Potagar Patch 2014

I know it's been a long winter and everyone has been getting sick of waiting to put their gardens together but it looks like the wait is coming to an end, hopefully! 

This year we'll be combining Potagar Schoultz with Patch Market. The new garden name is going to be Potagar Market. Exciting! The reason I did it this way was because I decided it was best to only grow the things we truly ended up eating and the things, out of the ones we ate that, worked. 

That came down to strawberries (they didn't really work but most of that was due to the excessive rain), cucumbers, spinach, basil, lemon balm, tomatoes (many different varieties especially our beloved yellow), peppers, and lettuce. I'm forgetting a couple of things but that is the bulk of the garden. Patch Market has officially been turned into a strawberry patch. It seemed fitting and much more conducive to growing the berries than anywhere else. I was not about to make the same mistake and squash all of my beauties, Ozark and Loran, into that ridiculous Topsy Turvy. The Ozark variety does need more space but that did not come into account when making the decision. It came down to- we love strawberries and the darn TT didn't work- what works best. People have strawberry patches so using the recycled material bed as a strawberry patch just made sense. 

We will be growing in all 6 raised beds, the recycling bin, 2 large rounds, and the brick bed. Fruiting will happen a few weeks later because I've yet to plant a thing. This time last year I had everything planted, most of all, planned and organized. I planted the last few plants on my birthday last year, April 18, including the tomatoes. So even though the start is late we should get a good crop. The summer has promised to be long and I hope that promise is kept. 

Planning and buying have commenced. 

We have a great new deck so the garden is even more welcome (not that it wasn't last year) in the sense that we can sit on the deck take in the sun, relax, and not worrying that we made a mistake in taking up the entire backyard with a veggie garden. 

Ripen Up

Red, Red, & Red...

It was dark and cloudy out today because of the tropical storm that was coming our way. It seems that it took a detour a little later but either way the sky was dark and not great for gardening. Even so I went out to check on everything to make sure that if the storm did hit hard that all of the stakes and trellises were deeply held and that the containers were on steady ground. When I finally got around to checking on Patch I instantly noticed the brightest most perfect strawberry I had ever seen. It was the perfect strawberry red with a wax shine. It looked like the apples the big companies wax before shipping but of course it wasn't waxed it was just perfect. After taking a look I looked over all of the other strawberry containers. No e of the strawberries,except for the one in the 5G container, were ready for picking but they were a nice shade of pink turning red, a few not all. I ran to grab my phone, clippers, and harvest basket and harvested my first berry. I went to lunch with my Mom shortly after and brought the berry with me to show her but she thought I was giving it to her. I didn't have the heart to tell her I wasn't so she tried the first PM strawberry. She said it was sweet but probably needed another sunny day of ripening or two not so sunny days, like today. I had planned to wash it, cut it in half, and share the first taste with Mike but I'll do that with the second berry.

Harvested berry.

Pinkish red berries ripening in 5G.

Ripening berry on the Topsy.

Green Arrows...

On my way back in from lunch I went over to look at the green beans because they were a little droopy. I noticed that our first beans are finally coming in. It's amazing. There so cute and small but look just like what the mature beans will look like minus the fuzz. Exciting! I need to tie them off with string because they won't hold, at all, once the beans get any bigger.

Each flower becomes a bean.

Bigger beans on another plant.

Tomato in Patch...

I noticed my first growing in the container in PM today. It's very small but I'm glad to see that the container seems to be sufficient. 

Strawberry Boom

Hanging the Topsy...

Today was another chilly and windy day. It was sunny, though I just wasn't up for much gardening, I didn't sleep well. What I did have to do was set up the Topsy Turvy on the shorter shepherd hook, again. So I took the large hook out went into Potagar grabbed the small hook and put the chimes and lure hanging on it on the ground and trucked back over to Patch. I dug the small hook into the ground, on a level spot, as deep as I possibly could then I grabbed the Topsy, off the chair, and hung it using the new hanging hook so that it was able to turn and put the painted rocks back on top. It's funny because this time even though the Topsy seems to weigh more the shepherd hook didn't lean forward as much. It seems like the issue was more the hanging hook than the S. hook. I rearranged the lantern so that it filled in the spot that used to be filled by the large hook and the Topsy Turvy. 

5 Gallon Boom...

When I was done I took a look into my 5G bucket and noticed that I had the most beautiful strawberry flower, yet. It even looked like a strawberry because it had that big green stem and leaf part that top strawberries from the store. After I saw that I noticed that the there were at least 15 other big buds that look exactly like the flower did when it started. It's amazing because the 5G bucket took, at least, 3 weeks longer to produce any buds than the Topsy and the 8G bucket so I thought it either wouldn't produce at all or that it was setting up a stronger base and would produce better. I sure it'll be my second thought, now. It's producing what I believe will be my first berries. The other two containers have produced several flowers and buds but none that look like the ones in the 5G bucket and none of which have that leaf and stem formed; largely or properly. The flowers that seemed like they'd turn into strawberries have shriveled and aren't growing. I'm hoping that the flowers that die now aren't going to continue to die as more are produced. I hope that they're setting up a stronger base and will start producing flowers that look more like the 5G bucket flowers. 

