Try my app, Planter, to help manage your vegetable beds
Peter Keefe
7 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
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Steve Lng Islnd NY Z-7a SunSet Z-34
7 years agodigdirt2
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoRelated Discussions
Managing my space
Comments (8)Remember that converting your not-very-good soil into a workable soil will involve adding amendments in the form of organic matter, not just physically breaking it up or turning it with a shovel. If your own compost isn't ready, maybe you could purchase something to get you started. You might be able to find commercial compost, or composted manure, or something. Don't use un-composted manure so close to planting time unless it's rabbit (and some will disagree with this statement, too!). As others have said, this *is* a large bed, but I think you're right to just dig in (so to speak!) and get going on it. When I finally take a deep breath and go out there and *do* something, I'm always surprised at how much I get done in a small time. Spending a little time every day will get you far. I'll also toss in that gardening in rows isn't the only way to do it when you're gardening in the ground. My own garden is laid out more like the style of a raised bed system, with strategically placed paths, and wider sections that I amend heavily and never walk on. You should be able to do 4-foot "rows" with this model (you'll be able to reach in 2 feet from either side), and get a bit more usable space...though I'm not sure you need more! You should get out some paper and make some sketches, and find a layout that suits you....but of course you can start digging right away....See MoreClueless as to what is destroying my vegetables please help!
Comments (35)<The link Donna posted says Landowners or their agents may take nuisance fur-bearing animals in any number by any means at any time on that person's land without the need for a hunting or trapping license.> That makes more sense than "Squirrels are protected where I live". What dan said was <daninthedirt(Cent TX; HZ10, Sunset z30, USDA z8a) In most urban areas, squirrels are protected by law. You can move 'em, but you can't kill 'em. If you could kill them, a gun, poison, or a body-trap would work adequately.> http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3939488/die-squirrels-die-how-to-kill-furry-little-pests-safely?n=93 When questioned he said <daninthedirt(Cent TX; HZ10, Sunset z30, USDA z8a) Local city code. Go figure. § 3-2-4 - HUNTING AND TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS. (A) Except as provided in Subsection (B), a person may not: (1) knowingly shoot, kill, or hunt a wild animal; or (2) use a steel-jawed spring trap or any other type of trap that could injure a trapped animal or person. (B) Subsection (A) does not prohibit the use of conventional mouse traps to catch mice and rats.> Which makes no mention of squirrels being protected. To me it means "NO Hunting" prob cuz they don't want people "shooting" in the city which makes perfect sense but I just don't see "squirrels are protected" mentioned in there. https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/huntwild/hunt/fur_bearing/nuisance/...See MoreHelp me choose the best vegetable varieties for my new garden.
Comments (10)I'm going to put a plug in here for Daisy Farms, located in Dowagiac, Michigan. I got my asparagus crowns from them, 200 of them and 198 of them grew. I just ordered strawberry plants and horseradish from them a couple of weeks ago, they will be shipped in mid-May. I live in Northern/Western Michigan, about 50 miles North of Grand Rapids. I don't seem to have any issues at all with growing a LOT of vegetables, although some tomatoes really dislike our short growing season and I find that hot peppers must be started inside pretty early, I've already got mine started. I've grown various sweet peppers, from Ajvarski to California Wonder to sweet banana, they've all done fine. I don't buy separate cucumbers for eating fresh or for pickling, I get Miss Pickler or Northern Pickling, whatever my local feed store gets in bulk. I have trouble with spinach, it bolts too quickly to get much use out of it, it goes from cool to really hot too quickly for spinach to like it, so I plant lettuces, bok choi, leaf amaranth and mizuna instead. Snap peas do well as long as you get them in early enough, although I've had more trouble with chipmunks eating them than I have had growing them. Deer love them too. (sigh) We eat a lot of dried beans and since I don't want to mess with supports, I go for the bush types. Varieties which have done well for me here are Taylor Horticultural, various types of cranberry beans, mayacoba, kebarika, red kidney type beans and soldier beans. Michigan grows a lot of dried beans and they do well pretty much everywhere in the state, I think. Green beans I just buy whatever is at the feed store in bulk, from Provider to Blue Lake, they're all the same to me. I do buy Royal Burgundy because I like them and think they stay firmer when canned. I've had no luck with brussels sprouts, our season just doesn't seem long enough and I get