Day 17 Slogging

Posted on by APerkins Posted in Uncategorized

The ground is extremely wet, the grass soaked my shoes within ten feet of the beds.  Planting the rest of the broccoli into the lasagna bed and the hugelkultur bed, the killing mulch is like moving cold spinach aside, with worms quickly moving aside so I can drop in the seeds.  The compost pile  had a six inch layer of grass clippings on them, with only the first three inches soaked, the rest was dry.

Snow pea starting to grow in the wicking bed

Snow pea starting to grow in the wicking bed

Both the wicking bed and the hugelkultur bed are showing signs of life, the snow peas beginning to dig themselves in.

Two beds, 30 minutes.

Day 15 – Planting in the Rain

Posted on by APerkins Posted in 30 Min., Wicking Bed

Slow going for planting.  Rain will continue through the week.  Staying off the planting areas is always a good idea, butGarden Map on a spreadsheet showing the different rows and plants it’s especially important when it’s raining.  The reasons to avoid planting in the rain?

  • compacts the soil
  • seeds can be washed away
  • planting seedlings can be especially difficult as the soil/mud can smother the roots
  • working the soil will often bind the clay together
  • working the soil can also create a crusty surface layer that small seeds cannot break through
Tilling is definitely out of the question, as it creates “hard pan” – an area below the soil that the roots cannot penetrate.  According to http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/news/sty/2005/soils_dry030805.htm, “… As a general rule, soil is too wet to work if you can press a handful of it into a muddy ball. It’s okay if it’s a little cool and damp, but crumbles.”
Have a large garden bed instead of rows?  Use several boards or squares of carpet remnants to step on in order to spread the weight and reduce compaction.  Cardboard will work too, but I’ve found it extremely slippery.
What’s the best solution for planting in the rain?  Unsure, but I’m trying out the newspaper killing mulch on the wicking bed that was definitely muddy, with some crumbled compost/soil mix on top of them.  Tomorrow I may attempt minimally disturbed soil with light compost layer and a grass-clippings layer on top of that.
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Day 16 – Slow Going

Posted on by APerkins Posted in 30 Min., Container

Planted more in the rain – actually in the mist.  As I was moving soil from a very wet ground into  banana boxes, I did not sift the dirt, but moved it shovel-full by  shovel-full, to keep from mixing the soil and binding the clay.  In the boxes on the end, I added about twenty comfrey leaves as the next to the last layer of dirt.  We’re A/B split testing a miniscule amount of comfrey here, – about 1/8″ layer under a 1″ layer of soil, but it will be interesting to see if there is any difference.

This is the fourth bed of the cucumber/pea/bush bean companion planting.  The only difference is a little bit less room (7.5 sq. ft vs 9 sq. ft). One of the  hacks I am not taking advantage of is pinning fencing between the boxes to hold it up, since we need a three sided fence.

Potato plant starting to grow in the banana boxThe potato-banana box planting is starting to grow, hoping to get some sunshine so I can cut more lawn to put in the box.  I may have to go buy some mulch hay, or hope the bedding has been placed out from the horses nearby.  If there is no sun by Saturday, between acro classes, ballet rehearsals, garbage hauling, etc., I will need to get something.

Dense Companion Planting

Posted on by APerkins Posted in Hugelkultur, Lasagna Bed, Raised Bed

Dense Companion Planting

Day 13 and Transplanting Stawberry hacks.

Posted on by APerkins Posted in 30 Min., Soil, Wicking Bed

Strawberry bed, with sifter in the backgroundCleanup day.  Spent the 30 minutes cleaning up the wicking bed.  Weeds pulled up easily, thanks to the good soil and getting to them early.

With the impending rain, I also decided it was time to start moving the strawberries to their new home in the comfrey bed.  The strawberries and the comfrey are not a part of the thirty minute challenge, but I thought I’d write about them anyway, since weeding is a rather mindless task, like washing dishes: it has to be done, and it’s a great time to think, or listen to the news.

The strawberries are in an over grown area of the garden that is being moved.  I am surprised that they came up, after digging under them with a shovel and then trying to tease the strawberry roots out.  The hack here is a good time saver when you’re separating the strawberries from the root ball: Have a 4″ or better spike? Hold the strawberry/grass ball with the roots up.  Holding the spike in your dominant hand, have only three inches exposed, holding  the spike like a table knife.  Use the point to separate the roots from the strawberry plant.  a little careful picking will loosen it enough that you can wiggle it right out.

The SifterMaking the new beds, I am moving soil from another bed.  I decided I wanted to plant the strawberries more in line with the directions 12-18″ apart).  I had created a sifter a couple of years ago, made from four 3ft 2×10’s and a 1/4″ mesh stretched across the bottom.  “Orderly Bed Hack”:  Turned the sifter upside down, placed it on the area I was going to create the bed.  Shovel full at a time, I put the soil in the middle, then scraped the soil (by hand toward the edges.  About six shovel fulls of soil created a four inch raised bed, all neatly blocked out.  Lifting the sifter and placing it right next to the new fluffy bed of soil, do the same thing again.  Plant within the hour and press down the soil.  Fill the edges with mulch to suppress weeds.

Sifted Soil in a neat 3ft squareLooking back at the strawberries, I see a lot of real estate where a companion plant could either live or “visit” until it’s harvest time.  A good “visitor” will be lettuce, bush beans (like my favorite “providor”) would live all year.

Shop Locally First! If you can’t find them locally, you can find Seed/Plant Sources on Amazon:
Junebearing Strawberries Chandler 10 plants
Constant Fruiting Albion Strawberries 25 plants
Organic Provider Bush Bean Seeds
Lettuce Romaine Parris Island Cos Certified Organic Heirloom Seeds 275 Seeds

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Day 12

Posted on by APerkins Posted in 30 Min., Container, Hugelkultur, Lasagna Bed, Wicking Bed

Planted the potatoes!  Have 31 starts in the garden, nine in the wicking bed, nine in the lasagna bed, nine in the hugelkultur bed, and four in the banana box bed.  Why only four in the banana box bed?  Ran out of boxes!  Next grocery run I’ll get some more, still have more potatoes (King Harry, available from Wood Prairie Farm), and may end up planting them, as they’ve started to sprout they will taste bitter.  Planting took ten minutes total.  Looking at the banana boxes, with a small amount of dirt in them, I felt they may need a little “nitrogen nudge” – so I cut several of my comfrey back and layed the leaves both under and around the potatoes to give them a quick feed.  The comfrey next to the house was ready to start blossoming, so I caught that in time, the rest are not as far along, getting smaller the farther from shelter they were.

Beans Peas and Cukes shown as a matrix on a spreadsheet

Cukes to the left (which is south), Peas to the right, bush beans in the middle. Cage around the outside perimeter.

Hopefully will have video of my other fifteen minutes of planting: companion planted cucumbers, bush beans and snow peas, all in a 3×3 area.  Have one set up for each of the beds except the banana box beds, due to lack of boxes.  According to several sources, they are all good companions, so we will find out.  Cucumbers are on the south side, as they want the most sun, the bush beans are in the middle, probably too crowded at about 8″ apart from each other, and the snow peas are on the north side, as illustrated.

Last five minutes were spent watering.  Until they are well rooted, you do have to water the plants in the wicking bed, as well as the others.

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Day 11 Raised Bed Alternative

Posted on by APerkins Posted in 30 Min., Container
Banana box for gardening: fill with soil and plant! Easy, expandable, and fun!

Banana Boxes "chunk down" your garden chores!

