I started this thread on Gardenweb yesterday. I was asking about growing common vegetables as perennials, so that they would start out the season with an established root base, and bear an earlier crop.
Got some good answers, including one about okra grown as a perennial.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
Fruit-bearing bananas
As I posted earlier, I placed an ad on FreeCycle asking for fruit-bearing banana trees. We got a response from a guy in town who had several fruit trees in his yard, and he planned to get rid of many, because they were planted by the previous owners, and they didn't interest him.
The digging has begun
This weekend, December 7 and 8, 2007 I began digging the first beds. The old canna beds were first. I dug out the bulbs, and couldn't give many away, so the rest went to the street.
Then I dug my first 4x9' bed (not exactly the length I'd planned, but close. I removed the turf by hand, and kept lots of earthworms that were close to the surface. I even found an old Civil War bullet!
I still need to dig yet another 4x9' bed, but I have until Spring to get that done.
When finished, I buried the whole thing under a deep pile of leaves I'd raked from the yard.
The whole thing looks awfully small, but it's as large as the garden I had years ago. I grew plenty of food in that little garden, so for sure it's a good start.
There's no turning back now. The ground has been broken, so even if I don't improve the soil the way I want, I'll still have a garden in 2008.
Then I dug my first 4x9' bed (not exactly the length I'd planned, but close. I removed the turf by hand, and kept lots of earthworms that were close to the surface. I even found an old Civil War bullet!
I still need to dig yet another 4x9' bed, but I have until Spring to get that done.
When finished, I buried the whole thing under a deep pile of leaves I'd raked from the yard.
The whole thing looks awfully small, but it's as large as the garden I had years ago. I grew plenty of food in that little garden, so for sure it's a good start.
There's no turning back now. The ground has been broken, so even if I don't improve the soil the way I want, I'll still have a garden in 2008.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
My plan
I intend to make my main garden out of a 24X23' parcel of my back yard. A lot of thought went into the location, and this spot has the best combination of sun and being out of the path of the occasional backyard vehicle use.
I'll have raised beds (not raised very high), about 4'X10'. There'll probably be four of them. If I can get free wood chips from the local government, I'll use them as my walkways.
I used to have a Square Foot garden. Back then, Mel Bartholomew's show was a hit on PBS and I was hooked on gardening. We grew more food than we ever could have imagined in it. This bed will be larger, but have more variety, including more herbs and flowers.
Gotta go.
I'll have raised beds (not raised very high), about 4'X10'. There'll probably be four of them. If I can get free wood chips from the local government, I'll use them as my walkways.
I used to have a Square Foot garden. Back then, Mel Bartholomew's show was a hit on PBS and I was hooked on gardening. We grew more food than we ever could have imagined in it. This bed will be larger, but have more variety, including more herbs and flowers.
Gotta go.
Bananas and garbage cans
The city enacted new garbage regs this week. Everyone now must use the official government-issued receptacles. So everyone is throwing away their perfectly good garbage cans, and I've collected a few for my garden.
The plan is to use them as a compost factory. I'll place compost materials into each can, then once per week I'll take an empty can and pour the compost from a full one into it. Then pour the next full one into the next empty one, and so on until they all get aerated. This should speed up the composting process and keep it all contained. My previous compost pile is just a pile. It has never been stirred, and I think the leaves from five years ago still haven't deteriorated. To make it worse, bamboo and vines have taken over. Cans will be better.
Janice has been on a home-grown babana binge. She suddenly has to have them. Well, the plants are expensive, so I posted a request online, and I now have two people offering to let me have some plants when they thin theirs. Free and edible!
I also placed an ad to get rid of the old canna bulbs. We never cared for them very much. I got one taker, so hopefully he'll come get them. The old canna bed will be the new vegetable bed. I think I'll grow potatoes there.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Blackberry bushes finally planted
This is post one of my garden blog. If you found me by chance, don't bother bookmarking, as I intend this as my personal record of my new pursuit of gardening, a pastime I once pursued passionately, but have abandoned.
My father-in-law gave me two blackberry bushes several months ago, and I have not gotten around to planting them. After another weekend of social obligations, I decided I needed to do one productive thing before work Monday, so I planted the two bushes in the back yard after our guests left, and before it got completely dark.
I did not improve the soil. I just dug a slightly over-size hole, loosened the root balls of the plants, planted, and mulched. I wish you well, little plants. You have a reputation for thriving on neglect, and I have plenty of that to offer.
December 2, 2007
My father-in-law gave me two blackberry bushes several months ago, and I have not gotten around to planting them. After another weekend of social obligations, I decided I needed to do one productive thing before work Monday, so I planted the two bushes in the back yard after our guests left, and before it got completely dark.
I did not improve the soil. I just dug a slightly over-size hole, loosened the root balls of the plants, planted, and mulched. I wish you well, little plants. You have a reputation for thriving on neglect, and I have plenty of that to offer.
December 2, 2007
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