tiny little sprouts about the time things start freezing. Cabbage does really well, though. Broccoli always seems to get "strong", but aspabroc is amazing, I just keep cutting those little florets and they are always sweet and good. Winter squash is something I always grow, and we just like butternut best. I've still got butternut in storage from last year, so it stores well too, good thing to put into that root cellar! We also like the blue Haikodo and the red Kuri, and various acorn types, including Carnival. Delicata is good, but it likes a long season so it's not consistent. I have raspberries, a mix of Caroline (my favorite) and Latham, both do well. I don't have blackberries. The asparagus I got from Daisy Farms and it was Jersey Giant. I'm very pleased with it. The strawberries I ordered was a mixture they have, June bearing, and I don't know how I'll like them because I don't have them yet. I had a lot of trouble with Ozark Beauties, they got everything from fungus to some kind of rot to mildew, no matter what I did I never even got enough berries to eat fresh and I planted them three years ago. They are in a raised bed and I have terrible luck growing anything in raised beds, for some reason. My raised beds are going to be repurposed for early spring greens and lettuce or they may become cold frames with the addition of some old windows, and I'm putting the berries into a different/sunnier spot. If lettuce won't grow in those blasted raised beds I'm tearing them apart and giving up on them entirely, although it does make it much more convenient for the deer to eat everything in them without having to lower their heads too far... Good luck, don't start too big. I know lots of people who have just given up altogether because they were so excited to start and underestimated the time and work that went into their gardening. Annie...See MoreHow about a metal trough as a vegetable planter?
Comments (20)Stevie - thanks - I completely understand where you are coming from in not wanting to 'cut out the ecosystem from the ground soil' - but - there is nothing easy about the decision I'm trying to make. Try to picture this - I have a 1/4 acre lot. One neighbor to my South, one to the North. Behind me I have two yards - the back of their also small lots - that intersect in the middle of my lot, on the other side of my post and rail fence. To the South I have a mature Maple 5ft away from my lot line near the front yard. In the Southwest corner, less than 10ft away I have a 50 year old Silver Maple in the neighbor's yard. It's massive. To my west where the neighbors intersect, one neighbor has another mature Silver Maple, that I can reach out and touch. 2nd neighbor has 3 more Silver Maples, not as close. On my lot I have a 40 year old Maple in my NW corner. To the North - that neighbor had a smaller lot than most and decided to plant a line of trees within 5ft of my lot line. There's a mature Sycamore, and a Pine and a line of 8 mature spruce trees across less than 200ft line. So, unfortunately, the raised beds I already have, which I thought were a far enough distance away from the trees, are just full of tree roots that have to be dug out every spring. It's maddening. Especially when a lot of the reason you install raised beds is to make vegetable gardening easier. And I'm not physically up for the task of digging that out every season. This year I was going to skip it all together, but someone suggested I just do one or two beds, which is what I've done. The rest are just sitting there with mulch on them accumulating more tree roots. And I've tried your suggestion, to just dig it over and loosen it up and not really pull out all the roots and plant. I wish I could say that was successful, but the vegetables just didn't really grow as well as they should. It is wonderful to have all those trees around our lot. Great privacy and a green background. I just love to vegetable garden too and the two are not all that compatible in my circumstances. I just need to decide on a solution I can live with. But thank you for the ideas. I appreciate everyone's efforts to make suggestions....See MoreSteve Lng Islnd NY Z-7a SunSet Z-34
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoLisa 8b
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoPeter Keefe
7 years agoDawson North TX (z8a/7b)
7 years agoturnage (8a TX)
7 years agoPeter Keefe
7 years agoSteve Lng Islnd NY Z-7a SunSet Z-34
7 years agoDawson North TX (z8a/7b)
7 years agobragu_DSM 5
7 years agofloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoplanterjeff
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agorgreen48
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoPeter Keefe
7 years agoPeter Keefe
7 years agoSteve Lng Islnd NY Z-7a SunSet Z-34
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agofloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
7 years agouaskigyrl
7 years agoSteve Lng Islnd NY Z-7a SunSet Z-34
7 years agouaskigyrl
7 years agoSteve Lng Islnd NY Z-7a SunSet Z-34
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoPeter Keefe
7 years agouaskigyrl
7 years agoPeter Keefe
7 years ago
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