Signs of life

The seeds, both inside and out, are showing signs of life today!  Indoors (if I haven't messed up my seed-tracking) the basil and catnip are sprouting.  Apparently leaving the seed tray over the pilot light for my range is working well.  Outside, my first lettuce square has sprouted lots of little seed-leaves that weren't there this morning.  Hurray!!!  First plants from seeds in Virginia, ever!

I also consolidated my thyme into a single, new container, much nicer than the old two plastic ones, which will be banished to the backyard for catnip plantings.  Here is the new one.  There is plenty of room left for additional herbs or maybe strawberries.

I read an interesting post on the SFG forum tonight about homemade plant markers.  I couldn't make the photo show up properly there, but here's my idea:  Use old, dead hydrangea wood!  I used a permanent Sharpie, but no idea if it will last through sun and rain.  Worth a shot, though, if it works it's free!

Tomorrow is Mulch Day for the perimeter beds and the walk between the SFGs.  We've been using chunk cedar mulch for years, but the Orange Store doesn't seem to be offering it anymore... so we got shredded hardwood.  I hope it works out okay.

Hubby and I are also discussing irrigation.  I have stubbornly NOT watered, for years, and it's worked out fine for the most part, but now it's going to be important.  I am reluctant to saddle ourselves with a drip system.  They seem to be like pagers: Once you get one, then you have to fuss with it.  When I lived out west, I often used half-buried milk jug or 2-liter soda bottles with holes poked in the bottom for slow-drip watering, but given it's our front yard I'm not sure that would fly well, plus I'd need many many jugs to make it work.  So, the idea right now is some sort of sprinkler.  For the moment, I am watering with an old-fashioned watering can.  I fill it up whenever I am done, in hopes of warming the water and maybe let off some of the town water fluorine treatment.  That's what I'm telling myself, anyway.

Please meet the rest of my yard

First off, my garden plan is fixed and should be legible now.

Nothing doing in my SFGs so far, so I thought you might like to see other parts of my (unmowed!) yard. 

The first denizen is the Sage Tree.  It's all budded out and just about to bloom.  It grows huge every year, and as big as it looks below, it is only about half the size it can actually reach -- I gifted a friend with several armfuls of boughs last year, so to my eyes it's looking a bit puny.

Just to the right of the sage is a plant I was given a few years ago.  It is hiding under the day lilies.  I planted it there between the sage and the lilies because I was told it prefers shade.  I can't remember what it is called, but I think it is at least semi-rare; the person who gave it to me was trying to spread it around to increase its chances of survival.  I think it might be wild ginger?  I'll try to find out. It spreads very slowly underground, and has an easily overlooked but beautiful purple-brown flower (thimble-shaped and -sized) which seems to come up straight from the ground by the central stem.  Really neat.


Here's a closer shot of whatever-it-is:

This is Kaleidoscope (R) hydrangea 'Homigo' (H. macrophylla 'Homigo'), mail ordered from Spring Hill in 2004.  I don't think they offer it anymore.  Its flowers start out blue, then go green, then red.  The foliage and stems turn mostly rust-colored in the late summer/fall, too.  The catalog says it often displays all three colors at once but to date I've not seen that happen.

It should be much bigger but it has had some bad years of burst-stem.  I also transplanted it from its original location (between Jeff and the Sage Tree) as it seemed to be getting too much sun and crowded.  It is much happier by the front step.

The chives in their prevent-the-chive-invasion container.  They are in a brand new location by the gas meter, replacing a shrub (sweet broom) which didn't survive winter.  I have been trying to cover that meter for years now and still no luck, but the chives' spilling-over-mess seems at home there.

Below are Mutt and Jeff, my roses, named after the cartoon characters.  Mutt ('Brandy') is there on the left.  Jeff is a single-petal white rose (name, I can't remember, something-Spice??  The tag is gone.)  Both J&P and planted in 2001.  Jeff is extremely robust and regularly whups the sage tree for size and breadth if I let him.  Mutt is more delicate; slender and tall.  I think they suffered from the deep snow this year... both are trying to bloom already. 

Off by the front is my bee garden.  I am very leery / anxious about bees, but I've also always felt it important to plant for them.  There is purple salvia, just starting to bloom, and Bee Balm, as well as some Siberian iris, an errant crocus, and Mutt off there to the right.  The Bee Balm didn't do well last year and has never bloomed, but this spring it's already bigger than ever before.  I have hopes!

Bed construction complete!

I was so worn out from the past few days that blogging went by the wayside I'm afraid.  But, the beds are finally done!

