Time After Time

Progression of Gardens...

Over the past few weeks the hot long day plants have been growing wild. I made a point of capturing all the stages of those plants (and others) because there growth has been so obvious and so quick. The raised cantaloupe and watermelon bed started with two 3 inch cantaloupe plants that shot up covered two four foot trellises and kept going. It finally started to fruit at the beginning of last week and boy is it fruiting we have at a least 6 viable melons of all different sizes. My sweet potato slips started off slow finally grew into slips and were transferred with a disappointing "death" and revival. The leaves came in two weeks ago and in the last week the two plants, that I didn't yank out because I thought they were dead, have grow six plus inches in vines. The watermelon container started off slow and didn't grow for weeks then it doubled in size and Tripled and quadrupled all over the bamboo trellis until it started fruiting. When it started fruiting all of the little melons were shriveling up and dying except one. Finally, we got a second one a week ago and now the plant has grown 6-8 inches of vine that I've had to stake because the trellis is full. That vine has a third melon on it. It's tiny but you can tell It is viable and won't be shriveling like the others that have come since the first and second. 

Here is a little pictorial of the plants progression and current state...

First viable Bush Sugar Baby on the first week (L), the 2nd week (top R), and the 3rd week (bottom R). 

The Bush Sugar Baby plant when it was first transplanted from newspaper seedling pots to the recycling bin (L), it doubled in size after no sign of growth for 3 weeks (top R), and now it has covered the trellis and grown vines so long they needed to be staked (bottom R). 

Sweet potatoes over time. The slips finally came out after 8 weeks (L), I planted them in the beginning of the 9th week and the shriveled (top R), and now they are at least 6 inch long vines (bottom R). 

Cantaloupe bed first planted (L), a few weeks later the plants were half way up the two 4 feet tall trellises (top R), and now they are a few inches taller than the trellises (bottom R).  

Cantaloupe bed fruiting. All the different sizes of melons at different stages, currently on the vines. 

Transferred the Pepper Container...

Because the tomato plants have basically taken over all of the neighboring beds the only pepper plant that was doing extremely well was the pepper container. Today I decided that since a bunch of the plots in Patch were now empty that I would transfer the container pepper to give it the space to grow. I took a big chance by guessing that the roots had run out of space and the plant would plop out of the container as a whole. I was right it was like an oversized seedling pot. I turned it over pulled it out and replanted it in the PM raised bed. I watered it with some sea magic and am hoping we get some good sun, which we did today despite the initial clouds dissipated, so that gets the long hot days it needs during this tender time.

Transplanted pepper plant. I thought I had a full photo of it in the container but I didn't, all I had is the top right image of the peppers that started there growth in the container 2 weeks ago. Part of why I thought it needed more space was that the peppers grew quickly then stopped just like my cantaloupe container. 

Potagar Schoultz

Patch Update...

Today I didn't work on my garden except for watering and setting out the greenhouse. I noticed that the first carrot seeds started to germinate, there are only 2, so far, but I still have a few days. I hope they'll all come out but if they don't I'll have the time to replant. I didn't work on my garden but I did work on the Potagar.

Setting Up...

It was a beautiful warm Saturday with a nice breeze, Mr. S. was home and working on his garden. I woke up early but didn't get up until about noon. I stayed in bed watching Big Love. When I finally made my way up and out I saw that he'd built 4 out of the 5 beds. He had them laid out just as they were built and I asked "is this how you plan on setting them up?" He said "No I just built them and put them down. I still have one more to build. I think we might put one next to your bed [in Patch]." I thought about how I'd set up the raised beds in the measured space on Smart Gardener and about how I could have gotten the measurements so wrong. It didn't seem like all the four by four beds would fit around the four by eight bed. Next thing I knew I had the measuring tape out, had grabbed a built 4x4, and started moving it . Nobody was out back at this point so I thought I could easily try a few different positions out...

So I started rearranging and it turned out that I hadn't measured "so" incorrectly. I was a little off but not as off as it seemed. I moved the large bed into the middle and put 2 small beds on the left and 2 on the right (one was just the box of the bed that had yet to be put together). I thought it looked good but needed to get approval. I asked Mr. S to come take a look, he liked it but said I had to get Mrs. S to approve. One the conditions of Potagar Schoultz was that it made the yard look beautiful. He asked her to take a look and she liked it but thought that the yet-to-be-built bed should be left that way. Once I explained that it wouldn't take more of the space to the right she was in, I think she loved it! So I started putting together the last bed and set it in its spot. It looked good, GREAT!

Next Step...

The next step was to lay out the newspaper to kill the grass and weeds. Mr. S asked me to do that while he went out for a few minutes. I said that I would and went inside to grab a bunch of paper. I laid it all out and then realized that, that nice breeze was blowing it all up. I laid bricks, a rake, a hoe, and extra bundled up paper in the middle of each bed to hold it down. After I finished all of that I realized that those items wouldn't hold each and every end. I thought of how I could keep everything down while we added soil to each bed. I knew that we weren't going to do it right away and that when we did, it would take us some time. So, I watered the paper. Damping it did hold it down but I got soaked from the mid-thigh down. The hose isn't spraying properly anymore. I moved on to moving everything out of the way of the cement walk. We needed it cleared to roll the wheelbarrow back and forth. I finally grabbed the wheelbarrow, rolled over to the compost heap, and started filling it. I got it about half way full when Mr. S got back with lunch. I stopped cleaned up the remaining paper and went in to wash up for lunch. I was a hot mess from shoveling compost. It was the part I knew would be the most trying... 

