2015 Garden Journal
 

I have decided to keep a picture journal here to show my adventures in gardening this year. My fiancé and I bought a house this year and while not nearly as much property as I wanted I have much more useable land than I ever have. I will be building greenhouses, putting up fences, trying out selling at a nearby market, and turning lawns into gardens. Enjoy!



Pink Brandywine's started early December

Peppers to sell as seedlings started. Began construction of my first ever hoophouse. I will mainly use this for seedlings and winter crops like lettuce. I based it off an old Elliot Coleman cheap DIY design. Its just 20 ft rebar and irrigation tubing. I liked this design because I can easily move it wherever I need it.

Peppers ready for lights today. These are Tam jalapenos and Big Dipper bells.
I also went and picked up my greenhouse pool plastic today. I'm so excited its kinda sad.

You are on a roll dude! Looking good...best of success to you.

Everything is looking good! Best of luck this season :)

Thanks y'all. I think I may have started some seeds a bit early but oh well, live and learn. Just finished first round of transplants. I doubt I will start any seeds so early again, I just wanted to see how big I can get them before the first market which is March 28th. More pics, enjoy!

It looks like you planning on selling the plants, not the fruits at the market? March 28 is way early! I thought April 18 was early for my market opening because our last average frost date is April 15. Yours must be even later. I've got seedlings growing to be put under a hoop house like yours but I won't do it until mid-March.
(I am going to try not to have to heat my hoop house). I sell tomatoes, not plants. I don't expect to have anything to sell until May at the earliest.


[QUOTE=BigVanVader;445988]Thanks y'all. I think I may have started some seeds a bit early but oh well, live and learn. Just finished first round of transplants. I doubt I will start any seeds so early again, I just wanted to see how big I can get them before the first market which is March 28th. More pics, enjoy![/QUOTE]

I plan on selling plants early season Charley then produce later on. Since we just bought our house I wasn't able to get any winter crops going before it was to late and I had a million things happening at once, but this fall I will be planting onions and various salad/cole crops to sell with my plants.

I'm not expecting to really make any money but wanted to get my feet wet and hopefully hit it full steam next year since I will (hopefully) have time to get everything prepared.

Very few farmers bring plants to sell (2 last year) so I wanted to have various sizes and types available. What I don't sell will be given away to family and friends or planted in my garden. I wont make much but I figure the physical, mental, and spiritual therapy gardening provides me is worth plenty on its own. The rest is just gravy! ;)

Oh and yes it is early. We have a few indoor hydroponic farms in the area now who grow produce year round which is the main reason it starts in March. April 15th is normally the safe date for transplanting tomatoes and peppers in my area and that is when the market used to start, but it seems to get pushed earlier every year now as more people are getting excited about local produce.

Well I decided to redo the greenhouse. I couldn't handle it not being square and I wanted a way to attach the plastic. I ended up going with wiggle wire to secure and it just arrived Friday. So with any luck I will have the plastic on the next semi warm day we have.

Seedings of 29 varieties of tomatoes have been started with more getting planted weekly until April. I also have many other seeds going like peppers/eggplants, many perriennal flowers, herbs and on and on :twisted:

I have also been busy gathering supplies for making my lasagne beds. I plan to build them in long north/south rows and cover with clear plastic until planting time. Here are a few more pics for your viewing pleasure.

Just curious, are those rocks you are growing your seedlings in? I have never seen that medium before.

Its Diatomeceous Earth, you should read the sticky here about it. It is an excellent medium for seed starting.

Very nice! Have you fed the seedlings anything in the DE?

Yes I feed them after first set of true leaves with diluted urine at a 10/1 ratio. Then I transplant after 2nd set is visible to avoid transplant shock.

Hmmm I have never seen it like that before. I have DE, but it's ground up. I use it on beetles sometimes. Some family members I know drink some in water everyday. I just never saw it in that raw form before.

What's the brown stuff in the white bucket?

Coffee grounds. There is a little place called Bella Latte I pass everyday so I stopped one morning and ask if I could leave a bucket. They were glad to oblige and now I get two 5 gallon buckets of them per week. They make each cup to order so they look like little coffee biscuits.

Its amazing how much free material one can accumulate with Craigslist, Freecycle, and just asking nicely works to. :D

hoop house
 

What type of poles are those in your photo that you are using and where did you find them that long?
Thanks
Mike

20 ft sections of 1\2 inch rebar covered by 3/4 polyethylene pipe (irrigation tubing). I got it all at my local Lowes. It is based off an Elliot Coleman design that I adapted for my needs. My thoughts were it would be more stable with the strong winds we get here than PVC.