The upper bed needed another landscape timber; it just didn't look right without it.  To dig it in so it would be reasonably level -- and keep the bed at about 36" wide -- meant ripping out a big 8' strip of sod.  (More sod.  It figures. ;-) )

Then there was the matter of the sod the other timbers are resting on.  Hubby assured me the timbers would kill the sod, but I was dubious about that in a few places, so I ripped it out.  I have lost count of the number of green buckets of sod that have been pulled out of the tilled soil or shoveled/cut out.  Ten?  More? 

After pulling out the sod, though, there were holes in both beds.  (Wish I could figure out how to post pictures side-by-side.)

Here it is.... holes patched, grid set up, and SEEDS PLANTED!  (Most of them, anyway.)  What I find ironic is that it doesn't look all that different, despite all the hours of work involved.

 

Here's the strawberry jar... with a few onions planted at the top.  Supposedly onions and strawberries are companion plants?  I want to try planting onions (bulb or spring) in with my carrots and lettuce... and just tonight I read something about them helping against squash bugs, too.  I cannot find garlic starts anywhere!

Immediate to-do:

• tonight -- plant more seeds indoors (slightly sunny anti-cat window?) as back-up for the tomatoes, peppers and basil, maybe a few other things?  Cabbage -- probably too late, but I'll try.  Marigolds, for the little girls next door.  And catnip.  Must please the kitties!  DONE

This week, weather allowing:

• mulch the new landscaping fabric and existing beds
• general yard clean up / mowing
• transplant thyme and marjoram / consolidate (and replace?) herb planters
• sow onion seed

Longer term:

• build trellises

Still no signs of life other than two onions in the strawberry jar, but those were sprouted already.  It's going to get cold tonight, too.  Shouldn't freeze but it will be down in the mid-30's.  Brr!

Plant list and garden plan are up

Oh my aching muscles. The beds are finally done and most everything is planted. Seed list and garden plan are up. See the links under the "Pages" section on the right-hand side of the page under the Welcome statement. I will try to post a more detailed update soon.

Sodding sod!

I am sick of sod.  Loose chunks of sod and moss are everywhere in my two beds.  Every time I think I've got the last one, sure enough there is another. I am pining for the beautiful tilting soil sifter my dad made years ago in Washington state. Not going to happen, but I can still wish for it.  (I should point out that if I were doing "true" SFG, I wouldn't be having all these sod issues.)

Hubby got some plastic edging material the other day to help finish off edges of the boxes, and I tried installing it tonight.  It is impossible to drive that stuff through sod, and sod was in my way everywhere I tried.  There was a thin strip of sod by the potato box, and a 4'x 1' foot strip along the walk on the other end where the rototiller couldn't get at it.  Took me a good three hours to tear all that out, and the debris filled two buckets for the compost bin.  Results:  Minus the sod, the gap at the potato box is too tall for the edging; it's going to need another timber to close it off.  At the other end against the walk, the edging looks nice but I wish it were a little taller.

I am concerned about the upslope edge of the upper box.  There is nothing to divide the amended soil from the upslope grass there.  I laid out edging there, and it looked funny.  Seems to want a timber, but the timber won't help with grass invasion either.  Both?? Have to think about that one some more.

I did get my buckets and now have 15 gallons of soil reserved to back-fill the potatoes. I covered it with plastic at the last moment because we are expecting rain the next few days.  I also got a strawberry jar.  Maybe they are called something else around here, because no one seems to know what that is!  What I call a strawberry jar is a fairly tall clay pot with holes formed in the sides to allow plants to peek out.  Depot did not have them and no one seemed to know what they were, but Southern States Co-op had a nice assortment.   (Ouch, expensive...but made in America!)   Got it soaked and filled with soil for planting tomorrow.

About an hour after the jar started its soak in a bucket, I noticed a little ant running frenetically around and around atop the rim, trapped there with water all around.  I let her go. (I am not a big fan of ants, but maybe this one will bring me some good luck?)

I had intended to take some pictures today, but it didn't happen.  I just kept on until full dark and then some.   I got two more positive comments about the garden from neighbors today (running score 3+, 0-) so I am happy about that.  I hurt all over, but maybe I will dream of strawberries tonight.

Happy Earth Day! Cow poo and carrots, oh my!

