I finally have room for a veggie garden!

[IrishLass]

A February 2017 garden update:

First, here is one of the last carrots we pulled out of our makeshift cooler 'flood & drain' system. It's actually 3 carrots that grew entwined around each other. I love how the one on the left has its 'arms' wrapped around the other, seemingly holding on for dear life, lol:

And here's what my strawberries look like today. They are growing in the very top part of the Tower (Reuglin Alpine strawberries):

IrishLass

 

[Millie]

Adorable carrots!

 

[fuzz-juzz]

Great idea and lovely little garden.
It's amazing what you can grow in such a small space.
And by the looks of it, you're doing great gardening job because plants are loving it. Unhappy plants = no fruit or veg.

I've handed over garden to my husband due to lack of spare time. Plants love his work lol. In the past 3-4 months we had about 10kg of potatoes, kilos of tomatoes, cucumbers, there's dill, parsley, spring onion, lettuce, capsicums and cucumbers are still happening so we'll have lots of them as well. We had zucchini the size of a torpedo haha they were at least 1.5kg. And all that in maybe 5 square meters of soil. It's not big, we can't sustain ourselves through the year, but during these few months I only shop for vegies we can't grow.
We have worm farm and compost bin, all the scraps are turned into plant food again.
Nothing better and more exciting than growing your own food. Not to mention eating them, much more flavour than in those from the shops.

 

[IrishLass]

An update on my garden. This is what it looks like presently:

It's quite a jungle, no doubt about it, but everything is doing very well at the moment. It's been sunny and in the high 80's to mid 90's during the day and gets down to the low 60's at night. It'll be interesting to see how things fare when the temps soar into the triple digits, though, which isn't too far off on the horizon.

I need to go in and do some pruning/trimming, though, because the mints are going crazy and trying to take over the place. The tomatoes are, too.

I keep an insect-barrier netting over it to keep the pests & birds away (which you can see folded back & clipped on the top), although aphids will get in via ants herding them up if I'm not careful to dust the ground below the reservoir with diatomaceous earth (which does a wonderful job of keeping the ants away). The last bout of aphids that I had (due to herder ants) was a little over a month ago when I got lax for a few weeks with the DE, but they were completely devoured by ladybugs, which I bought at my local gardening store and placed inside the netting.

This is what I have growing in it presently:

-Alpine strawberries (which are obscured by the netting on the top). I can hardly believe how prolific they are. I pick handfuls of them every day.

-Collard greens

-Romaine lettuce

-Cilantro

-Celery

-3 different kinds of tomatoes (green grape, Fireworks, and Buckabee)

-2 different kind of cucumbers (lemon and Diva)

-1 small melon (papaya melon)

-Purple basil

-Nufar Basil

-Chocolate Mint

-Spearmint

-Thyme

-Stevia

-Poblano Pepper

We also have more carrots growing in our cooler set-up.

I really, really love my garden! It's so nice to just go out there and pick stuff off to eat. I had a small bowl of green grape tomatoes this afternoon with a little sprinkling of kosher salt, and they were soooo goooood!


IrishLass

 

[lenarenee]

IL, can you give us any tips on how to grow romaine and other lettuce from transplants? We buy the plants and put 2 in container about the size of a large shoebox and they do well but start bolting instead of filling out. (why the weird containers? These are grown as portable/edible entertainment for our guinea pigs to forage on. We have millions of snails here, won't use chemicals for them as these are for food, and they can be easily carried to sunnier and safer locations.)

 

[SaltedFig]

Looking good!

Just looking at those basil reminds me of pesto so much I can almost smell it :mrgreen:

Lenarenee, I hope you don't mind me helping, but lettuce will bolt under stress (it's the plants reaction, so it can set it's seeds out before it dies), so controlling the stresses during transplanting is the key to success.
1/ Soak the seedlings to fully hydrate them before transplanting (submerge the punnets/pots of seedling in water until the air bubbles stop)
2/ Transplant on a cool day and/or in the shade (heat and full sun triggers seed set behaviour, even in ones grown directly in the ground)
3/ Water the transplants in - it seems like a lot of water, but this step is very important to do after you transplant. You will need to use enough water for this first watering that you don't get anymore air bubbles coming to the surface of the soil.
4/ Start the boxes off in the shade, and move gradually to a sunnier spot (this depends on your climate - the hotter your climate the more shade you want your lettuces to have)
5/ Keep the moisture up (ordinary watering) - if you see the lettuce wilt, it can recover (they are good at preserving moisture by drawing it back into their roots and then pumping it up into their leaves when the temperature drops or moisture is added), but it's a stress for them and will trigger bolting at any time.

