SQWIB
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Wicking Beds for Deck

Earlier this year I did a test garden on my deck to see if it was worth making something a little more "semi-permanent".

And as usual, the garden got away from me, anyhow I considered this a success, so I decided to move forward.
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I decided on putting in wicking beds and as usual, over engineered the whole process.
I don't have the patience or time to post everything here since Google sites is screwing me up badly, so I will post a link to the entire build, on my build page you will find Links to supplies and build measurements as well as how it was assembled.

https://sites.google.com/view/sqwibs-wicking-beds/home

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We have been eating Bok Choy like crazy.

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I was very happy with the results and will need some advice but first let me explain what my intention are

The Bok Choy was a fall planting test and it worked great, in the spring I will be doing Bok Choy, Spinach and Snow Peas.
after the Bok Choy, Spinach and Snow Peas I would like to grow a summer crop, Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Pickling Cucumbers a few Jimmy Nardellos, basil and dill. In the fall I will be going back to Bok Choy and Spinach


I want to plant items that we use often as it's right outside the kitchen.

I'm looking for low profile vegetable plants, the Jimmy Nardellos are a manageable size so I am ok with them, Cucumbers can grow in the back on a trellis and will take up very little room so they're ok.
For the tomatoes I was thinking maybe F-1 Totem? And growing them in the front.
Not sure what to do about the bell peppers. I see a lot of Miniature bell peppers but the fruit is so small. I could grow Lipstick Peppers but prefer a pepper like the Emerald Giant for taste. The peppers would be in back of the tomatoes if I grow something small like the totem
Could I prune the pepper plants and keep then small without losing fruit.
The herbs I can plant towards the outside back, stuff like basil can be pruned viciously.

Any Ideas, Comments Suggestions?


please comment so I can come up with a game plan for spring.

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Gary350
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SQWIB wrote:
Tue Dec 22, 2020 9:34 am

Not sure what to do about the bell peppers. I see a lot of Miniature bell peppers but the fruit is so small. I could grow Lipstick Peppers but prefer a pepper like the Emerald Giant for taste. The peppers would be in back of the tomatoes if I grow something small like the totem
Could I prune the pepper plants and keep then small without losing fruit.
The herbs I can plant towards the outside back, stuff like basil can be pruned viciously.

Any Ideas, Comments Suggestions?


please comment so I can come up with a game plan for spring.
Try growing Big Bertha sweet green bell peppers, plants are about 5 ft tall and load up with about 40 BIG peppers about 4" diameter 6" long each. They have very good flavor. They should grow good in 5 gallon buckets with a tomato cage or stake to hold plants up. 5-20-20 is the best fertilizer. Too much nitrogen you get 7" tall plants with less peppers. Potassium & calcium will give you lots of blossoms that will all become large peppers with no BER. Let ripe peppers stay on the plants they turn Red color in 4 to 5 weeks. If you harvest ripe green peppers they turn Red color sooner inside the house about 2 to 3 weeks. We put 6 one gallon bags of sliced peppers in zip lock freezer bags. My plants load up with so many heavy peppers it breaks off the limbs if I don't tie limbs up. I bought a 1000 ft roll of hay bale twine $8 at Farmers Co-op to tie up plants.

SQWIB
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Gary350 wrote:
Sun Mar 07, 2021 11:01 am


Try growing Big Bertha sweet green bell peppers, plants are about 5 ft tall and load up with about 40 BIG peppers about 4" diameter 6" long each. They have very good flavor. They should grow good in 5 gallon buckets with a tomato cage or stake to hold plants up. 5-20-20 is the best fertilizer. Too much nitrogen you get 7" tall plants with less peppers. Potassium & calcium will give you lots of blossoms that will all become large peppers with no BER. Let ripe peppers stay on the plants they turn Red color in 4 to 5 weeks. If you harvest ripe green peppers they turn Red color sooner inside the house about 2 to 3 weeks. We put 6 one gallon bags of sliced peppers in zip lock freezer bags. My plants load up with so many heavy peppers it breaks off the limbs if I don't tie limbs up. I bought a 1000 ft roll of hay bale twine $8 at Farmers Co-op to tie up plants.
Thank you

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applestar
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Bump. — What are you growing in these now @SQWIB?