This morning before work, I moved 100 pounds of cow poo from the back of the truck to the beds.  In case you were wondering what 100 pounds of organic cow poo looks like, here you go:

I stopped off at Home Depot on the way home to buy a hand cultivator (looks like a trowel but with 3 prongs on it instead) and a couple seed packets at half price in honor of Earth Day (cilantro and spring onions), total $10.33.  While I was there I noticed that in stark contrast to last weekend vegetable and herb starts were *everywhere*, and I began experiencing buyer's regret.  Here I'd gone and blown over $50 on seed without really knowing if I'd be able to make direct planting work, as SFG instructs.  I don't have any good place indoors to start seeds (think cats and windowsills), so outside is all I've got. I'd paid standard shipping on the seeds, so they were at least 5-8 days away... and today was such a lovely balmy Spring day that seeing all those robust tomato and pepper plants and herbs and so forth was actually a bit depressing.

That mood lasted until I got home, when I saw the big brown envelope on top of my mailbox.... my seed, and after only 3 days!!  There was even a note inside apologizing for their slow (?) response, plus a complimentary seed pack.  Yay for Baker Seeds!  Opening that box was like Christmas in April, and I got excited all over again.  (I have to admire the marketing tactic, but they did deliver and then some!)

After spreading the manure, I dumped that 5 gallon bucket of red clay from yesterday, spreading it equally between the two beds.  Garden Clawed everything up, plucking out innumerable clumps of sod as I went.  (FYI:  Apparently roto-tilled sod does not go gentle into that good night.  My dandelion puller, cultivator and I had conversations with some of that sod.)

I filled up the carrot box in the upper bed and evened out everything as best I could.  Then I refilled the 5 gallon bucket with soil, and discovered I had a problem.  Five gallons is no where near enough to backfill that whole potato box.

It will take (by my eyeballing) at least 10 gallons to do the job, so I'll need 2 more buckets to get enough fill out of my way.  I can't lay grids or plant anything in either main bed until I remove that fill and get the remaining soil leveled, so, priority #1 for tomorrow is buckets!

That last may sound like Greek to you, but it will eventually make sense, I promise!  Anyway, below is the post tilling shot.

Seeing as how I was able to get the carrot box filled, though, I went ahead and planted the first square.  That box is 1 foot by 3 foot, so, three squares available.  (I've been warned to stagger the planting so they don't all mature at once, which makes perfect sense to me.)

I set up the grid on the carrot box using drywall screws and "Sturdy Twists" plant securing twine.  This marks out the individual square feet.  I already love that twine, it's cheap and has its own cutter on the reel.  I did make an idiot of myself with the drill, though, until I figured out which way to wrap the twine so that tightening each screw would not simultaneously unwrap the twine.  Duh!

Carrots are planted 16 per square foot in Square Foot Gardening (SFG), as represented by the twigs and the dimples in the soil there.  But according to the packet, carrots should be surface sown, so I smoothed all that out before I actually planted the seeds, 2-3 per each dimple.  In the same picture you can see the spikes that will eventually be used to set the row lines for the main bed.

I want to plant some spring onions among the carrots, too, just didn't get to it tonight.  That is companion planting, not SFG, but still great stuff.

Hubby brought home the edging (~$25) for the bed sections which don't have landscape timbers.  I will try to put those in tomorrow.  Now that I'm sitting back and thinking about it, though, it might be a good idea to totally surround each bed with edging.  The timbers are just lying on the soil surface, and that grass of ours is pretty determined.

While I was at it, I ripped out two shrubs that didn't last through the winter, and started working on my herb containers.  I haven't figured out how to manage the woody herbs (marjoram, thyme) so that they come up cleanly in the spring instead of being all twiggy.  Maybe I am being too nice to them in the fall?

Potato Planting

It started raining just as I was leaving for work this morning, a lovely gentle spring rain.  During my commute in, all I could think about was all that lovely water going to waste.  I still haven't gotten with my HOA to see if they will allow us to put a rain barrel in the front yard, my bad.  Home Depot has one with a stone-like finish (sandy exterior in both texture and color) which I think looks fine, but we'll see what the HOA says.

I got home late, but made time to get the potatoes in.

The left end of the "front" (curb-side) bed is where the potatoes will be going in.  There will be 4 plants, each allocated 1 square foot.  Potatoes need extra-deep dirt, and trust me, if you dig down at all around here you run into hard Virginia red clay pretty quickly.  Square Foot Gardening's answer to potatoes and other hilled and/or deep-reaching veggies is to use a taller raised bed.  So hubby built me two boxes with 2 x 6 lumber.  (The second box, sized for the back bed, will be for carrots.)

