Whatcha Growing?

[Otis1]

Looks pretty big, what are you going to fill it with? I'm sure we've all seen videos of people using big chunks of wood to fill space and claiming that it will add nutrients. I've also seen a bunch of stuff debunking that because it will be decades before big stuff breaks down and in the short term it ties up nitrogen in the process.

I used cardboard under mine, cheaper than the black fabric and eventually breaks down.

[thecfarm]

This is what I made for the wife.
these are about waist high.

July 21, 2024#gardenseries2024 #garden planter is in and planted (youtube.com)

Skip to 1:44 to hear me talk about the planters.
You may not have the corrugated plastic, but the grid might give you an idea.

[aigheadish]

That's pretty nice cfarm!

I can go dig a hole and fill with dirt from the yard, but we'll see what happens. We'll likely supplement with good quality dirt. My buddy has horses and I may be able to talk him into some compost...

[SwampDonkey]

As to how long it takes to break the filler wood down it will depend on climate and what kind of woody material and porosity of the soil. Wood chunks of non resistant species like elm, aspen, maple and birch break down pretty quick. There was a 48" diameter neighboring elm that died 35 years ago. I walked in there 18 years ago where it fell down in the woods, there was no sign of it left at all. That's a lot of wood to break down. Your good soil your adding on top. Like in nature your constantly adding to the soil on top. Garden plants aren't reaching anything past that good layer of soil. Any nitrogen loss is due to leaching along with water, not from the woody debris under it. Nitrogen is highly mobile in soil water. Studies of using nitrogen in forest conditions, showed that if significant rains happen soon after application, the nitrogen made it's way into streams and very little used by trees.

[aigheadish]

I'm not counting my chickens before they are hatched but I didn't really expect the seed success rate I've gotten. I think only a couple of the seeds planted haven't sprouted. We're still not out of the frost woods yet and there is still some work to be done on the other planter box, but it's getting to be time to do a fair amount of transplanting, hopefully tomorrow evening.

Assuming this year goes well, I've learned some lessons for next year and the garden shall improve!

[aigheadish]

I haven't had the time to transplant yet, unfortunately. I did get the second bed box done, and we've got 3 yards of "Super Soil" dumped in the yard, it smells terrible, so I think it'll work though it may not be enough for the size of these boxes. We've filled both up about halfway with sticks too. 

[aigheadish]

There's dirt in them thar boxes! The 3 yards turned out to be perfect for the initial fill of the boxes, though I worry a bit about the weight once there's some rain in there, and we'll likely have to add more dirt as it settles. It felt great to get out there yesterday and fill them. The seedlings have been getting a fair amount of outside hardening time, so my guess is maybe this weekend we'll plant outside, maybe sooner. I still have a handful of other seeds to go in, namely spinach and snap peas. I put some garlic one of the totes last weekend and 3 of 6 or something are already popping up. I'll try to get another picture of the seedlings, then I need to share some, because I'll have too much. I also bought two soaker hoses that should make watering easier. 

I lightened the photo substantially to be able to see the dirt, it looks very nice and dark. 

[SwampDonkey]

Looks like it's time to plant with all them trees leaves out. 

[aigheadish]

I took SwampDonkey's advice and planted! 



Maybe a bit crowded but we'll see how it goes. 

The near box, for posterity's sake, has Big Boy, Roma, and Large Red Cherry Tomatoes, then some Basil interspersed with a little bit of Peppermint, then the last third or so of that box is Bird's Eye Thai, Cal Wonder, Red Habanero, Jalapeno, Poblano, Numex, Shishito, Hungarian, and Black Hungarian peppers. 

The far box is mostly Cayenne peppers, with some Scotch Bonnet seeds I chucked in, then some Oregano, and at the far end some Cilantro and Spinach seeds I put in. I think I tossed some Spinach seeds in with the garlic too.

I bought a pepper variety pack without paying enough attention to what was in it, but I think I'll be growing more not-so-hot peppers than I was really interested in, though I know the Bird's Eye Thai, Habanero, Cayenne, and Scotch Bonnet should provide some heat. 

I also spent the night worried about critters. Our much smaller garden, last year, was much more accessible than this one, and it fared very well. We have a family of groundhogs under the shed that I'd rather didn't feed on this stuff, along with deer, fox, and racoons. I don't have any chicken wire to put over everything but I'm considering it. The dog's yard is just on the other side, as seen, but I'll probably do a bit of human liquid waste removal around the perimeter of the boxes to maybe help keep critters away. 

