,3,2,1 from left to right

Close up of the nasturtiums the little red parts on the left side of the plant will be red blossoms in a few days!

The arrow is pointing at the pumpkin that's growing, it's our first one!

And the paperwhites are in blossom too!

[wildrungarden]

11/21/23 ~ Lil Brussels coming thru at school 🥹🥹

[oh-he-grows]

greetings from spinachland

population: spinch & peas

[gardening-guy]

the garden yesterday afternoon :)

[earthkeyper]

Raised bed garden in progress

[bumblebeeappletree]

Hannah shares some tips on how she gets the best results from the heavy clay soil at her home.

There’s an old saying that clay soils can break your back, but sandy soils can break your heart. Few of us are lucky enough to have the perfect loam soils, but all soil types have their pros and cons.

Add compost - this can help improve any soil. It helps sandy soils retain water and nutrients and improves the drainage of clay soils. When Hannah started her garden, they removed all the topsoil, shaped the hillsides, then replaced the topsoil, mixed with compost and aged manure.

Use raised beds - these create better drainage and soil depth, allowing you to grow a wider range of vegies. Hannah’s range is between 20cm-40cm.

Choose plants that suit your soil - Brassicas normally do well in clay and kale and broccoli are two of Hannah’s family’s favourites, so they grow a lot of these. Top-heavy plants like corn, cabbage and Brussels sprouts benefit from the firm anchorage their roots can get in clay, and moisture-loving plants like lettuce, celery, and leafy greens benefit from clay’s ability to hold water. Peas and beans do well too, as do smaller root crops such as radish and small beetroot.

Keep an eye on changes - soils change over time, become compacted, get overwatered, or lose nutrients and general condition. Hannah prepared two beds the same way, but one is pumping out great-looking crops while the other’s harvest looks sick; Hannah will pull out the poor-looking veg, give the soil a bit of a boost, and start again.

How to improve clay soil - a great start is to add gypsum - this causes a chemical reaction that helps bind the small particles of clay together, forming larger particles that allow water and air to move around more easily. Hannah then adds canola meal and compost to feed the soil.

Will potatoes break up clay? This is a common belief and Hannah has experimented with this over the years, but her best results come from planting spuds into a prepared no-dig bed. You can also lay the potatoes at soil level and gradually build up layers of compost, mulch and manure on top. She believes it’s the extra organic matter that improves the soil, not the potatoes!

Recruit some worms - another way to improve your clay soil is to build a worm tower in your soil. All you need is an old bucket - Hannah uses a 20L food container. Drill some holes in the sides and base (for the worms to get in and out) and bury it into the garden bed. Add some food scraps and worms and cover it with some mulch to keep the worms cool and moist, plus a rain lid on top; Hannah uses and upturned washing up bowl. The worms will eat the scraps, create aerating burrows as they move around, and enrich the soil with their castings.

By getting to know your soil and playing to its strengths, you’ll get the best out of your garden.

[fuckithomestead]

I now have 2 raised beds built! Need to get more dirt to fill them completely, but they're established!

Layers of rotting leaf material, composted wood mulch, coconut coir, dirt, compost, worm castings, blood meal, and bone meal.

Gonna stretch some fencing into an arch between the 2 beds to create a trellis for beans and such to climb.

[huzaifahome]

Filling raised garden beds with logs presents numerous benefits for both plants and the environment.