Tonight is supposed to get down into the high 30's. I thought about bringing the 5G and 8G bucket inside but seascapes can handle as low as 55 degree soil temperatures, with ease, and I don't think one cold night will bring the soil temp. down that far. If it does I hope they are resilient enough to take it and perk back up during the sunny 80+ degree weather we're going to get the rest of the week.

5G flower and buds. Notice the large green leaves behind it. Looks just like a store bought strawberry's top. 

Cherry Bellby

Patch Cherry Belle...

I went into Patch for an hour today, about the only hour of sun we received. I looked at everything and checked for pest damage and then had a good look at the radishes. I went online last night and googled "cherry belle radishes" so that I could get some idea of what they were supposed to look like at harvest time. I was relieved to see that the harvested and size able radishes pictured were not much bigger than my biggest plants are now. So when I was making sure all the radishes were about 3" apart today I thinned one out next to my biggest plant. I wanted to make sure that it had enough space. It was a little plant and shaded by the others from the sun. I pulled it out and found a tiny baby cherry belle at the end. I wished I hadn't thinned it at first but it actually gave me confidence in the bigger plants. They are definitely growing a root veggie. 

Five Gallons...

After inspecting and pulling that one radish I took a good look at the 5G bucket. It's caused me some major concern because it was growing the strongest plants but with absolutely no flower buds and no signs of buds to come. On closer inspection today I saw signs of flower buds to come, finally. I have a feeling that even though they were the slowest to flower, that they will produce the most and best fruits. They really took there time to set up good roots, I'm guessing, and a good plant base so why wouldn't they set up good fruit. Confidence in Patch has returned! 

On an unrelated but interesting note the green beans I thinned and put in water have grown in the cup. I'll be planting them in a small container as an experiment tomorrow. 

Pest Pits

Mystery Demolition...

This morning when I got up and went outside to look at what I had planted, yesterday I was shocked. The green beans had been torn out of there spot and there was an enormous hole in the middle of the spinach row. I checked the Mesclun, lettuce, onions, and all of Patch. They were completely fine. That seemed extremely strange to me because two plots of Mesclun seeds that had partly germinated, which is amazing in 1 day, were left untouched as well as actual lettuce and onion bulbs. All of the stuff that seemed more "edible" was untouched. I still can't figure out if a rat or bunny dug up the seeds to be little sucks or the rain we got last night was too hard.

I replanted what was left of the green bean seeds. Pulled out the mutilated newspaper strips and left the rest as is because I was just so shocked. My radish and carrot seeds weren't destroyed. I think it may have something to do with the compost not the seeds but if that was the case the lettuce and onions should have been destroyed as well or maybe not because they are large.

I watered the seeds with 3.99 parts water to .01 parts Epsom salt to give them a boost after there trauma. I watered everything in Patch, the greenhouse and the Topsy Turvy then went inside for the day. The shock of finding Potagar Schoultz mutilated was just to much. I needed a break from the garden to ponder the cause. It is just so strange considering that I've had no trouble with Patch so far... Why would the first Potagar box be so damaged overnight when Patch has been planted for almost 2 weeks. It just seems weird and confusing. We have to put the fence up and the lights out as soon as possible. If it was the rain and it just washed the seeds out well okay but why wasn't the Mesclun washed out?

This is going to haunt me until I find out what destroy such a beautifully planted bed.

I didn't take pictures but I will before i fix the spinach and I'll post them with tomorrow's entry. Weird, shock, weirder.

Garden pests are the pits!

Before Pest Pits Weird Occurrence (After Coming Soon.) 

Heated

Morning...

When I got up I ran straight upstairs to take the tops of the greenhouses because I'd left them outside overnight. The air conditioning has been on in the house since the weather's hit the 80's and 90's. I thought the warm night air would be better for them then the cool fake air. I probably should have made a point to get up earlier because when I got out there it was already sweltering. The tops weren't 100% on because I didn't pin them down, hoping the wind would pull them up if needed. I took the lids off and checked on everything watering as I went along. When I got to the topsy turvy I noticed it was still draining from the day before but that the top was dry so I added just a little water to the top and moved it to a sunnier spot, on that would heat the whole planter evenly. 

Then I went to go check on the raised bed in Patch. I noticed it was dry and nothing else until I came back with the watering can. The radishes had germinated, 4 days exactly, but only in the bottom row. So I watered and hoped that the others would germinate by tomorrow. I basically ran back inside after that because I was burning up. 