 

[Millie]

I discovered a trick for controlling aphids entirely by chance - grow some dill! I added it to my flower garden (with a few veggies and herbs thrown in) as a decorative edible plant. It was covered in strange looking bugs that weren't anywhere else in the garden. They turned out to be lady bug larvae. A minute (exaggeration) after aphids flooded my garden the lady bugs appeared and ate um up. Dill reseeds every year but is easy to control. It is also a very pretty plant.

 

[navigator9]

Oh IL, you are such a shameless showoff! lol You can't imagine how "green" with envy I am at your garden. Here in the northeast, we have such a short growing season, it's pitiful. Speaking of pitiful...here's my "garden." Well, one of my starter boxes, on the window sill, waiting for it to be warm enough for them to be planted outdoors. Now don't you feel lucky to have your plants as far along as they are? Ahh, your picture makes me smile, and think of when my plants will be more than itty bitty seedlings. Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[toxikon]

Wow that set-up is so cool!

I have a massive backyard and I definitely need to dedicate a summer to get it cleaned up and make some garden beds. Maybe that will be this year's summer project...

 

[libertyjustice]

That's interesting! I'm not sure about the way it looks but I think if you dont have much space it is a good alternative.

 

[Seawolfe]

Ok now I just gotta show off my first harvest - they went into a pickle jar this weekend.

 

[WeaversPort]

I'm completely envious and in love with your garden!!!

Those are beautiful!

 

[navigator9]

Seawolfe, with the dill in there with your cukes, I'm guessing you're making pickles? You can't imagine how jealous I am. :mrgreen: My seedlings are much bigger than they were in the pic above, but not in the ground yet. We kept having frost warnings. They have been hardening off though, and I'm putting them in tomorrow, come hell or high water!!!

 

[IrishLass]

That's interesting! I'm not sure about the way it looks but I think if you dont have much space it is a good alternative.

I don't know if you are familiar with the old '60's futuristic cartoon called 'The Jetson's', but every time I look at my tower, that's what I'm reminded of- it looks like it would feel quite at home there with George and Jane Jetson.

In spite of it's rather odd, space-age appearance, it's a really well thought-out design in terms of plant growth/maintenance. I confess that I'm in complete love with the thing, not only because it helps out with my limited space issue, but even more importantly because it allows a person such as myself who wasn't born with a 'green thumb' to be able to grow things as though I were an old pro at it. My previous attempts at veggie gardening "in-ground" were total failures. I think I only ever got a tomato or 2 for all my efforts. I also like not having to weed, as well as the fact that that I can just toss a net over it to keep out the chewing pests and birds. The net provides protection from high winds, too, which we've had more than a few incidences of over the past few weeks.

Ok now I just gotta show off my first harvest - they went into a pickle jar this weekend.

Those look great!

I just picked a couple of lemon cukes off the tower the other day. I've never had lemon cukes before and didn't know what to expect taste-wise, but they tasted just as yummy as a regular green cucumber. Their compactness is just perfect for the tower, so I think I'll be keeping them as a mainstay tower crop.

My tomatoes and strawberries are still quite prolific, and I'll be picking my first poblano pepper sometime this week- it's almost there (I'm so excited!).


IrishLass

 

[jewels621]

I can even comprehend year round gardening. This is the first time in about 15 years that I've even been able to plant in May. Our official last frost date is May 15th, and this is the first time I've ever planted on that date. Got the whole garden in today. Hubs will be glad to come home tonight and not have the dining room be a makeshift greenhouse anymore! He probably won't be happy, though, to find out that it means I have more soap curing space!

