Test Gardens Part 2

Okay, it has been a little while since an update to our blog. Well, the first 5 beds are done in our new raised beds.

Bed 1: Which I talked about last time and our seed and transplanted crops in that bed. That bed has had a few changes since last time. I have added a soaker hose. (For those not familiar with soaker hoses: They are recycled tires made into a porous hose from which the water can seep.) It is not ideal placement in the bed, but it was the best I could do since I was putting it into such a well established bed. There have also been a few plant changes in Bed 1. Due to the early warm weather our radishes were getting close to blooming so I removed them. I replaced them with some left over Zefa Fino fennel starts that were left over in the greenhouse. I also added a few corn salad plugs. I have never grown corn salad before, but I thought I would give it a try.

Bed 2: In bed 2 I have planted legumes. I took the left over Snow Pod pea starts from the greenhouse and planted those. It was really a little late in the season for me to plant peas, but I hate throwing plants out. I also plant my oldest daughter’s rescued mystery bean starts. We don’t know if they are pole or bush beans so I gave them all a little string to climb. In between those two I planted bush beans. I am normally a pole bean person, but I thought I would try something new. The varieties planted in bed 2 are: Oregon II Po d Peas, Blue Lake Pole Beans and Oregon 54 Bush Beans.

Bed 3: In bed 3 I have planted tomatoes. I chose most very small to medium sized fruiting varieties for this bed. When planting these I removed the bottom sets of leaves, added 1 cup of bone meal to each hole and planted each about 1-2 deeper than they were in the pot. I always cage all of my tomatoes so I placed a cage around each. I didn’t not remove the fruit when planting these, which not something I would recommend doing. Not removing the fruit will more than likely give me smaller plants. I also planted my plants fairly close together. This is our first year with these beds so I am not sure how big the plants will get. Next year we may plant our tomatoes differently. The varieties planted in bed 3 are: Red Currant, Yellow Pear, Sungold, Sweet 100, Cabernet, Christmas Grape, Jelly Bean, Roma, and Celebrity.

Bed 4: In bed 4 I also planted tomatoes. We eat a lot of tomatoes in our household. For this bed I chose medium to extra large fruiting varieties. I followed the same procedure as in bed 3. The varieties in bed 4 are: Mortgage Lifter, Brandywine OTV, Kellogg’s Breakfast, Lemon Boy, Cherokee Purple, Polish Linguisa, Black Prince, Aunt Ruby’s Green, Legend, Vera Pepper Tomato, and Pineapple.

Bed 5: In bed five I planted peppers, basil and parsley. I put ½ cup bone meal in each hole and planted each level with the soil as they were in the pots. The varieties plant in this bed are: Peppers- Carmen, Mini Apple, Serrano Del Sol, Early Sunsation, Satsuma, New Ace, Volcano, Fooled You, Shishito, Mexibell Basil- Napoletano, Sweet Mammoth, Lettuce Leaf, Mrs. Burn Lemon, Marseilles, Ararat, Red Rubin, Cinnamon, Superbo, Siam Queen, Serrata Other- Lisette Parsley, Par-Cel, Safir Cutting Celery

Okay, it has been a little while since an update to our blog. Well, the first 5 beds are done in our new raised beds.

Bed 1: Which I talked about last time and our seed and transplanted crops in that bed. That bed has had a few changes since last time. I have added a soaker hose. (For those not familiar with soaker hoses: They are recycled tires made into a porous hose from which the water can seep.) It is not ideal placement in the bed, but it was the best I could do since I was putting it into such a well established bed. There have also been a few plant changes in Bed 1. Due to the early warm weather our radishes were getting close to blooming so I removed them. I replaced them with some left over Zefa Fino fennel starts that were left over in the greenhouse. I also added a few corn salad plugs. I have never grown corn salad before, but I thought I would give it a try.

Bed 2: In bed 2 I have planted legumes. I took the left over Snow Pod pea starts from the greenhouse and planted those. It was really a little late in the season for me to plant peas, but I hate throwing plants out. I also plant my oldest daughter’s rescued mystery bean starts. We don’t know if they are pole or bush beans so I gave them all a little string to climb. In between those two I planted bush beans. I am normally a pole bean person, but I thought I would try something new. The varieties planted in bed 2 are: Oregon II Po d Peas, Blue Lake Pole Beans and Oregon 54 Bush Beans.