After Lunch...

I took an hour break for lunch and to watch a little more Big Love. At around 3pm I went back outside. Mike's Dad was out there filling up the barrow for the 3rd time. He had almost filled one full 4x4. I helped him fill the wheelbarrow, add Perlite, fill more, add more Perlite, mix, wheel, drop in beds, and rake out what didn't drop. We did this 7 times. We filled two beds to the top and just added enough compost to the other beds to hold the newspaper in place overnight. The paper had dried by then. After that Mr. S went inside and I cleaned up the empty boxes, bags, and moved the wheelbarrow back to the heap for tomorrow. I was exhausted. I went in to shower, have dinner, and relax.

Later that day...

I took the print out from SmartGarden and started writing down the number of each plant we still needed and whether we needed seeds or seedlings. As I did that I realize that we had a large amount of certain plants to buy and they happen to be the ones that weren't favorites. For example, it was listed that we needed 16 sweet basil plants. I changed a couple things around so that 1 bed is dedicated to cantaloupe and the other to watermelon. I removed a few of the tomato and basil plants and added a few of the varieties with low yields  We're completely set for 1 more Home Depot trip if they have sweet potatoes if they don't we'll have to make one for trip for that. Once we buy everything and add the rest of the compost we'll be ready to plant each and every single seedling and seed minus the sweet potato, peppers, and watermelons. Those will be left inside until it heats up a little more. They like warm and long hot days. We're still in the "cool" time frame. It's going to look amazing with most of the things planted and even more amazing with everything planted!

Full View of all 5 beds from driveway gate.

Large 4 x 8ft. bed and left side 4 x 4ft. top corner bed.

Final Potagar Schoultz lay out.

Test and Harvest Plant Update

Harvest Plants

The spinach germinating in this container were planted March 19, 2013. They started germinating after 15 days. They were the first thing I planted and were not primed or pre-germinated. That seems to be why they took twice as long to germinate and continue growing at a slow rate. I thinned them into rows on April 8 2013. 

Test Plants

These spinach plants were grown from a seed in a glass bottle on a wet paper towel. Once the fuzzy roots came in, in the bottle I transplanted them into this cup. They took 1/4 of the time to grow to the same height as the control group above. These plants were squashed and poured out to the side (only a little) on April 6th causing the germinating seeds to bore deeper into the soil when replaced upright. I thought that permanent damage had been done because they were transplants and sensitive to begin with but they have continued to grow at a rapid and healthy rate. 

These spinach plants were primed or soaked overnight in tepid water and planted. They took about 7 days to germinate and since have grown taller than both the pre-germination and control groups above. They may be taller than the pre-germ group because they were planted in shallow dish under little soil. These plants were uprooted on April 6th by the wind. The soil cracked and the plants were replanted in there cups a few hours after the fall. I thought that it would cause permanent to deadly damage but they have continued to grow and at a rate that supersedes the control/harvest group.

These radish seeds were primed and planted. They have grown at a rapid rate and are now showing a second set of leaves after 5 days. They are on there 9th day of growth overall. These fell out of there cup on April 6th and were replanted immediately after falling. I thought that they would die from the uprooting but have continued to show growth with the aforementioned leaves. The growth may have come a little slower than it was supposed to because of the fall but the fall was not terminal to the plants. 

The 3 germinating spinach plants are  in the ground in what I have called the "Faerie Garden." The soil was not amended or watered except for when planted. The rain we've received since there sowing on March 19 2013 is the only water they've received. The seeds were not primed, scarified, or pre-germinated. They took an extremely long time to germinate, about 20 days and are smaller than any of the other plants but they did germinate. According to everything I read they should not have been able. The test was successful, I was able to germinate seeds in shaded, rocky, muddy, sandy, and clumpy soil*.

* Even though the test was to find out if I could get the control group seeds to germinate in unknown poor soil with little care and I've gotten the results for that test I'll continue the plants growth to further test the theory of resilience in spinach plants. 

Child Alive

As of today my garden is alive and my thumb is green. The radish testers have sprouted to about an inch high, the sweet potato roots are growing there hairs, the potted spinach has shown signs of above soil germination, all of my strawberries are showing some green, even the one that I thought was dead, and my greenhouse is staying warm with condensation. The lettuce I bought at Home Depot yesterday and replanted in cups for root strengthening has grown new leaves.

It's pretty amazing to see everything growing and well. When I saw the radish sprouts the first thing I thought was 'They are so cute!' When I first started planning my veggie garden in Feb. I thought that I would be impatient and that the best part would be the harvest. I was so wrong. The best part is testing different planting methods on seeds and seeing what is most successful. The best part is getting dead looking barefoot strawberries and watching them come alive in days. The best part is making one really crappy greenhouse cover and making an amazing mini greenhouse 24 hours later that keeps the interior temperature up. The best part is everything leading up to the harvest, figuring out what works best for me, and then watching things come alive as a result of what I've done. It's an extremely amazing process. Somewhat like a little child birth.

