Well, my veggie gardens are officially 2 months along now, so it's time for an update! And, as promised - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - in all its glory. (Check out the 3 month update here.)
As far as the raised bed, square foot gardens, this is what they looked like last night.
But we did have a cold front come through that not only finally brought us beaucoup rain, but crazy winds, and a big ole drop in temperatures. Last night, tonight, and tomorrow night, temps will dip down into the 50s, and rise back up to the high 70s and low 80s during the day. Last week, we were running in the high 80's and with extremely high humidity, making it feel like mid-90s. All that to say, with that much fluctuation in temperatures, I was concerned about blossom drop on my veggies, all of which pretty much have blossoms right now, so I went out and gave them all a blanket hoping that they would stay warm enough so that I don't have blossom drop. Will have to repeat this for the next couple of nights.
This is actually only my 3rd season of really semi-seriously giving this gardening thing a go - both for veggies and for flowers. For years, when I was working full time, I just stuck some vegetable plants in the ground and didn't really have time to tend to them or baby them like now, so I never had much of a bounty as the bugs and critters always got the best of it.
So.... here we go!
The Ugly No. 1: My poor Topsy Turvy planter.
After I replanted it with a healthy tomato plant, it was doin' great, and then...
Well, I think that's likely the end of my Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter experiment. It's not the planter's fault - just my dumb luck. First, I drown the first plant right off by giving it too much water and the wrong kind of fertilizer and now this, so I can't rightly give an opinion on its performance. I have, however, seen lots of people using this method with both the Topsy Turvy planter and homemade planters across the internet, so if you're curious about them, just give it a try!
The Ugly No. 2 - my Tomato in a Bag.
Well, the first tomatoes that I tried in the bag of Black Kow weren't very healthy to begin with because they were leftover from my raised bed plantings and had been sitting in a partially empty plastic cell pack for weeks. I lost one of them pretty quick. So I bought a new, healthy plant to give it fair try.
Well, this one, it seems, I drowned by over-watering.
Apparently the composted manure holds water pretty well, so all the times I was watering the other plants in the raised bed, I should have been checking the soil in the bag, and not just watering it! Yeah, I killed it. Apparently I do not have my Grandma Mac's green thumb.
Here are some pictures of all of the gardens as of this morning after I uncovered them. Besides the growth of some of the plants, you'll notice there are a few things, well, let's just say, different from when I started.
Bed No. 1 - 4' x 4' Left hand back side has 2 Big Beef tomato plants, plus there is a planter in the back that has the Roma in it. In the back far right is a cucumber plant - I lost one to over-watering, I'm pretty sure. In the row in front of that, marigolds, eggplant and two pepper plants. You'll hear more about those in a minute. The next 2 rows aren't much like I started at all. I added stuff, moved stuff, started stuff over. But right now, back to front, are cilantro, dill, chives, jalapeno pepper, then basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme. And on the ground on the left hand side in a small planter, mint. I've heard that mint will take over a garden pretty fast so it's best to grow in a container. For once, I listened.
Okay, now on to The Bad - my mistakes.
The Bad No. 1: Not following the author of All New Square Foot Gardening
Especially in relation to vermiculite, but also not using enough different sources of compost, both of which would have helped with moisture retention. I couldn't find any vermiculite in the large sized bags I needed, and since the Jungle Growth had some in it, I thought it would be enough. But after that initial period of rain we got, we went over a month with no rain at all and I found my beds drying out quick so that I was watering daily for awhile there and on a couple of those really hot, humid days, twice a day! That's just too much. Of course some of that was over-watering - more on that later. But, I think that it would have helped a lot to have added the vermiculite as recommended.
There is some good in the bad here in that Hub's accidentally picked up the wrong kind of Jungle Growth when I sent him back for some new bags for flower gardening, and it ended up being Jungle Growth Water Wise - containing extra sources for water retention. I top-dressed all of the raised bed plants with this and it really seems to have helped.
