Text 791, 109 rader
Skriven 2008-01-16 22:18:48 av Janis Kracht (1:261/38)
     Kommentar till en text av Carol Shenkenberger (6771.cooks)
Ärende: RE: good veggies
========================
Hey Sis,

>> Let's see.. I'm planning out this spring's garden beds now, but last year I
>> 4X8' bed of Roma Tomatoes, 4X8' bed of potatoes,  4X8' bed of Cabbage (purpl
>> and green), 4x8 bed of squash, 4x8' bed of asparagus (that never gets change
>> <grin>), 2X8' bed of sugar snap peas (hate shucking peas <grin>) and lettuce
>> growing in a row in front of the peas, 2x8' bed of spinach in the first row,
>> with bush green beans behind that... 4x8 bed of beets... grew bok choy in ea
>> spring in that one.. darn now I can't wait til spring :)  It DIDN'T help tha

> Humm, I think we just exceeded the total size of my back yard....  <grin>.

It's good sized, this property around the house has two lots, the total is 1.01
acres, Ron tells me <g>.  But we don't give that all to the garden.. we fenced
in 1/2 acre for the labs so they'd have room to run .. that area is right out
the back door, in essense our back yard.. and that's where I put the garden
beds.. and _why_ I use raised-beds haha.. to keep the idiot dogs out of my
garden!  Toby LOVES SugarSnap peas I discovered <laugh>.  Anyway, we have to
keep that area cleaned up from doggy-do but they certainly don't do that _in_
the beds since they're raised cedar-wood beds that Ron built high enough to
discourage them - They are basically lazy dogs :)

The other 1/2 acre beyond the fenced in portion is where I figured people could
park, put tents, whatever if it's decided to have the Cooking Echo picnic
here.. (would be great :))  Unless folks wanted doggie friends hogging their
bed space (and these dogs DO hog bed space :).  And of course there's tons of
room inside <grin>

> Naw, 26x8 roughly but you'd need a little space to get between stuff. What

*nod*

> you have done is exceed the sunny part of my yard as there's a huge tree
> shading a goodly part of it from the backyard neighbor.

That's what's nice about the beds.. you do have to put each bed a little apart,
but you don't need room to walk in the bed.. a good backache sometimes from
leaning over them though <grin>.. This year Ron says he wants to make them
higher for me so that doesn't happen so much.. would be nice.  I'm sure we'll
have to see how $$ goes <g>

> I generally aim at a single 4x8 bed with several things in it, then tomatoes
>off on the side along with chives.  I want to try green peppers and zucchini
>but havent had luck with my few tries there yet.

Sometimes if I'm up to it in the fall, I turn in a bag of Peatmoss and a bag of
cow manure.. if I have it.. if I only have peat, that's all I use.. if I use
manure, you really have to let it winter over.. it's not safe to use it in the
spring and then plant, really.. (some people do it though). Anyway, Using lot's
of peatmoss is one thing that I learned early on.. if you put peatmoss in the
beds _anytime_ (fall or spring <g>), stuff grows like crazy.. I also give the
beds a dose of something like 18-18-21 plant food to start things off, then
maybe if I think they need it later, I give them a little more later in the
season.  If you're short of funds for the garden to buy peat, check it out at
your local farmer's store.. it's usually pretty cheap there.. or you can start
a compost pile with things like coffee-grounds, eggshells, teabags, veggie and
fruit wastes from the kitchen, that kind of stuff.. (no meat or bones).  I can
send you more info about that if you like :)

> What I normally put in, in the bigger bed is a small row of lettuce (4ft),
> strawberries (2 4ft rows), green beans (2 4ft rows), green peas (1 4ft row)

That's great :)

> and normally something comes to mind for the last 2 rows. I often dont get
> much usable product except lettuce but I have fun tinkering with it in
> summer.  Oh and the tomatoes, chives, and mint along the fence do well

That's what counts really.. but those peas and and beans would love it you
could get to the farm store and buy some nitrogen innoculant.  It helps the
plants grab the nitrogen from the air.. you can use it on any peas or beans,
just dampen them and sprinkle on a little (very little).. it really makes a
difference. It's not a chemical.. It looks like a little bag of brown dirt <g>.

> Now though, we dont have access to the tiller we used to have from the MIL.
> Sister in law got rid of anything she didnt understand (including our stuff
> stored there when we were away in Japan).

What a drag :(  Hmm.. maybe you can rent one?  Do you have shop around there
named Agway?  It's a farmers store, pretty much though these days people go
there for all kinds of stuff (especially for their yards).  If not, Lowes kinds
of stores should have it in their gardening dept. when season draws near(er).
:)

And that brought back some memories :)  The first year I ever planted a garden
I had to dig it by "hand".. good old big shovel and me.. Ron did help "after a
while" <grin>.. but I really dug it mostly up myself, and got that peatmoss in
there :)  I remember I had my James Underwood Crockett's Victory Garden book
out there guiding me all way <g>.  Of course I was probably about 30?  maybe
younger..  The kids were "helping" <bg>  The beds are nice because the weeds
really just pull right out of them.

> I'm seriously considering buying a small electric or gas tiller, doesnt need
> to be much as long as it can cut through the sod.  I'm only looking for a 4x8
> or so patch then some flower garden level use at the front of the house.
>

See, now if ya move to NY you can borrow mine :) :) With the beds, I really
hardly need it.. I use a tilling rake most of the time for when I need to work
stuff into the beds.  But you should be able to find one that is not a lot of
$$.. I think I spent about 100 bux on mine at sears one year when they were
on sale.. that was a while back though.. but it wasn't one of those real
expensive ones even then.

Take care,
Janis

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