If that makes sense... Child birth is obviously much more rewarding but since i dot have children this seems better to me. Let me explain. You plant a seed, feed it, water it and nurture it. Finally after a few days you have this little growing baby that will produce for you! Sounds similar right? Or is that just me?

Anyway, next up pre-germinating seeds for planting!

Barefoot Berries

Shipment Arrives...

My strawberry plants came in the mail today. They were shipped out yesterday and I received an email from Burpee telling me to expect them the next day. I had plans out for the day so I made sure that Mike was checking for them every hour. I didn't want them sitting out in the cold. It wasn't very cold this afternoon but I knew it would get colder as the day went on. Mike texted me around 2pm to let me know that they had arrived. A few hours later, around 5pm, I arrived at home and grabbed the package.

The first thing I said was "Wow this is really small. This is 25 plants?" Mike replied "I don't know. I didn't know what it was suppose to be." So, I opened the package and inside is a plastic bag knotted at the top with what seems like a ton of roots in it. I opened the bag and realized that the roots had crowns but no stems. This was not at all what I was expecting. I knew they were supposed to come barefoot (without soil) but I didn't expect them to have no stems or leaves. I still have no idea if any of them are actually alive and didn't then so I was a little disappointed. 

Planting Begins...

I read the insert it came with and made a decision I would plant them like the Bonnie plants in seed starting pots (in my case paper cups) and let them get rooted so that I could transfer them to the Topsy Turvy in a few weeks. The other option was to wrap the roots in damp paper towels and store them in a shaded place for 1 to 2 weeks which wouldn't give me any real time or not the time I needed. The last frost date is April 16 2013 and even though these are day neutral, able to withstand temperatures between 55-90, the weather outside has been jumping from high 50's and 60's to the high 40's. I can't take the chance of putting them out yet. 

Once I decided what I was going to do I grabbed 2 cardboard trays, 25 paper cups, a pair of kitchen scissors, a needle, and a kabob stick. I grabbed the the Vigoro Organic potting mix too. I lined the cups up on the cardboard trays upside down and started poking holes in the bottoms for drainage. Once, I was done with that I filled each cup with dirt except for 1. I put the barefooted plants into another cardboard tray and took them outside to trim the roots down to three inches. For this task, I'd need a measuring tape and the scissors I'd brought down with me. I sat out on the cement path locked the measuring tape at 4 inches and started measuring 3 inches out on each plants root system and cutting. I probably could have cut a few at a time but I wanted to be extra precise. That took me about 20 minutes then I went back inside to plant each plant in it's cup. 

I had a little trouble spreading the roots out and getting them to stay spread but I finally did by shaking each one upside down first and starting the process with only about an inch of dirt in the cup. Then I filled in the rest with the cup I'd left empty to pour the extra dirt into. Each one took me about 4 minutes. Once I had completed them all, doing a few twice because I'm a bit clumsy when I have a lot around me so I spilled a few and had to redo them, I needed to line the cardboard trays and water them. I ran up to the kitchen and grabbed some parchment paper. I lined each tray with the glossy side up and started watering the new plants with a pre-filled water bottle. I over watered a few to make sure that the needle and kabob stick points were big enough to allow for drainage. They were. 

Praying for Life...

Once everything was watered and on the tray neatly I placed them by a window in the sun room. Hopefully, they'll either stay dormant and alive or get enough light and warmth to grow some before I am able to transfer them. Like I said before I don't know that they are actually alive at the moment. I don't know what a "good" barefoot looks like but I'm praying they are alive and that they'll actually start taking root in there little homes so that they are easy to transplant. I didn't really know how I was going to get them to stay in the Topsy Turvy without the shoe. It would have been pretty, pretty, pretty (said Larry David style) difficult. 

For Your Edification

Plants per Plot...

If your like me and have to figure out how many plants can fit into an off sized plot use this formula…

(Height/Space) x (Width/Space)= Total per plot
(Total per Plot) x (# of plots for plant)= total plant type

These formulas give you the number of plants you are able to fit in any given space or plot in a square foot garden, especially, if they aren't quite square feet and how many plants you'll need total. It also gives you the number of rows and columns per plot.

H/SPC. = # of Columns
Width/SPC. = # of Rows

I have 8 square foot plots, 4 plots that are 9x12, one plot that's 3x21, and one that's 3x12. Each plot had to be calculated depending on the occupying plant spacing.

Examples:

Danver126 Plots: 3inch space
Size: (9x12)
(9/3)x(12/3)=
3x4= 12 per plot
12x4= 48 Danver126 plants

Red Core Chantenay: 3 inch space
Plots- 2
Size1- 3x12
Size2- 3x21
(3/3)x(12/3)=
1x4= 4
(3/3)x(21/3)=
1x7= 7
7+4= 11 plants
Note: the formula above for total plants only applies if the plots are the same size.

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!!!