 

[WeaversPort]

Seawolfe, with the dill in there with your cukes, I'm guessing you're making pickles? You can't imagine how jealous I am. :mrgreen: My seedlings are much bigger than they were in the pic above, but not in the ground yet. We kept having frost warnings. They have been hardening off though, and I'm putting them in tomorrow, come hell or high water!!!

A friend of mine uses old fashioned Christmas lights in her plant beds for frost warnings. She says that they generate just enough heat to ward off the frost, but not so much it burns the plant. It might be something to consider if you get them in the ground and the weather continues to be ornery.

 

[navigator9]

A friend of mine uses old fashioned Christmas lights in her plant beds for frost warnings. She says that they generate just enough heat to ward off the frost, but not so much it burns the plant. It might be something to consider if you get them in the ground and the weather continues to be ornery.

Brilliant! Thank you for that.

 

[Steve85569]

Usually we wait for Mother's day to plant 'maters but this year I was impatient and got mine out early. I need to build cages for this year's planting.
I started a mulching project early when I was planting blueberry rootings and Jan is jealous of my patch. Heres are doing okay but the ones in the mulch mix are really looking good.
Strawberries are turning white so it won't be long now before fresh red ones are on the table.

I'll try and get some pictures - I know it isn't happening unless I do.

I am blessed with a large yard but the draw back is needing 8 foot tall fences so the deer don't eat what they want.

 

[WeaversPort]

Brilliant! Thank you for that.

You're welcome! This gives you a chance to get LED bulbs if you're using the old fashioned ones in the garden

I'd still probably take frost precautions, especially for new plantings, but hopefully it can help long-term!

 

[IrishLass]

Just thought I'd post an update on my Tower Garden. I harvested everything off of it and completely dismantled it, cleaned it and stored it away in June before we left for vacation, and when we came back I decided to just continue to leave it out of commission until our intense 115F-120F summer temps came down to a more reasonable level.

It's still in the triple digits here, but on the low end (105F). That's about how hot it was last year when I first ever started gardening with it, and since all went well back then in spite of the heat, I decided it was time to get it going again, especially seeing as how the worst of the heat is over and the forecasted temps look to be keeping out of the crazy zone.

This is what it looks like today (I set it up over the weekend):

As you've probably noticed, not every hole is filled yet. I'm still waiting for the roots on my seedlings that you can see there in the little netted tray on the Tower cover to get a little more developed.

So far, this is what I have 'implanted' (all Non-GMO, and most heirloom):

1) Buckabee's New 50-day tomato
2) Gold Dust tomato
3) Brandy Sweet Plum tomato
4) Romaine lettuce (Parris Island Cos)
5) Poblano/Ancho Pepper
6) Nufar Basil
7) Amethyst New Improved Basil
8 ) Collard Greens (Georgia Southern)
9) Jackson Supreme pickling cucumber
10) Calendula
11) Bok Choy
12) Stevia
13) Chocolate Mint
14) Wildfire Lettuce
15) Marigolds

And these are the seedlings I am waiting on to develop a stronger root system:

16) Alpine Strawberry (Reugen)
17) Alpine Strawberry (White Soul)
18 ) Alpine Strawberry (Yellow Wonder)
19) Alpine Strawberry (Stragioni)
20) Cilantro (slow bolting)
21) Chives
22) Lime Balm
23) Ventura Celery

Although I have slots for 28 plants in the Tower, I'm leaving some empty to help me keep things manageable with all the fruiting plants I decided to grow.

How do you like the PVC topper on my cage? My hubby built it for me for those emergency times that I need to throw my insect/bird netting or my protective heat/frost cloth over the tower. It will keep the netting or the cloth from weighing down the uppermost plants on top.

Those white cloths that you see hanging on the Tower are doused in a strong dilution of my homemade mosquito repellent with catnip and lemon eucalyptus, which has a fairly potent smell. I saw a few mosquitoes buzzing around the Tower yesterday and so I thought- opportunity corner! Let's give it a try and see what happens. So far, so good- I haven't seen any mosquitoes buzzing around it today. We get those rude tiger mosquitoes that aren't polite enough to wait for dusk. They come out to feast even if it's high noon. :twisted:


IrishLass