Bed 3: In bed 3 I have planted tomatoes. I chose most very small to medium sized fruiting varieties for this bed. When planting these I removed the bottom sets of leaves, added 1 cup of bone meal to each hole and planted each about 1-2 deeper than they were in the pot. I always cage all of my tomatoes so I placed a cage around each. I didn’t not remove the fruit when planting these, which not something I would recommend doing. Not removing the fruit will more than likely give me smaller plants. I also planted my plants fairly close together. This is our first year with these beds so I am not sure how big the plants will get. Next year we may plant our tomatoes differently. The varieties planted in bed 3 are: Red Currant, Yellow Pear, Sungold, Sweet 100, Cabernet, Christmas Grape, Jelly Bean, Roma, and Celebrity.

Bed 4: In bed 4 I also planted tomatoes. We eat a lot of tomatoes in our household. For this bed I chose medium to extra large fruiting varieties. I followed the same procedure as in bed 3. The varieties in bed 4 are: Mortgage Lifter, Brandywine OTV, Kellogg’s Breakfast, Lemon Boy, Cherokee Purple, Polish Linguisa, Black Prince, Aunt Ruby’s Green, Legend, Vera Pepper Tomato, and Pineapple.

Bed 5: In bed five I planted peppers, basil and parsley. I put ½ cup bone meal in each hole and planted each level with the soil as they were in the pots. The varieties plant in this bed are: Peppers- Carmen, Mini Apple, Serrano Del Sol, Early Sunsation, Satsuma, New Ace, Volcano, Fooled You, Shishito, Mexibell Basil- Napoletano, Sweet Mammoth, Lettuce Leaf, Mrs. Burn Lemon, Marseilles, Ararat, Red Rubin, Cinnamon, Superbo, Siam Queen, Serrata Other- Lisette Parsley, Par-Cel, Safir Cutting Celery

Test Gardens Part1

I thought I would take a little time to talk about the creation of our new raised beds which are going to be part of our test gardens for this year.

This is the space we started with. Our garden is heavy clay that has been amended, but we spent a lot of time battling the mole and gophers. So we decided to abandon the idea of garden in the ground.

So we ordered 10 yards of blended soil mix and some of our own clay soil graciously provide by our many moles.

We built our 8 by 4 ft by 18 inches beds by using untreated 2 by 6 pine boards. Then we lined the bottom with chicken wire, in hope of keeping the moles and gophers out. Then we lined the with weed barrier to keep the weeds from growing up from the bottom. Then we filled it with our purchased soil mix and our clay soil.

So we filled our first finished bed we veggies choosen by our girls. From seed we planted radishes, brussel sprouts, and carrots. Then we added kohlrabi, cauliflower and onions that were starts from our greenhouses. Here is a look at the the radishes. We harvested the first few last night.

Here is a look at the kohlrabi. The starts were planted last week and have already started to bulb up. In the up coming weeks I hope to talk more about what is going on in the test gardens. We are very excited to have fresh stuff from that garden again. Go grow what you eat!

I thought I would take a little time to talk about the creation of our new raised beds which are going to be part of our test gardens for this year.

This is the space we started with. Our garden is heavy clay that has been amended, but we spent a lot of time battling the mole and gophers. So we decided to abandon the idea of garden in the ground.

So we ordered 10 yards of blended soil mix and some of our own clay soil graciously provide by our many moles.

We built our 8 by 4 ft by 18 inches beds by using untreated 2 by 6 pine boards. Then we lined the bottom with chicken wire, in hope of keeping the moles and gophers out. Then we lined the with weed barrier to keep the weeds from growing up from the bottom. Then we filled it with our purchased soil mix and our clay soil.

So we filled our first finished bed we veggies choosen by our girls. From seed we planted radishes, brussel sprouts, and carrots. Then we added kohlrabi, cauliflower and onions that were starts from our greenhouses. Here is a look at the the radishes. We harvested the first few last night.

Here is a look at the kohlrabi. The starts were planted last week and have already started to bulb up. In the up coming weeks I hope to talk more about what is going on in the test gardens. We are very excited to have fresh stuff from that garden again. Go grow what you eat!