Garden Friday

It's Garden Friday again

and we've had a busy week changing things up in the garden.

 For one thing,

it was time to dismantle the straw bales.

They had been used to grow veg over the last year,

and they will now be utilized to create the foundation

for our raised rows.

As the bales were taken apart,

it was obvious that they were teeming with life.

 With the bales gone, there was more room to create the raised rows.

This is a method used by Jim and Mary at Old World Garden Farms,

(where I've gotten a ton of great ideas),

and I've been wanting to give it a try.

The straw is the first element needed.

On top of this will be a layer of soil,

and then a top layer of mulch.

The rows are tapered from the center out

and because there is ample room to move around the beds,

there is no need to walk on the rows.

You can find out more about this method on their blog,

or in their fantastic book, Raised Row Gardening. 

The book is so easy to understand and has helpful pictures to guide you.

Answering an ad on Next Door about free moving boxes paid off big time! 

I was able to acquire enough boxes to complete the framing of the garden.

The next step will be to add mulch.

This spring, I hope to add a rectangular raised bed to the area in the foreground.

I'm thinking of adding arches all the way down the right side

on which to grow flowers, beans, gourds, and melons.

More flowers will be incorporated into the main garden area as well,

to encourage pollinators to spend time in the garden.

 A short update on what's growing now shows 

that the tomato leaves have been curling.

From what I can tell,

it means that watering has not been sufficient.

I take full responsibility, as I am watering by hand

with no proper irrigation in place,

and let's just say, I haven't kept up with it as I should have.

Mother Nature hasn't been too helpful either,

with rain being scarce this summer.

Drip irrigation will be in place in a few weeks,

so that the garden should not be lacking in the future.

 What's wrong with this picture?

My timing was perfect as I watered the maters

and spied this critter trying to duck and cover.

Sometimes I wish for chickens, just to make use of these stinkers.

The tomatoes are still looking good,

despite my lax watering.

The first tomato I picked was water-logged.

Another was harvested just yesterday and left to ripen on the windowsill.

It fills my heart with joy to know that God and I created this together.

This is without a doubt, the best looking crop of tomatoes I've ever grown.

It makes me think that I actually might know what I'm doing!

Home-grown tomatoes=Life is Good.

This is my carrot bin.

See the carrots?

You know why you don't see the carrots?

The bunnies ate all the tops!

Needless to say,

it will be replanted and placed atop some pots

so that they will not get a second chance to pilfer them.

Thankfully, it's early enough that I can easily grow another crop

(probably more than one).

 These poor, bedraggled things.

When I had to remove the straw bales,

these were growing in them.

So, I scooped up the straw and placed them in these pots.

Despite the move, the eggplant and peppers are still producing.

Isn't Nature amazing?

One crop that has been a breeze to grow

is our teepee of sweet potatoes.

Although you may note holes in the leaves,

they are not deterred and continue to sprawl up and over the bins.

Yesterday we showed you our hugelkultur bed.

While we await delivery of our soil to fill it,

we went ahead and topped off the logs and twigs with leaves.

The soil will go directly on top of that,

and then we can start planting.

The trellis was added to the north and west sides

to accommodate the snap peas we hope to grow there.

The wire mesh was acquired for free on Next Door a few months back.

The rest of this bed will be filled with 

beets, broccoli, kale, lettuce and spinach.

This bed gets full sun in the morning

and a bit of shade in the afternoon.

Hopefully, our fall crops will appreciate the location. 

 The conduit was driven into the ground, (no easy task), to support the wire frame

and these recycled tie wraps (from storebought kale) lended reinforcement.

I try to use what I have on hand.

My farmer friend in Florida, Lynn,

was talking to me last week about growing mushrooms.

He sure was right when he said that our conditions 

should be perfect for developing fungi.

I'm still thinking about adding it to the mix,

but need to think on it awhile.

This sucker was as big as my hand,

just growing along the woods behind the house.

There may be fungi in our future, who knows?

What's going on in your garden as summer's end draws near?