My Garden is planted!

[tedln]

I finished planting my garden today with the exception of the heirloom tomatoes which are about ten days from being planted. I reworked the soil in my beds this past winter. They now consist of about 50% soil and 50% composted sawdust and horse manure. I was concerned about putting so much sawdust in the soil because of the possibility of depleting nitrogen as the wood decomposed. The beds have a very active worm population and the plants that are growing are doing very well.

This is the garden as it looks to me. Very small in other words. I will need to expand it for the fall garden or next springs garden.


This is what one of the hoop beds I made from pvc pipe and tulle netting looks like. Very easy and very simple to make and it should keep the vine borers off my squash plants when they germinate and grow. The "Texas Super Sweet Onions" are doing well in the bed and should grow really large.


This is my garlic which was planted last fall. Some of the leaves are 36" tall. This bed will also hold my Bell peppers, yard long green beans, and Prudens Purple heirloom tomatoes.


This is my new bed which currently holds more onions, the hybrid tomatoes I planted today, and jalapeno peppers. It will also hold the heirloom tomatoes when I plant them.



This is my cucumber bed/trellis. The cukes are planted, but haven't sprouted. You can see the Romaine lettuce I planted last fall, but didn't grow more than three inches all winter. In about two weeks, it is has grown to almost twelve inches tall. This is a miniature variety called "Little Ceaser". The opposite end of the bed has been planted with a full size variety, but the plants are tiny.



Lets see your garden.

Ted

[applestar]

Looking great! Very tidy and everything growing well and so much farther along. (Feeling the chill today -- only mid 40's with low 20's in the forecast for tonight)

I really like the idea of the cuke trellis, but I have a question -- how do you harvest the lettuce in the middle? Do you crawl under the trellis? Maybe I don't have the scale correct because I thought you said before that the mesh is large enough for you to reach inside. (Trying to mentally adjust for 12" Romaines... ) Also, do you continue to grow things underneath after the cukes really get lush -- I'm supposing the fruits hang inside.

[tedln]

Looking great! Very tidy and everything growing well and so much farther along. (Feeling the chill today -- only mid 40's with low 20's in the forecast for tonight)

I really like the idea of the cuke trellis, but I have a question -- how do you harvest the lettuce in the middle? Do you crawl under the trellis? Maybe I don't have the scale correct because I thought you said before that the mesh is large enough for you to reach inside. (Trying to mentally adjust for 12" Romaines... ) Also, do you continue to grow things underneath after the cukes really get lush -- I'm supposing the fruits hang inside.

I'm a big guy with long arms. I also cut some larger holes in the fencing in strategic points which allow me to reach both the lettuce and the hanging cucumbers. It really isn't a long reach to the center of the bed and it can be accessed from both sides. We will eat lettuce for a few months. The soil under the trellis will lay fallow during the hottest part of the summer and be replanted in the fall. The covering shade of the cucumbers is simply to dense for most plants to grow at that point. The midsummer heat, even in the shade; is also restrictive to growth of most plants.

Ted

[newb]

here's what my garden looks like!!!!!!

not very impressive looking. yet.
first year trying to grow vegetables so it consists of a limited variety and limited size. hope you enjoy.

[tn_veggie_gardner]

ted: Awesome! Love the hoop houses. =)

[GardenJester]

must be so nice living so far south with such a long growing season. I woke up with snow on the ground this morning.

[RyanDe680]

Ted, awesome looking. I love the hoop houses, great job on them.

[Joyfirst]

Thank you guys for sharing your pictures. I looooove watching garden photos.

[Duh_Vinci]

Looks great, well organized!

I can only wish I could start something right now, but reality - at least 2 more weeks for the early veggies, 27F tonight!

Happy gardening and bountiful harvest to you!

Regards,
D

[jal_ut]

Lookin Good. You are way ahead of me. It is still snowing here.

[Ozark Lady]

Not much in the garden here, the heat is on both here and in the seed starting area!

No hoop houses up for early starts!

[tedln]

newb,

I love your garden. It looks great. I especially like the hay mulch you are using.

Are you watching those young squash pretty close? I am envious about the squash. They typically symbolize the beginning of harvest to me. I made a mistake with my yellow squash last spring and didn't check to see if any pollinators like bees were out yet. I lost a lot of my early season squash simply because I didn't hand pollinate it. Remember the squash plants put the little squash on like yours before the bloom opens and pollination can occur. If it isn't pollinated, the little squash simply shrivels and drops from the vine.