I took a shower changed into a cool light weight dress and went back outside to take a picture of the raised bed. On my way out I called the Bulk-man about the compost. I had gotten up early awaiting his delivery but he hadn't called. I wanted to make sure I'd gotten it right... he answered and said that I had but that they were running late and would be here to deliver the compost in the afternoon. I said ok and hung up as I reached Patch. I looked down and noticed that in the few hours I'd been inside the other plot of radishes germinated. I was so excited and still am. I had mixed feelings about my bed because I'd used garden soil instead of potting mix. I'd amended the mistake myself and haven't been that confident about it until  I saw the other radishes. Once I saw those I decided it was warm enough and would get cool enough to plant my heads of lettuce. I grabbed the bag of compost a shovel and all four cups with my lettuce seedlings in them. I dug into the top two plots of the raised bed and amended the soil even further with compost then I picked the best looking two of the four and plants them. Unlike the strawberries the roots had spread throughout the soil I'd added in the cups and really looked strong and healthy. After planting I watered and went back inside. 

I went back out around 6:30pm to check on everything and noticed that even though the lettuce had been in the sun all day it was nice and crisp not wilted. The hot sun wilted it in the cups to extremes. I am happy I chose to plant them today and believe that they'll give me a continuous harvest all the way through the fall. 

Later that evening...

At around 7pm when I was just sitting down to dinner I texted the Bulk-man and asked if he was going to make it. He texted back saying that he had just loaded the truck and would be here within the hour. I asked if he'd rather come tomorrow and he said no that they were fine to make the drive and drop. Exactly an hour later as I was heading outside to wait for them Bulk-man, John, called and said that they were out front. I raced outside, letting Mikes dad know they were delivering on the way, and asked if they could back up the driveway. It took them awhile because the driveway is on a bit of a steep incline but they were able to get pretty close to the backyard and then they lifted the bed and dumped 3 cubic yards of "black gold." At first it didn't look like much and I was thinking, OMG maybe we should have had them deliver the full 4 we paid for and not just 3, but once they were done I was like NEVERMIND this is way more than enough! When they'd pulled the truck out of the drive John stopped to chat with me as I handed him the check and thanked him for the delivery.

I told him about looking for compost for my small garden and finding nothing. Then going to craigslist two months later and letting Mikes Dad in on there service and how much he'd saved by using them compared to Home Depot. Finally, I asked him if I should mix Perlite into the compost to make it a little lighter and assure that there are no draining issues. His reply was, You can if you want to. A lot of people claim that compost has drainage issues but it doesn't especially if your using raised beds. You can add it but it would really just be an extra not a necessity. My uncle has won awards for growing crops in Connecticut that weren't supposed to be able to grow there and he grows in this compost 100% without any amendments. That was all I needed to hear. I'd read that the best gardens came from 100% compost but that it was even better to amend with some Perlite and even some Vermiculite. I also read that 100% compost was "black gold" that you couldn't get a better garden and that adding Perlite was a waste of money and time (mixing it in). From everything else I'd read I knew that growing in 100% compost was the best but hearing it from someone that KNOWS compost and knows great gardeners solidified what I'd already gathered but doubted. I am extremely happy with the service we received and when our veggies grow I'll let you know if we'll use them again but from the looks of things I think we will. Especially since he ended up being even cheaper than I'd calculated. The compost was $100 and it was $2.50/mile after 20 miles, one way. I'd calculated an extra 10 miles and the total was $112 but because we paid with check $6 was added making the total $118.00 rather than the $125 I'd expected if not a little more. Really great nice guy and there product is rich, black, they don't use lime, or other accelerators.  

THANKS BULK MAN!!!

Patching Begins

I have been planning to grow a raised bed garden in the side yard for the last few months. Last year I got into gardening much too late. I ended up planting, what I thought were, ever bearing All-star strawberries in July. It turned out that they didn't produce because they were June-bearers. I messed the plant up in more than 1 way... I bought June-bearers, planted in terrible soil, and in a container that did not drain. I was so disappointed. Not to mention the $40.00 or so I wasted on what ended up being a horrible brown turd. After trashing the plant I decided I would try again with a sweet potato plant. To be honest, I did not even know the type. All I did was transplant it into a larger container (not large enough) and watered it now and then. It did grow well but the fruit it bore were tiny, but deliciously light and sweet.

My gardening groove was back thanks to those tiny sweet pots. I decided then that I would create a garden on a much larger scale next spring and I would start planning for it months before the last predicted frost date of 2013. Luckily, I remembered that I wanted to garden in February. I started planning. I read tons of books, looked at Pinterest garden section everyday if not twice a day, and found an amazing website called Smart Gardener that helped me plot the entire thing out. The website helped me pick varieties that worked well in my area. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself...

Before I did all of that I had to clean up the side yard... so I started and Patch Market was born!!!