SQWIB
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applestar wrote:
Wed May 12, 2021 6:48 am
Bump. — What are you growing in these now @SQWIB?

.
My Early Spring Crop is Bok Choy, Lettuce and Spinach.

This garden has helped me lose 18 pounds so far, I have been eating a lot of Bok Choy, almost every other day. 2 heads is usually enough for 3-4 people as a side.
The challenge for growing three crops in one year is fertilizing and shading (timing).

I planted my summer crop in with the greens on April 24th and they barely get any sun, I have been trying to harvest the greens that are blocking the summer crops first but we can't eat the stuff quick enough.

My wife and daughter have been taking Romaine for lunches at work, I have been using the Romaine for tuna, egg salad and chicken salad wraps, and of course salads (Laura blanches and refrigerates some Blue Curled Scotch Kale to add to the salads)
So far my favorite is Spinach, Feta and grilled chicken wrap! I brutally harvest the spinach once a week.

They're tired of the Bok Choy but I'm still eating it (Ginger, Olive oil, garlic, sesame oil and soy sauce)
Another issue is the fertilizing I really can't fertilize for the summer crop with the greens still in there.

The summer crops are a few of our favorites, Dill, Tomato, Eggplant, green peppers and Jimmy Nardellos, I also tossed in a couple hots for me, Hungarian wax and Jalapeno.
I was going to plant a few snow peas and cucumber in the back but I decided to wait and try that another time.

If I had my way, I would convert about half the deck into wicking beds and plant mostly fruit tree's and perennials in the yard .

So basically I have had great success in the Fall and Spring, time will tell how it does for my summer crops.
I think a lot of the success for my spring crop is due to the weather, it has been very mild, it's the first time I can remember us actually having a spring. I will be planting the spring crop 2 weeks earlier next spring.

This fall will be the same crops as the spring crops with the addition of Tatsoi

The dates on the Photos are from Seed Sowing indoors and not from planting.


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Gary350
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Here is some interesting information about loosing weight.

My son is loosing 13 lbs every month by cooking a piece of meat to make broth to cook Korean Tofu noodles in. Noodles are 70% fiber it makes him fill full so he only eats 2 meals every day. He uses soy sauce, oyster sauce, & other things to flavor the broth. Look at attached pictures.

Woman we know lost 80 lbs this winter by cutting out carbohydrates. She said, I eat all the same things if have always eaten I just stopped eating 90% of the carbs I use to eat.

My 70 yr old cousin tried many things to loose weight with no luck. He signed up to be a tooter in China 1 year to teach students how to pronounce American words. Students can learn to spell our words but can not learn from books how we pronounce those words. They paid him to live in China 1 year it was a 1 year free vacation for him with & apartment. He said, in china they use meat to make broth to eat with noodles & vegetables. He lost 115 lbs in 1 year he pigged out on all their food he wanted.

I started drinking diet drinks instead of sugar drinks to loose weight and gained 30 lbs in 6 months. I stopped drinking diet drinks it took 1 year to loose that 30 lbs. I stopped drinking all sugar drinks, and cut way back on sugar and started loosing 10 lbs every month. Now I have leveled off its time for me to do something different to loose more weight. I am going to try Korean Tofu noodles with meat & vegetables carbs are very low.
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SQWIB
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Gary350 wrote:
Wed May 12, 2021 11:13 am
Here is some interesting information about loosing weight.

My son is loosing 13 lbs every month by cooking a piece of meat to make broth to cook Korean Tofu noodles in. Noodles are 70% fiber it makes him fill full so he only eats 2 meals every day. He uses soy sauce, oyster sauce, & other things to flavor the broth. Look at attached pictures.