Irragation tubing
 

BigV

Thanks for the come back. I had thought about using irr. tubing but was afraid it would be to flexible. The kind at our Lowes is rolled up, wasn't sure how strong it would be. Looks as though its working well for you.


Mike

Urine? Who's urine?

We should be close to same frost date of April 15th. Started my seeds a little over a week ago.

looking great btw!

Greg

[QUOTE=gunrunner;451589]BigV

Thanks for the come back. I had thought about using irr. tubing but was afraid it would be to flexible. The kind at our Lowes is rolled up, wasn't sure how strong it would be. Looks as though its working well for you.


Mike[/QUOTE]

Yes, the rebar gives it all the strength you need, the tubing is more just to protect the plastic from abrasion/off gassing but it does add a little more rigidity to the structure.

[QUOTE=gssgarden;451591]Urine? Who's urine?

We should be close to same frost date of April 15th. Started my seeds a little over a week ago.

looking great btw!

Greg[/QUOTE]

Mine of course :twisted:

Urine is sterile and loaded with nitrogen. 10:1 dilution, or 1 cup/gallon fresh is a good way to use it. Just don't let it sit around. You can also buy crystalized urea (46-0-0) off amazon for about $12/5lb. I use it in a dry mix recommended by Praxxus, but I have used my own before. I just wouldn't mention it while giving away produce to people. "Hey! Here's some tomatoes for you.....btw, I peed on them." :twisted:

Yeah, some people get pretty grossed out by it so I don't advertise it.

I started making my beds this week. I layered them starting newspaper/horse manure/aged hay/coffee grounds/leaves. I will top it with rabbit manure at planting. I got it today from volunteering at a rabbit sanctuary which was kinda fun. I also got some Metro-mix 360 and some fish emulsion with kelp called Dramatic K for my seedlings.

Here are a few pics of the bed making process. These were later covered with 2 mil clear plastic to aid in heating and decomposing the layers into hummus.

Your Garden and green House all look Fantastic! Very well done! Beale.

Been awhile but I have taken a few more pics of my progress which I will post soon. I have been very busy with home/work/family things...plus I got married 8-)

As of today I have 57 Tomatoes in the dirt. Here is the breakdown.

Row 2:
Ozark Orange-6
JB truffle-6
Glacier-3
Big beef-5

Row 5:
Blueberries-6
Pink BB-6
Sunrise BB-5
Sungold-3

Row 6:
HJ Blues-4
Wes-3
Indian Stripe-3
Isis Candy-2
Submarine Blush-3
Malachite box-1
sugar drop-1

I have room for maybe 6 more tomatoes and I am thinking I will plant Bear Creek in that spot or maybe split it between BC and Neves azorean red. I have Carbon and CP plants that are looking gorgeous but no space for them :(

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Bell peppers
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This was the only Brandywine that didn't succumb to root rot and darned if it didn't give me a megablossom. Sometimes the tomatoes trick you into growing them ;)
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The plants I have left, sold around 250 so far which mostly paid for what I put into the garden this year. Still have alot of blacks which haven't been selling well.
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This big guy/gal? was hiding in the compost. I told him/her to kill any aphids it sees.
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Beds halfway through planting.
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My wife and I at the Angel Oak in Charleston. This tree is incredible!
Well I guess that's all for now. Happy growing!

Do at least plant 1 Carbon. You won't be sorry![QUOTE=BigVanVader;467629]Been awhile but I have taken a few more pics of my progress which I will post soon. I have been very busy with home/work/family things...plus I got married 8-)

As of today I have 67 Tomatoes in the dirt. Here is the breakdown.

Row 2:
Ozark Orange-6
JB truffle-6
Glacier-3
Big beef-5

Row 5:
Blueberries-6
Pink BB-6
Sunrise BB-5
Sungold-3

Row 6:
HJ Blues-4
Wes-3
Indian Stripe-3
Isis Candy-2
Submarine Blush-3
Malachite box-1
sugar drop-1

I have room for maybe 6 more tomatoes and I am thinking I will plant Bear Creek in that spot or maybe split it between BC and Neves azorean red. I have Carbon and CP plants that are looking gorgeous but no space for them :([/QUOTE]

I highly respect your opinion on these matters/maters so when it dries out I will stick 2 Carbon in the dirt. The varieties I have to choose from are Vorlon, Carbon, Absinthe, NA red, Stump OTW, CP, Prudens purple and Wapsipinicon peach. Suggestions? :dizzy: