Keyhole Kitchen Garden, Rice Paddy, and Veg Garden Extension

[applestar]

Well, I've been busy!

Veg Garden Extension that I'd sheet mulched last fall is ready and fenced. Sowed some peas, swiss chard, mesclun mix, spinach, and broad beans so far.

The branches in the foreground is my neglected apple tree that I've been diligently pruning since late last summer. There is a 2' space between the branch-tip and the new bed. The floating-covered high bed is coddling some leaf lettuce started on a whim back in February, as well as some broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage, and carrot seedlings. (We had lows in the 20's for the last few nights, tonight's low of 25ºF should be the last -- hopefully, then lows should be hovering above freezing or just under). The 2' bed along the far fence was planted last fall with 2 sweet cherries to be fan espaliered, as well as garlic. Also planted day neutral strawberries and onions this spring.

Started a New Kitchen Garden right off the patio. It's a keyhole design 8' in diameter with 2'W bed and a strawberry jar in the middle. (approx 18" walk/work space) It's been fenced off with a 2'H green hex chickenwire fence since the photo was taken since the rabbits hop around the patio eating weeds that grows between the bricks.

This will be planted with all the family faves including day neutral and june strawberries in the jar, with the strict idea of being able to step out of the kitchen and get something for the meal without having to walk to the main Veg Garden. Starting with peas, lettuce, swiss chard, spinach, mesculun, carrots, radish, and onions. Also will plant broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, cucumber, bell peppers, beans, parsley and basil. Maybe expecting too much from a new bed, but will plan on continuous succession by alternating with legumes to plant fall crops as well, finally finishing with oats and clover.

Trying to grow rice this year. Here is my approx. 4'x4' paddy designed to collect water directly from the downspout:

I was only able to get Koshihikari seeds (150 days). Last year, we had a really hard freeze on Oct. 2. So waiting until 3rd week in May to plant is too much of a risk. I'm going to try sowing bare seeds and seedballs in early April and cover the whole bed with a floating cover. I'll also start some transplants for back up. I may have to fence this off later on as well since the rabbits supposedly LOVE rice greens.

BTW I saw the groundHOG! When I chased it, it ran through the hole it ripped in the bottom of the double-layer of plastic deer fence I'd rigged last year and to the back of the shed.
That's going to be ANOTHER major project....

[applestar]

My New Kitchen Garden is planted! The design naturally suggested 7 2'x2' blocks with pie-wedges in between.

Strawberry Jar in the middle with strawberries. I think I'll plant herbs or nasturtiums in the empty lower pockets until the upper ones start growing runners.


As you enter, to the left: Caraflex Cabbage/radish, 2xSummertime Icebergs/3xRedSails leaf/Magenta Batavia, Romanesco Cauliflower/Magenta


6xIndia Gold pole peas (no sprouts yet), YellowGranex onion seeds (no sprouts)/TinTin Baby Romaine


2xSummertimes/3xRedCross Butterheads/Magenta, 2xRedRobin onion seeds (no sprouts)/RedGlacier Summercrisp


5xPotatoes (no sprouts), 2xFukagawaBunching onion seeds (no sprouts)/RedGlacier


Mâche (no sprouts)/Rainbow SwissChard (no sprouts), SugarAnn Peas (a couple of sprouts)/TinTin


Carrots/Radish (several radish sprouts), SugarAnn Peas (a couple of sprouts)/TinTin


Spinach Bloomsdale (no sprouts), Caraflex/radish


... and back to the gate/walkway


Soooo excited! Can't wait for everything to grow, but, wow, those lettuce and cole starts sure make for instant gratification!

I haven't decided whether to leave the walkway grass or cardboard it and put down the sack of crushed oyster shells I got. I might just toss around some alfalfa, clover, etc. seeds and use what grows for green clipping mulch.

I intend to succession plant with tomatoes, pole & bush beans, red & yellow peppers. Possibly follow the potatoes with fast maturing sweet corn. Then keep pushing it with fall peas and cole crops and/or cover with oats and clover.

[cynthia_h]

that looks SSSOOOOO fabulous! Great pix!

I've got komatsuna seeds coming out of my ears (or they will be when the pods burst, probably next week). I'm sure they'd do well with the other greens in the keyhole garden.

These have been popularized in community projects in Africa, where the low water demand of the keyhole garden is a prime virtue/necessity, and a family garden is vital for children to get the vitamins and minerals they need.

If I had a space to put one here, I'd certainly give it a try!

Good luck with that ground (plant?) HOG.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[The Helpful Gardener]

Very nice AS! And launching into rice too. Very courageous, let us know how it goes.

This is a lovely example of how you can feed yourself with very little space; our garden is bigger and it still amazes me how much I have to give away, even when we are eating veggies breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Finding neighbors with other food stuffs is a good trade idea; our next door neighbor THINKS she is too old for a garden, but we let her take what she needs and we get fresh fish from her boyfriend Don, pretty regularly in return.

HG

[applestar]

I covered the rice paddy with a double layer of floating cover pinned down with ground staples to keep the area warm, but the rice seeds -- soaked for 48 hrs, dried overnight and direct seeded on March 30th -- show no sign of sprouting. I may have botched it by soaking first (which is the instruction usually given). Also, it's been rather cold -- finally some hot days last weekend, then cooler -- 50's today -- so they may yet sprout as the weather warms up. I didn't bother with seedballs because the spring rains have started and the rice paddy has been flooded almost every week -- the seedballs would've melted almost right away. But maybe I should have direct sowed unsoaked seeds instead .

I'm definitely sowing seedballs in late fall this year though (as well as underplanting with clover green manure fall planting barley or wheat) and I want to try growing rice M. Fukuoka's way, even though Koshihikari might not be the right variety.

As it is, my backup seeds started indoors on April 11th sprouted in 4 days and have been growing for a week -- they're now 1/2" ~ 1-1/2" tall. They are supposed to be ready to transplant 2 weeks after sprouting, so I guess I'm on track with my re-scheduled "taue" (rice planting) of May 3rd. (I decided I can use the floating cover to keep them protected and start early)

If it turns out to be anything like the way I planted extra Ping Tung Long eggplant seeds thinking they weren't sprouting -- I'll end up with more rice seedlings than I have room for. But I'd rather have the extras than not enough to make the planting window for the season.

BTW -- I've come up with another possible rice paddy location (not as much sun but the best I can manage in my small yard) so I'm going to try growing Carolina Gold Rice there. I pre-sprouted the seeds and started them inside today. The location is not as ideal since more than 1/2 of the water source there is from the neighbor's downspout and they have weed-free lawn But it only seeps past their narrow (about 8 feet wide) side yard, and I have dead nettle, clover, dandelion, and bitter cress growing in the area so hopefully it will be OK. It'll be in company with the Winterberry hollies, expanding this native wetland flora corner.

Technically, the Koshihikari -- a variety developed in northern Japan -- should be more suited to the new location in the NE corner of my property, and the Carolina Gold is probably more suited to the primo rice paddy location in the SW shelter of the house, but I'll see how they grow this year. Hopefully, they're sufficiently separated that the seeds will come true.

[applestar]

Planted the backup Koshihikari transplants on Wednesday (5/6). There's forecast for 45ºF overnight on Sunday, but the starts were getting too big for their little egg carton containers (the ones in the berry container were doing much better). The soda bottle and the strings holds up the floating cover above the taller transplants.


I had a hard time planting the transplants because there were some direct seeded rice that were growing in the paddy (You can see a little DS seedling just under the blue string) I didn't want to move them since that would defeat the purpose of direct seeding, so my rice are scattered rather than growing in nice tidy rows. I did try to keep to 12" spacing. I soon ran out of space and planted some along the edges where it wasn't under water. We'll see how they grow.


When there was absolutely no more room, I planted some in ceramic pot covers, and one little left over in a pint deli container. Obviously, some of these containers are too small -- I'll have to move them to bigger containers later. After the discussion on plastic containers, I don''t know what to use! Now I'm a bit concerned about lead in the glazing too I'll have to get a lead tester -- anyone know a good source?


Here's my egg carton of Carolina Gold -- Koshihikari is getting the preferential treatment I still have to prep the area by the Winterberries for these guys.... I did plant one in the butter-colored ceramic pot above. I worried about the yellow-green color and kept feeding them compost tea until it occurred to me that this may be why they're called "Gold"....


If anyone's interested, here's a Japanese photo-blog of a family rice farm. They use what's called "He-no-ji" Rice Growing Technique -- no fertilizer at planting time and wide inter-plant spacing. The rice grows slower and produces less clumps initially but doesn't run out of energy and doesn't get overcrowded. The blog makes comparison with a neighbor's conventionally grown rice paddy (on the left) through the growing season.
http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~hyakusyo/fo ... itou1.html

[applestar]

Koshihikari have been growing well. There was just one thing.... Take a look at this photo:

Do you see them? Do you see the plants that are red at the base of the stems?
I KNEW the all-green ones were koshihikari, but I had some doubts about the red ones. But no matter how many times I looked, I didn't see any difference except the color at the base of the stems. Here's a comparison photo:


Well, what do you think? Do you see any difference?

It bothered me.... until FINALLY, I decided to go on-line search. Today, I came across references in some Japanese sites. I turns out that those red-stemmed ones ARE impostors. They're a kind of millet or barnyard grass (Echinochloa spp.)