The Bad No. 2. Not separating the bean seedlings when they came up.
I planted bush green beans in the front and middle 4 squares of Bed #2, putting 2 bean seeds into each of the 9 holes so that I would have enough plants come up. Well, just about every one of those beans sprouted, but I never got around to thinning them out. Big mistake. By May 1st, they looked like this.
The Bad No. 3. Accidentally grabbing the Dawn dishwashing soap when I did the second soap spray treatment on the eggplant and peppers for aphids.
I wasn't thinking - or in reality, probably thinking of too many things at once - and I grabbed the Dawn instead of the generic, lemon scented stuff I used the first time. If you wait about an hour after spraying, you can then rinse the plants off, but like the first time I just sprayed the plants down and didn't rinse them. Again, my instincts told me I should go grab the hose, but I did this in the evening, so I didn't think that sunburn or scald would be an issue by the time morning rolled around, so I didn't rinse them off. Sure wish I had because when I sprayed everything, they looked like this. Looks nice huh?
The Bad No. 5. Assuming that wilting in the pepper plants was a need for water.
Well ... despite all that, there has been some good! So, I guess you can say I've saved the best for last.
The Good No. 1: Sticking with the square foot guidelines for bush squash plants, despite the fact that it takes up most of your bed.
If you question why so many squares, just have a look at this picture. Closest to you is actually the back - that's all tomatoes, but those plants in the center of all of those blank spaces are the squash when I first planted them. Seems such a waste of space, doesn't it?
The Good No. 3. Putting up the vertical frames.
The Good No. 4: Seeing the fruit of your labor finally showing up.
Click HERE for all the Year One 2009 Square Foot Vegetable Garden Updates
sounds like me last year, ripping plants out here and there. at least now i know why those whiteish/brownish spots showed up... i didn't rinse my soap off.
ReplyDeletei'm so behind in my garden this year, looks like i'll miss most of the summer stuff, but there is always the fall!
I think your garden looks great! Mine has only been out about 3 weeks because of late freezes and an overabundance of rain. The rabbits are grazing on my green beans and of course the weeds are thriving because of all the rain!Tomatoes look good, so far though!
ReplyDeleteYou are a better woman than me. I marvel at your tenacity. I think your raised beds look great and while it's a shame about the tomato it's early enough in the season that it can be replaced. Cudos!
ReplyDeletewe planted all of our stuff this weekend and thought we were safe from a freeze....now there is a frost warning tonight. Im jealous of your longer growing season.
ReplyDeleteCH, it's been a 3 year learning experience for me - but dang that can get expensive!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lynda! No rabbits here but I have stray cats, LOTS of birds, turtles, squirrels and raccoons - so far! The weeds are so few with the raised beds and THAT part is fantastic!
Thanks Mary ... I'm hard headed I guess LOL!
TG I go through that with our tropicals down here - the freeze is just enough to kill em off and then it'll be warm again the next day so I'm out there with blankets and sheets trying my best to save stuff! Wasn't the freeze for me this time, just the dramatic change in temps. I know if I didn't wrap everything through this cold front, all my blossoms would be on the ground!!
Don't be too jealous - longer growing seasons mean WAY more bugs to battle too. That's why bugs are so bad down south, ugh...
All I can say is "awe". I love your stories...Love hearing about your gardening woes and also the "hurrahs".
ReplyDeleteSince we are so far behind you here in NV.. I am taking notes on how to deal with things as they come up.
Happy to help Debbie! It's fun but sure can be frustrating too - if I can save somebody else a bit of that, I will be a happy gal!!
ReplyDeleteWow, you have been one busy gardener! We just got our garden planted this weekend!
ReplyDeleteHey Karen! Well, yeah, I have been at it for 2 months - in truth I sure should be further along. Soon it will be super hot here and that's always a drag on any plant - flowering or veggie.
ReplyDelete