Home / Blogs / Beeker's Blog /

Shade garden done! Time to get the sun garden ready!

Category: Vegetable Gardening | Posted: Wed May 07, 2014 3:07 pm

---

I ordered 2 cy of topsoil to be delivered Thursday. Rain caused our delivery to be put off until Saturday.
No problem.
Saturday was beautiful and we got some extra soil due to having to reschedule and they also were an hour late. My other half said it looked like we got a whole cy extra!
It was quite clumpy, so it isn't as perfect as I would have hoped, but that is my own fault because we didn't screen it before putting it in the bed. We still got the bed full and planted. Pictures to come soon.
Now, time to mend the fence of the sun garden and get that ready for planting!!! My squash is very impatient and starting to show it's displeasure. I'll have to repot it to buy some more time. I hope to get it all done this coming weekend.

This blog entry has been viewed 282 times

---

Almost there...

Category: Vegetable Gardening | Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2014 12:29 pm

---

Ha!
If the weather forecast is correct... ahem... I should be able to plant next weekend. Finally!
I also jabbed my thermometer into the ground and it is almost 50 degrees. Closer...

We have built our raised bed, but we found out that the compost we were planning on using isn't that trustworthy. I've been told to spread it at the end of the season and let the rains clean out any possible pesticides and weed killers that may be mixed in. Now what?! What will we do for this season?! We may just dig up some soil from one part of our yard and cart it over to our raised bed and use the hole we make as a compost ditch. We will probably still have to supplement it with store-bought soil. Ugh, more drama and more money spent. I hope we can get it right next year. Meanwhile, we will go pick up some chicken manure to help make the soil we dig up more nutritious.

I know that we learn from our mistakes, but it is frustrating when I do so much research and planning, and my mistakes are all soil related. I guess that isn't so bad, but really, what can you do with out good soil? How much compost can only two people make? Besides, until I start getting food from the garden, there won't be much of any compost at all since we are eating canned and frozen veggies. There aren't any scraps to throw away.

This blog entry has been viewed 246 times

---

Snow in the forecast...

Category: Vegetable Gardening | Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 5:50 pm

---

Snow in the forecast, sprouts in my window.

Still having trouble taking this down...


( photo / image / picture from Beeker's Garden )


I wonder why...


This blog entry has been viewed 266 times

---

Sprouts!

Category: Vegetable Gardening | Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 5:06 pm

---

Everything is sprouting except the peppers, eggplant, and watermelon. I took the covers off the sprouted ones and placed them in the front window, where they will get plenty of light. It is a bit windy today, so I'm hoping it doesn't get too cool. I'm keeping an eye on them and turned my daytime heat in the house up to 65.




brand new sprout ( photo / image / picture from Beeker's Garden )






New sprouts in window ( photo / image / picture from Beeker's Garden )


I placed the three sleepy-heads on top of the light to get a little more warmth for about a half-hour, then put them back on the tank itself. I didn't want the seeds to get too warm. That should have done the trick this time.



Wake up! ( photo / image / picture from Beeker's Garden )


Wow. I have to clean that algae! My snails are not doing their jobs! Like I said, a green thumb inside, brown outside. I hope all goes well this coming season.



Sleepy heads with my fish. ( photo / image / picture from Beeker's Garden )


Update:
Since taking this picture, I have reprimanded my snails for not doing their jobs and cleaned the algae myself.
It's just so difficult to find good help nowadays!


Last edited: Sun Mar 16, 2014 12:50 am

This blog entry has been viewed 299 times

---

Day 1: 3 weeks later than planned

Category: Vegetable Gardening | Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:11 pm

---

Ha.
So much for wanting to start my seeds last month!
Saturday, as in, this past Saturday. 3 weeks later.

Oh well.

I'm off to a rough start.
Sprained my ankle, so I couldn't very well be walking all over to get stuff together and then standing in the basement working on it. I'm getting a bit better now, so I made the trip to the store to get a heat mat and grow light. Nothing.
Thankfully, they had seed starting soil.
So, I planted my seeds in my little makeshift
mini-greenhouses (egg cartons in plastic chinese food containers) while I did the laundry. Then placed them atop the dryer while I dried. Hopefully the heat from that helped wake them up. Now, since the laundry is done, I have them atop the fish tanks for light and warmth and switch them to the window during the brightest, warmest part of the day. I hope that will do the trick until I can get what I need.
I'll attach pictures when I can get them together.


Last edited: Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:12 pm

This blog entry has been viewed 257 times

---

First season was both better and worse than expected...

Category: Vegetable Gardening | Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2014 2:10 pm

---

First season was both better and worse than expected... yes, it is possible.
I moved into my new rent 2 years ago. For the first year, I watched the yard. I tried to find a spot that would get enough sun for a veggie garden. Living on a main road with neighbors that have many tall trees in their yards, it isn't easy to find a suitable spot far enough from the road that gets enough sun. My front yard is very sunny, but it is too close to the road. I did find one small spot on the side of the house that just made it. With help, the plot was marked, sod cut, soil tilled, and fence built. Everything looked beautiful. I had high hopes and expectations.
I started putting the plants in; 7 tomato plants (3 different types), 1, pepper plant, 6 baby spinach plants, 12 lettuce, 6 kohlrabi, 4 broccoli, 2 summer squash, 2 winter squash, 6 bush beans, 6 peas, 1 eggplant, and 1 watermelon. But they didn't do all that much. After about a month, I realized that I didn't do anything to amend the soil. No manure, or ferts of any kind. I ran to the store and found some dry organic ferts to rake into the soil. My hopes and expectations were dashed. There was improvement, but short-lived. After another month, I added another shot of ferts. I was holding steady. Everything but the peppers and broccoli were blossoming. The broccoli didn't sprout at all. The peppers never blossomed all season. I know the season was bad, but I see where I went wrong. I didn't get the harvest I was hoping for, but I did get enough to give a little away to friends and family. Considering the mistakes I made, I realize that I did do quite well.
This year, I hope will be different. I plan to do things differently. I plan to move the spinach, lettuce, peas, and beans to a different part of the yard that gets more shade. I plan to amend the soil in advance and move a few things around. We'll see how it goes.

This blog entry has been viewed 288 times

---

Goto page previous, 1, 2, 3, 4,

Home / Blogs / Beeker's Blog /