Here is a photo of the Carolina Gold paddy. Unfortunately, CG didn't get the coddling that Koshihikari got, with the floating cover protection in the earlier weeks. Added to that the unexpected frost and cool spring we've had and I only have 6 plants +1 in a pot left. This area has been designated Native Bog/Rain Garden. I'll be planting more edge plants here. Right now, there is a water forget-me-not in there as well as a Sarracenea and the pots of arrowleaf arum and a Eupatoreum. I let DD talk me into buying the forget-me-not without knowing anything about it -- turns out it's NOT native. AND invasive Fortunately, the paddy is a tad deeper than it likes in the middle and it's struggling. I have a couple of cranberries cuttings that I plan to move there, and I want to get a native water iris.


I put 6 goldfish, 4 minnows, and 2 tadpoles in there to control the mosquito larvae. A beautiful green dragonfly was on the wire fence yesterday morning. Same fauna in the Koshihikari paddy. This morning, I saw a pair of eyeballs sticking up out of the water there, so maybe a tadpole has matured into a frog.

[applestar]

A few photos from the New Kitchen Garden. I'm using the enclosure to keep potted plants and starts so it's a bit messy. I also have to transition the whole garden from the spring cool weather crops to the summer crops.

Here are some strawberries in the jar:


Finished broccoli.

With the hot weather coming, I harvested the leaves of one broccoli plant to be used like collards and planted a Stevia plant in its place since the front part of the garden is shaded by the house after 5 o'clock. In the back, a grey and a white ceramic container hold Koshihikari rice plants, butter yellow container holds a Carolina Gold rice. There's a fish in each container.

When I removed one of the broccoli plants, I found to my pleasure that the lavender cuttings that I stuck around it had mostly rooted -- 3 here and 2 more elsewhere:

Here's my first green pepper:

A red Swiss Chard planted under cukes and pole beans:

[cynthia_h]

Wow. It's absolutely beautiful, verdant, happy, lush, prosperous--all those Edenic adjectives that English contains.

My Japanese is sooooo elementary....oishi desu?

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[applestar]

Thank you, Cynthia

Mmm... "oishii desu" would be "It's delicious," so maybe "oishiso desu" -- "Looks delicious" ?

[applestar]

Here are some latest photos of the New Kitchen Garden and the Rice Paddy areas:

New Kitchen Garden:
Do you like my pole pea/bean/cuke support? It's 4 bamboo poles topped with a couple of putty colored flexible pvc tubing. Using a one size smaller diam stiff black fountain tubing inside provided just enough structure to make the arched shape. Don't know what to do with the sad looking Marvel of Venice pole beans. I did sow some pole pea and pole bean seeds in the empty space so I'll probably take them down when the new plants come up.


This paddy is planted with Carolina Gold Rice, with Winterberry holly in the back, Daylilies and Sweet Autumn Clematis by the fence corner, Hibiscus moscheutos, and Eupatorium purpureum in the back, and Arrowleaf arum grown from seeds collected at a Cranberry Harvest tour on the right edge. (Letting other weeds grow along the fence for the time being The taller grass along the left side fence are native Witchgrass, I'm pretty sure the tall weed is Evening Primrose, and there are some that I think are Lady's Thumbprint....)


Koshihikari Paddy: Those weeds I mentioned earlier are starting to seed. I'll have to collect them before they scatter. Those two or three are in the center of the paddy and I can't pull them out
Planted melons in the front as planned. Have planted edamame in the near mounds and peanuts in the left side and far mounds. Significantly reduced the size of the existing spearmint patches on the right and near left, but the bees, wasps, butterflies, and hummers LOVE the flowers, so I don't want to reduce any more than this. You can also see the zukes and squashes along the house on the other side of the path.

[cynthia_h]

Oishiso desu! Pulcherissima!

Cynthia

[cherlynn]

Everything looks Wonderful!

[Zofiava]

You are my hero!

[applestar]

THE RICE is ... is ... oh, I don't know WHAT it's called but it's starting to make rice grains -- sheaf(?)!

These are Koshihikari Rice:


Here's the whole paddy area:
From Left - Crookneck and Zucchini, Peanuts on top of the mound, Far Left is Spearmint patch with a Peach tree beyond, Near Right is a clump of Tansy, Far Right are some Edamame then the Melon patch


This is the angle you've seen before, with the Melons in the front, then some Edamame, then the Rice. One Okra plant next to the window as mentioned elsewhere, just barely staying above the Squash and Zuke which are trying to invade the rice paddy. (I had to cut a few leaves that were reaching over the peanuts this morning. Do you recall that I said there was -- used to be -- a path here in the last entry? Well, not any more! ) There's a melon vine that, unnoticed by me, has grown into the middle of the rice paddy. No way to reach it now


Here are some melons. These are Charentais, but there should be Honeydew and Asian melon called Tigger in there as well:

Gave the melons and the squash/zuke a 10% milk spray this morning. Squash and Zukes are getting powdery mildew, the melons are being beset by striped cuke beetles, not to mention the crowded condition.