Woman we know lost 80 lbs this winter by cutting out carbohydrates. She said, I eat all the same things if have always eaten I just stopped eating 90% of the carbs I use to eat.

My 70 yr old cousin tried many things to loose weight with no luck. He signed up to be a tooter in China 1 year to teach students how to pronounce American words. Students can learn to spell our words but can not learn from books how we pronounce those words. They paid him to live in China 1 year it was a 1 year free vacation for him with & apartment. He said, in china they use meat to make broth to eat with noodles & vegetables. He lost 115 lbs in 1 year he pigged out on all their food he wanted.

I started drinking diet drinks instead of sugar drinks to loose weight and gained 30 lbs in 6 months. I stopped drinking diet drinks it took 1 year to loose that 30 lbs. I stopped drinking all sugar drinks, and cut way back on sugar and started loosing 10 lbs every month. Now I have leveled off its time for me to do something different to loose more weight. I am going to try Korean Tofu noodles with meat & vegetables carbs are very low.
That is awesome, thanks for sharing and congrats on the weight loss.

I quit drinking (beer) about 6 months ago (weekend warrior) and I gained at least 10 pounds.
My wake up call was when I blew out my knee and had issues getting up the steps and I said enough is enough!!!
My metabolism responds to carbs so I cut out all my whites, breads, sodas, "Most" of my grains and "most" of my sugars (I still have some refined sugar in my coffee and a bit of chocolate every once in a while)

I substituted fruits for my sweets, and it has become quite an expense.(C'mon apples grow dammit)
When everyone is having ice cream, I make myself a banana strawberry ice cream for a treat.

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I've been toying around with some recipes to satisfy my cravings without the flour and breads.
I still eat grains but sparingly.

I cut down my portions a bit and try to offset with fruits and vegetables.
Pizza cravings... I'll eat a few pieces of a Cauliflower crust pizza.
Hoagie Cravings... ditch the roll.

The only thing I miss is Bread (roll and butter) (bagel with cream cheese), Oh and if someone walked in with soft pretzels, I would have a heart attack!
If I can drop another 20 or so, I'll incorporate Rye Bread into my "Menu"

I do miss my Spaghetti's and Meatballs. Zoodles (Zuchinni) are OK in a pinch but I'm going to try Shirataki Noodles (Konjac Noodles).

So far this has been one of my favorite recipes, but due to the sugar, (yes I need to top my pancakes with syrup or jelly), I eat every once in a while..

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BANANA OATMEAL PANCAKE
  • 2 ripe bananas (about 10 ounces)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 pkg Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal (has a lot of sugar)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 pinch of kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
Topped with homemade Grape Jelly from the garden (again a lot of sugar)
I will be trying this recipe with Chia Eggs because my wife and daughter are egg intolerant.

So far this has been working for me and I'm hoping that I can get to the point where this is a lifestyle change and not a diet. I believe that if I deprive myself too much, I'll revert back to my old eating habits.

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Gary350
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Last year I made several pint jars of Blackberry Jam.
Last edited by Gary350 on Fri May 14, 2021 10:07 am, edited 2 times in total.

imafan26
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Those beds look great and so productive. I have similar problems. I only grow a few of one thing, but I grow many things. Unfortunately, I also have a timing problem. I grow 10 heads of lettuce and I cannot eat them all before they bolt. I can eat all of the beets and bok choy I grow in one or two harvests, but cucumber will produce many cucumbers over 6 weeks, tomatoes come in all at one time. I plant most of my garden at the same time so even if I plant a little of this and that, they are all ready at the same time and I cannot get to them all.

I like to keep some cut and come again vegetables and herbs going. Herbs can stay in the garden a long time and they are so much better fresh.