Here is the potato box in a test fit.  If you look closely, you'll see that the rear end of the box is sitting on dirt, not the cross-wise timber, which is what I'd wanted.  Hubby said, yes, but now it's level.  Can't argue with that.

Here we are with all the newly amended soil scraped out of the way and then Garden-Clawed down as far as I could, dumping the red clay on top of the amended stuff.  Just about broke my trowel, too; you can see the collar holding the tang onto the handle has come loose.  Also note the pile of delusional rocks in the upper-left corner.  These are lumps of clay which think they are rocks, that is until you hit them hard enough with a very sharp object, whereupon they break into flakes, or shatter.  Generally, though, it's much easier just to pry them out instead and leave them in their delusional state.  The Kennebec seed potatoes are foreground left, 15 oz. worth altogether.

After planting & covering those with a few inches of soil, I transferred the rest of that mountain of dirt to a big 5-gallon bucket for back filling in days/weeks to come, cleaned up and called it a day.  Oh, my arms!

A brief yard history for 2010

Here's a brief photo history of happenings up until now.

February, pictures taken from the top step.  Fun, huh?  It does give you a good idea of the size of our yard, though.

The last of the snow finally fell victim to a ferocious rain (which was apparently an even more ferocious snowstorm further to the north of here.)  We took ground prep in easy stages.

March:  Initial planning.  I had wanted to do true raised beds, but neither of us could come up with a way to make that look good in a front yard.  We eventually compromised with a plan to terrace off the slope with landscaping timbers.  (If we ever want to sell, we can rip out the veggie garden and replace with flowers.)

Sunday April 11:  Roto till and set landscaping timbers.  Hubby did all this.  The timbers are drilled through and spiked to the ground. Total cost for timbers and spikes was $14.  (Tiller was borrowed.)

Sunday April 18:  Amend the soil.  We got up early and headed out to Home Depot to get the fixings for Square Foot Gardening's recommended soil mix: 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat most, and 1/3 compost.  We have a composter in the back yard which I'd been counting on, but it hadn't been tended well, so it's a good thing we also picked up a few bags of cow poo.  I didn't really see the point in buying compost in addition to that, though, as I am not wild about commercial compost, and this area is farmland, historically.  Virginia red clay is beastly to dig in, most especially after it's been compacted by the heavy equipment used in new home construction, but it's quite fertile.  Next year I'll have some real compost to work with.

(Please note:  The fact we are amending, not replacing, the soil, means we are not using a true Mel's Mix, so please don't attribute any failures on my part toward the SFG method! :) )  I also got some seed potatoes (Kennebec) and onions at Southern States Co-op.  After celebrating with donuts, I sent hubby inside to relax while I got to work.  He was still sore from tilling the week before, poor baby... red clay is tough stuff!

The horticulture-grade vermiculite was the most expensive, about $23. That's it there on the right.  It is a natural mineral used as a soil conditioner.  SFG recommends coarse grade, but the bag didn't say either way.  The peat moss was $9.75 and the sterilized dehydrated organic cow poo was about $5 a bag.  (Yes, I mislaid the receipt.)


We also got some tomato cages and stakes and gardening line, but that's another story for another day.


It was a breezy day, so I put the vermiculite down first and hit it with the peat as quickly as I could to keep it from blowing away.  (If I'd had half a brain I guess I could have tried to wet it down, but apparently I didn't have half a brain that day.)  The manure went on top and then I mixed it all through.  Looked pretty nice when I was done!

Starting to look a little more gardeny, now.  That center area will be a walk and eventually mulched over, and the ends of the beds against the walk will get those last bits of grass ripped out and some edging put in.  Still got a lot of clean-up to do, including that ratty container in the foreground.  (Anyone want some chives?  I've got plenty!)

4/15-4/18:  Researched heirloom seed and worked up garden plan.  (More on this later.)

Monday, April 19:  Ordered seed.  $58.50

Welcome!

Hello and welcome! I am new to this blog thing so please bear with me while I get the first few posts up of our progress to date. We are working on initial ground prep right now.

In the meantime, let me tell you little about the gardening method we are using. It's called Square Foot Gardening. I've never tried it before, but it makes the most out of a small space. Ours is very small -- two beds in the front yard of our townhouse. The one closer to the house is 9' x 3', and the other is 8' x 4'. That is 59 square feet if I did my math right. Doesn't sound like much, but in Square Foot Gardening you don't plant in rows. A different crop goes in each square foot, and after it is harvested you replant with something else. I'm not growing 59 crops, but quite a few (plant list coming soon) and I am just a little daunted by how much food will be coming in if even half of it grows!