Thanks everyone, the fun has begun.

Ted

[tedln]

Lookin Good. You are way ahead of me. It is still snowing here.

I had eight inches of snow last weekend. It had all melted by Saturday afternoon. We will get close to eighty degrees next week.

Ted

[gixxerific]

Looking great Ted way ahead of me. It is still kinda cold here as well, supposed to be uper 70's middle of next week. Hopefully the stuff Ihave in the ground now will take off with more platned this weekend.

Doing great bro plus you are giving the rest of us hope that winter may be behind us.

[newb]

ya i definately have been watching the squash closely, i like to check the garden a couple times a day because im anxious too see my plants growing. i grew the majority of plants i have from seeds so i have a special bond with them. lol. haven't seen many bees around lately but will definately hand pollinate if need be....plan to get some flowers in the garden too, to help attract bees and maybe repel some unwanted pests. i hope to keep everyone posted on the garden is doing throughout the season. im excited!!!

[Ozark Lady]

I love the green on all the photos!

I didn't know that about squash! I just knew looks like gonna be alot of squash, then there isn't. I figured that I did something wrong, somewhere. I have only grown cucurbits: melons, squash and cucumbers once or twice. They did poorly so I didn't try them again.

I had beetles attack them badly, and couldn't seem to get rid of them.

[wolfie]

Absolutely gorgeous laid out spectacularly!!

Its 30 degrees here : (

[tedln]

Thanks Everyone.

Ozark Lady,

I really should plant some bee attracting flowers but I haven't. Last year I stopped hand pollinating when I saw a couple of bees doing the same thing. I shouldn't have stopped because they only did a half good job. One week later, I probably had 100 bees at a time, every day. They were so loud with their buzzing I was wondering if I need to wear ear protection. Everything was getting well pollinated. Even had a lot of bumble bees working the tomatoes. In the fall, when everything was blooming again in the cooler weather, very few pollinators showed up and I had to do the work again.

Ted

[tedln]

Looking great! Very tidy and everything growing well and so much farther along. (Feeling the chill today -- only mid 40's with low 20's in the forecast for tonight)

I really like the idea of the cuke trellis, but I have a question -- how do you harvest the lettuce in the middle? Do you crawl under the trellis? Maybe I don't have the scale correct because I thought you said before that the mesh is large enough for you to reach inside. (Trying to mentally adjust for 12" Romaines... ) Also, do you continue to grow things underneath after the cukes really get lush -- I'm supposing the fruits hang inside.

I've been thinking about what you said. Since I've not grown Romaine before, is 12" tall plants normal or abnormal. The variety in the picture (Little Caesar) is only supposed to be 1/2 as tall as the full sized which I have planted on the other end of the bed.

While the bed doesn't look to have much lettuce in it, it will last quite awhile. The correct way to plant the seed is to space it to give about 8" of space between plants. I plant so the plants are very thick. Some plants crowd the others for space growing quite large. When I harvest the larger plants, it allows light to hit the smaller plants underneath and they then grow large. It becomes a never ending production until it simply gets to hot for the lettuce to continue growing. By the time that happens the cucumbers will have totally covered the trellis and no light can penetrate. I then just wait to plant the fall crop. I learned that from the leaf lettuce I grew last year.

Ted

[AndrewH_TX]

Looks like a wonderful start this year!

What exactly are the hoops used for (kinna obvious, but want to ask instead of "assume").

Here's the start of mine
http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... hp?t=23159

[tedln]

Looks like a wonderful start this year!

What exactly are the hoops used for (kinna obvious, but want to ask instead of "assume").

Here's the start of mine
http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... hp?t=23159

Andrew,

Squash Vine Borers are a major insect pest of gardens with squash. The hoops are intended to prevent the borers from getting to the plants and laying their eggs.

They serve the double purpose of mini green houses in the winter if you replace the netting with clear plastic.

Ted

[AndrewH_TX]

Ah, pest control and mini-greenhouse.

I thought greenhouse, but also though trellis.

Thanks for the info!

[tedln]

ya i definately have been watching the squash closely, im excited!!!

It may not matter. I didn't see any male blooms in your photos. Even with squash, it takes two to tango.

Ted

[mrsgreenthumbs]

Ohh Ohh I'm SO gonna go snap some pic's this evening and post tomorrow!