I live in a tropical climate so I grow substitutes that will handle the heat better. Sweet potato, (you can eat the leaves as a spinach substitute, as well as the tubers. Don't eat too many leaves or the tubers will be small. (90-120 days to maturity), Long beans and pole beans in summer. I have also grown bush beans but they give beans all at once and I only want a few at a time for stir fries. Eggplant (not a popular thing in the mainland, but it produces tons of fruit and there are a lot of Asian recipes that use it.) I grow it in a pot and it is perennial so it does live over. In the ground it can live more than 8 years but it loses productivity so I usually replace it after about 3 years. Squash, ( the large gourds need 50 feet of sprawling space or a fence) the shorter butternut and kabocha have smaller vines that can be trained vertically. NZ hot weather spinach, Cucumbers I have to replant about every 4 weeks for a continuous supply. Kale is a perennial for me but it tastes sweeter in cooler weather. In summer it is better in smoothies or cooking since it will be bitter. Swiss chard (cut and come again), Komatsuna ( plant in fall and will last until June if you cut and come again or you can harvest it young)

I can only grow TYLCV tomatoes now and all except one are determinate and I can grow them year round. I can grow beets year round as well. I am growing okra in a container for the first time this year. I will see how that goes. I am even getting some regrowth salad bowl lettuce. I have better luck with hot peppers than bell peppers. I have grown anaheim, carmen, hungarian wax, Fushimi sweet, and Corno d' toro. I have other peppers but these are the mildest. Superchili and Thai peppers are very big plants and long lived.

Herbs like green onions are cut and come again ans some of mine are over 2 years old. I do have to plant new ones because the tops get very big and tough so they are not good for ramen or garnishes, but they are good added in cooked dishes or cooked like leeks.

The best bell peppers have been Emerald Giant, Chinese Giant, and The right stuff. I keep trying new ones because while Emerald and Chinese giant give me the largest peppers they get bacterial spot and don't last long. The Right Stuff has been more disease resistant but struggles and is small.

SQWIB
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Just a quick update.

Stained the Beds
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Harvested some Spinach and Romaine for a salad and wraps.
I noticed some of the larger "top" spinach leaves were getting Sun Scald, I also noticed some very tiny white clusters of eggs on the underside of a few leaves that were a tad tough to remove.

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This morning picked some Bok Choy for one of Laura's Coworkers.

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And what did I say in an earlier post?
As I sit down to eat my salad, my daughter puts this on the dinner table in front of me.
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Yep I jinxed myself, then to make it even worse, Laura walks in with one too, I'm like you guys really don't like me.
Soft Pretzels are my Kryptonite but I persevered.

Well... I guess I'm my worst enemy, I got rid of a lot of Booze and The Beer Meister and put in a Snack Shack, lol.

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imafan26
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Can I come live with you? I love everything.

SQWIB
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imafan26 wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 8:30 pm
Can I come live with you? I love everything.
I was gonna ask you the same thing.

SQWIB
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Update on the wicking beds.

I'm getting about a week out of the reservoirs in the hottest days with the garden going full throttle.
Production in the wicking beds have been phenomenal.

I'll pick pick up where I left off in starting in June.


June 8th


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June 19th

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June 27th

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June 30th

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SQWIB
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July is when I was really impressed.
I terminated the tomato plant on the right bed at the end of July because it was struggling with some fungus or something, however, I did get some production from it.
I will be careful on what type of tomato plant to put in the bed next time and limit it to only one tomato plant, probably a semi determinate, something that gets to about 4'.

I can't tell you how impressed I have been with the Black Beauty Eggplant Plant I harvested around 4 this month and the plant is still loaded.

The main reason I build these was to have a variety of vegetables and herbs right by the kitchen so Laura could go out and grab whatever she needs on a daily basis for cooking and I would do the larger harvests every few day.

I like to try and pick the eggplants a bit small so they're not too seedy but I can't keep up with them and to be honest they haven't been too seedy for some odd reason.


July 3rd

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July 17th

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July 24th

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July 31st

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SQWIB
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If I remember, lol, I'll come back and Update August in September but for now here is a video on my Jimmy Nardello harvest and cook from the weekend.






And a video on the wicking bed Build.




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