[Otis1]

Deer would be the main concern at that height I think. Looks great! 

Only other comment I have is that I learned last year that your supposed to plant garlic in the fall at least around here. Last year I planted in the spring and did get some small bulbs/ cloves. This year I planted in late fall before the ground froze and my plants are 10-12" tall now. 

[thecfarm]

Peppermint?
Herb?

[aigheadish]

Yeah, thanks Otis, I'm worried about the deer too but these boxes are pretty close to the house and they usually don't come that close. I'm throwing a trail camera on the area probably tomorrow after some SD cards arrive, to see if there are any visitors. I've heard that about garlic too, I didn't think about it in the winter time, unfortunately. How much do you plant and use and do you have a good storage method? We don't go through a ton of garlic but I may start using more if I have it from the garden sitting around all the time. 

cfarm- yup! the little leaves smell great! 

The plants, mostly the peppers at the far end of the close box, in the picture above, already show quite a bit of growth after only one day! It's nuts! 

[doc henderson]

It is hard to know the spacing for raised beds.  You may wind up with a jungle if they all take off.  Use what you learn this year for next year.  I would consider rounding up some stakes to help support the tomatoes and peppers.  Some folks will pinch off the secondary branch that will start to grow between a branch and main stem.  this will keep them from getting so bushy.  sometimes fruit are damaged by all the branches.  hydroponic guys do this to make 8 foot tall but skinny plants to make nice unblemished fruit.



lots of articles and video on how to prune for yield and health.  Our dogs like tomatoes and Libby the German Shepard will even pull some off for Griffin the Shitsu.

[thecfarm]

Reason I asked if that was an herb, it will take over and spread!!! and I do mean spread!!!
I put 4x4 around a rock and plant herbs in that. Have to mow around the rock so I do that.
It also contains the herb.
If you plant 2 herbs 10 feet apart that kinda look the same, in 10 years, they will be all over the place and you will have a hard time telling them apart. 
Wife has a lot of herbs.

[SwampDonkey]

I grow rosemary and dill and try to grow basal, but bugs love to chew that. Nothing seems to touch the other two, except maybe earwigs will eat some dill. And dill you get for seed these days grows way higher than it used to, unless it's the soil because they grow over 6 feet here. The old fashioned kind I remember grew maybe 3 feet.  But I also grow high yield here in a small space, my squash are way bigger than the package says.  Cukes grow like zucchini and all kinds on 2 - 4x8' beds. Neighbor came and got pales of big cukes last summer after we were done. I still threw away a wheel barrel full.

[SwampDonkey]

I had enough tomatoes last year to make all the sauce and ketchup for a year and then some.

[thecfarm]

@SwampDonkey
basil is easy to grow under crop cover.
I forget what size I buy 8x20?
I cut 10 foot 1/2 inch metal conduit in half,5 feet, bend it in a half circle,I think I use 6. I push the conduit into the ground 4-6 inches and then run a 10 foot piece over the top. I use black tape to hold the 10 foot one in place. Each hoop gets the black tape.
I plant the basil and then I lay the crop cover over my hoops. I bury both ends and one side. One side I lay a board or a small tree on the crop cover to keep it in place. This is the side I weed from.
No bugs will get at the basil. Or this has worked for me for more then 20 years.
Good luck!!
You could use plastic, but plastic gets brittle. I have used the same hoops for more then 20 years. I put them in the shed each year.

[SwampDonkey]

The thing with earwigs they like shaded covered places, that would be over run by earwigs. They will even live under row cover and come out to girdle stems of plants at night. Cursed bugs, whoever brought them over here should be in front of a firing squad. 

[aigheadish]

Doc, we've got bamboo growing that we use for stakes, it works out pretty well. Good tip on the pinching off the branches. Last year we had tomatoes but they looks very spindly compared to the neighbors whose were booming, I don't know how much the leaves had to do with it, but we were also growing in flower pots that were probably too small. 

cfarm, I've heard that with the peppermint, that it'll take over. We'll see how it does and if it gets too crazy it'll be easy to yank out. I don't know what I'm going to do with it anyway. 

Swamp, I'm not sure how many tomatoes we'll get but it'd be great to have enough for a bunch of pizza and spaghetti sauce. I need to find a way to delicately tell or teach my wife how to make sauce. She made some and canned/jarred it last year, and it's good but I think she needs to cook it waaay longer, and she's a bit more hesitant to toss a bunch of different ingredients in. Her idea of tuna salad is tuna and mayo, mine is tuna and a little bit of almost everything in the fridge and spice cabinet.