Okay, so I’ve decided to try a different tack with the raised bed, more “compartmentalized”.  Makes it a lot easier to create a “Square Foot Gardening
” bed, as well as creating “special” mixes or experiments with different soils.  What I’m doing here is creating a rather large “banana box bed”.  Each banana box can have it’s own soil mix as well as plants, or you can just shovel in a general mix for the lot.  The boxes on the edges will eventually spill out from the sides (cardboard isn’t supposed to last forever), though you can bolster them up with soil, rocks, or –  if you don’t have a slug problem – boards.  I’m opting for the soil/rock combination, burying the rocks so there are no crevices for the slugs.  Sure, the slugs can get in between the boxes, but I can too – with fireplace ashes, diatomatious earth, or other irritating eco-friendly beneficial additives.  Another nice thing about banana box gardening is that it is easy to add to as you have the time and materials: sometimes looking at a garden bed can be overwhelming, but looking at one, two or several banana boxes makes it less daunting.  Generally, it’s one tomato plant per box, one potato plant, four peppers – you can either follow the general rules on the seed packet or pack them in like the square foot gardener.
Books similar to Square foot Gardening:
One Magic Square: The Easy, Organic Way to Grow Your Own Food on a 3-Foot Square

 

Still have to sit for a moment or two and decide what’s going to be planted where, and I’ve managed to misplace my “Carrots Love Tomatoes” book, but I’ll find it soon…

Day 10

Posted on by APerkins Posted in 30 Min., Hugelkultur, Lasagna Bed, Wicking Bed

Ahhhh.  A sigh of relief.  Ran the hoses to the garden area and filled the wicking bed, then left it sit overnight.  Still full of water the next day when I walked the dog, so I don’t have to dig it up!  Progress on the garden includes finishing off the hugelkultur bed – about five barrows short of my goal, but it’s plenty big.  The lasagna bed is completely made and I’ve wetted that  down as well.  The raised bed – well, that’s going to get replaced by another type of bed that I’ll let you know about tomorrow.  Still a raised bed, but it’s more – “compartmentalized”…

Wicking Bed – Overview

Posted on by APerkins Posted in Wicking Bed

A wicking bed relies on the soils ability to wick water up to one foot in height.  When properly constructed, it acts much like a  saucer under a potted plant.  The soil will draw up only as much moisture as it needs, and the roots can tap into it.  Some of the added benefits include less evaporation, no need to surface water or spray (great for tomatoes), easily monitored, can be left for a number of days at a time, often weeks in the northeast without watering.  The only difficulties are (as noted) the need to cover the filling hole, the remote possibility of the plastic getting punctured mid-way through the season (doubtful but worth being aware of),  you still need to get plants and seedlings established.

To create our wicking bed, we dug a trench approximately six inches below the ground and four feet wide, then dug a three foot trench inside the first trench to accomodate six inch “wings” on either side.  These “wings” are additional plastic that extends beyond the trench and are an ingenius safeguard: if it rains too much, the water spills over these wings and into the surrounding soil – no drowned plants, as long as it doesn’t rain for weeks on end.

Next, a tube was placed along the length of the bed.  This will allow water to reach the whole bed unencumbered.  There are holes along the entire pipe to allow the water to drain out into the surrounding material.

Illustration of a wicking bed from the front and the side.On top and around the tube, plant matter of all types were placed until the bed was level with the “wings”. This included old weeds, comfrey, wood chips from everything except walnuts and pine tree varieties.  Soil was then placed on top of the plant matter to create the planting bed.  The bed is raised about one foot from the surrounding ground, and will wick any water in the trench upward to about one foot.  The area over the “wings” can also be planted on.

On one end of the tube we buried, we put an elbow and another tube to fill the bed with and also to check to see if it’s filled.  One thing we found out last year was that you have to cover the hole, otherwise you’ll have mosquitoes laying eggs inside!  I cover it with a simple plastic bag and a rubber band.  A better solution would be a cover with a float and a stick so I could see at a glance if it needed more water.  If I save enough time this year, I may do that.

Tomorrow, hopefully, pictures (looking into the tube, I found no water inside. This may be a bad omen  (a hole in the plastic)…

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Day 9

Posted on by APerkins Posted in 30 Min., Hugelkultur, Lasagna Bed

Just a quick post, continued covering the hugelkulture bed, now has 11 wheelbarrows full of soil covering it, just 6 more to go!  Also covered it with some grass clippings and thatch.  It’s looking awfully dry.  Tomorrow I’ll need to drag out the hoses and get everything soaked. Also finished covering the Lasagna Bed, just needed the end covered with grass clippings.

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