Check out the link at the bottom of the page above. I have details on the buckets, soil type, and other things. I do Miracle grow 15-30-15 every Saturday at a rate of 1 teaspoon per gallon. I dump about 16ouches in each bucket, depending on how big the plant is. The small tomatoes don't get much yet but the huge Organic spaghetti sqush gets a bit more. I do Epsom salts ever couple weeks, about a teaspoon per bucket.

Hi Quesera, Those ground cherries tasted terrible. Imagine the taste of a moldy wine grape from the back of the fruit drawer in the fridge- slightly sweet, a bit rotten, and mildewey tasting. Ick. I don't know why anyone would eat them unless they were starving, but I do know why they never took off commercially. Have you tried pulling out one of the plants that is not doing well and looking carefully at the roots? Root knot nematodes love ground cherries. I think I produced a population explosion when I planted ground cherries in that bed. The nematodes interfere with the plant's uptake of water, so they yellow and wilt quickly and die young. Good luck. Don't feel like you have to eat them just because you grew them :D Renee

Brian, Awesome job ~ thanks for showing your beautiful & productive garden space. The summer season is over, but in our climate we can garden into the fall if you desire. If you're done gardening until spring cover crops should be enough to renew the soil. Since I keep part of it productive I just add compost to spots after harvesting & any beds finished up get topped off with a combination of what I have available. Usually homemade compost, partially composted manure + bedding, and grass clippings mixed with shredded leaves as it comes out of the mower catcher. Our rains keep it from blowing around. I noticed kale in your pics. Kale sweetens after frost, so you might like to keep some in the garden all winter. Pick outer leaves instead of cut & come again technique. It will flower in spring & self-sow if you let it. I've not sown it in years because I let it self sow & it transplants readily. I don't keep all the beds productive year round, but it's sure handy to have the vegetables out there. -Chard & parsley keep as well bouncing back after cold snaps. -Root vegetables can be kept in the garden until desired if you can protect from freezing, rodents, & excess wetness. -Onions & garlic can be planted now for harvest next spring & summer. If you already have leek it will stand for you until you want to pick. -Then there are lettuces & greens you can keep picking especially with protection... -Celery is good for soups & stews. I use a few different found items as cloches over individual plants to provide some winter protection later on. In severe weather I'll throw some row covers on. It would be even better if we had plastic hoop cloches over them. Here is a link that might be useful: Fall & Winter Vegetable Planting Guide

Hi I have 4 year old twin boys and honestly I thought they would show about 2 minutes interest and then give up, how wrong I was! they are useful diggers, not in a methodical way, but in a random haphazard way in order to find worms and "put them in their house" and sing songs about worms to them!, it has saved me a lot of digging! I just rake level, after liberating the worms of course! I have planted radish (very quick growing) beans (I use runner beans they tend to be in the flower section in the US but can be eaten after cooking, Yum!)sprouting seed again quick. I am prepared to sacrifice some veg along the way to show them the growing process (tried to do it when thinning out but quite frankly I go with their agender, they will never want to know when you want them to! and they will want to pull them out! so use it as thinning process) I used a litre plastic juice bottle cut about 3/4 way up and 3/4 round, roll up newspaper, quite a thick wodge and put it in the bottle, push runner beans (a couple will do in case of failure, never happened yet though) down between the paper and plastic to about half way down, put about 1/2 inch of water in the bottom, basically so it touches the paper for about 1/2 inch, the water will soak up the paper. seal the cut bottle with tape and leave the lid off, put on a window sill, with the beans facing into the room, and wait, it only takes a few days for the root to become visable and this caused great excitement, not just from them! at this point I attempted to cut a ungerminated bean seed...managed and the lack of a finger isn't such a handicap these days I'm told!!! my husband then said I should have used a peanut! it shows, easily the root and stalk parts! DOH! so do this not the bean! the root grows down and down to find food, but because it has a good food source the stalk will eventually also appear, at this point (which was today) you need to plant them although I am sure I have left them longer without ill effects! one of mine was so happy today wen I showed him, he hugged the bottle and said "thank you sooo much Bean" sweet I never tried but I'm sure other beans would work, anyone know?. I also gave them a small part of the garden to be theirs and a piece of paper each to plan their garden, I printed out a sheet of pictures of veg (which I stole off on line garden garden catalogs)(use powerpoint if you have it to save paper) got them to cut out the pic and stick them on the paper limit 6, they made some interesting choices, obviously brocolli and carrot which they love, but cauliflower, which they hate, its for you mummy, no fruits such as strawberrys? and they wanted flowers again for mummy, I gave in and we are using sunflower and nasturtium, sunflower spectalcular, seeds attract bird which my two like and if any left after the birds! can be eaten, nasturtium, because my aunt assures me they grow quickly! I have never grow flowers before so an interesting experiment for me. I only intend to let them have say 6 carrots and hope they grow! because they really need ownership and responsibily at this age not quantity, thats my job!, be prepared to tend their plots when they get bored and above all enjoy it, I built some raised beds on a slope yesterday and was amazed how much I got done without them around but found my self bored because they weren't around to sing "there's a worm at the bottom of my Garden, and his name is Wiggley Woo" incidently I made the raise bed from an old toddler bed! and until my birthday last week I was using their yellow plastic watering can! check out making newspaper pots on the web, don't buy a shaper it easy, just damp the paper first, egg boxes for seed starting, I got hand tools from the dollar tree, they may not last long but they are a handly size for children. hope this helps