Contained Edibles

An EarthBox creates a contained/isolated environment for growing herbs and edibles. I have only two of them in addition to my in-ground edible garden.

Tomatoes growing in Earthbox

One of my Earthboxes has tomatoes growing in it for fall. I planted seedlings 9.2.12 and tomatoes are forming on happy, healthy plants! I've attached the extension rods you can add to an Earthbox and also a mesh net that towers about 7'. The net is especially helpful in bracing up vigorous vines.

This week I cleaned out the second one (it was home all spring/summer to Rue herb that hosted dozens of black swallowtail) and I planted basil starts (sweet and purple). In the same box I also planted a row of lettuce and spinach *seeds* .

I switch out my Earthboxes with new plants/seeds for each growing season. I always remove all the *old/used* soil, wash the container thoroughly and replace the soil medium/lime/fertilizer with fresh ingredients.

Various containers can be turned into a well-draining pot for edibles. It doesn't have to be an Earthbox, of course.  It's just easier for me to purchase them because they are ready to go. I like the idea of easy set-up. My experience with them has been successful. I keep mine on the back open patio where it's easy for me to water them every 3-4 days. Do you plant your edibles in containers?

Happy gardening and enjoy your weekend,
Meems

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Meems

The Edible Garden Has Bones Too

In my ornamental garden it is the placement of trees and foundational plants that we call the 'bones' of the garden. They are those elements that remain. No matter the season or the hardships encountered it is the 'bones' of the garden that give it structure and form. If chosen correctly these fundamental players of the garden are what we work around to create places of interest with forms, textures, colors, and size variances that please our senses.

When I initially created my edible garden by removing lawn and starting with two framed boxes it felt as though it was completely "separate" from the rest of the garden. A lone corner all by itself.

As I expanded it, the next season, I purposed to carry out the same principle of good 'bones' in the edible garden. Even the thought of it just 'felt' better. Like it was a more natural way to garden.

Here's how that works for me.

This is the edible garden today taking up the entire side yard with no turf grass remaining. It is completely enclosed by a chain-linked fence. Yes, it's ugly. But it does serve to keep out some of the critters like armadillos and pea fowl roaming the neighborhood. The fence is covered entirely by confederate jasmine vine. This further serves as a wind-break on bad weather days.

Surrounding the perimeter of the garden are perennials and ornamentals. Some of them are in containers and are placed to further the draw of pollinators and to just look pretty. These are the bones ~ because they remain. Not necessarily all at the same time but no matter the season there are plants appealing to the senses.

The entire length of the exterior edging is bordered with bulbine, society garlic, or variegated aztec grass. Each of these blooms and at different times/seasons and each of them is cold hardy/drought resistant which means they are always there even when the vegetable beds are empty and resting. The edging is the bones.

Mid-late summer is when my edible garden rests. Most of it anyway. There are only herbs of oregano, parsley, fennel, chives, mint, rosemary, and basil (barely hanging on) growing. Two (indeterminate- black cherry) tomato plants are defying the odds of summer in an Earthbox (in partial shade).

Gone are the weeds. Finally. With a bit of effort.

A fresh layer of organics including mushroom compost, my compost, and new potting soil have been added to each bed. Mixed in with that is bone meal, blood meal and alfalfa pellets.

I do this in July when the spring garden is spent which gives it about 6 weeks for all this to "cook" before my fall garden is planted.

My Troy-Bilt chipper shredder comes in so handy all year long. Last week when the edible garden was all cleaned up I made some nice fine-mulch to cover all the beds while it sleeps.

Collected sticks and limbs and some bags of oak leaves all processed for use in the edible garden and elsewhere.

The two cedar framed/raised beds remain in the back corner of the garden. I've chosen to hill-up the other 4 beds into a rectangular/oval-ish shape. The center is a swale of sorts allowing for irrigation/rain to seep into the root system of the edibles.

It's a beautiful thing. The interiors (swale) of the beds are mulched with pine needles while the 'hills' are mulched with the finely shredded leaves and limbs.

No matter the season the edible garden is never "just an edible garden". The low-maintenance bones keep it alive and active.

Side notes for my Florida friends:

• Tomato seeds have been sown this week in 4" pots and placed in a partially shaded location to germinate. They will be transplanted to the ground in September.


• Newly planted (direct sown)okra seeds have emerged and eggplant seeds are sown but not emerged.


• Heirloom rattlesnake pole beans are hanging on the vine to dry. This will provide next season's pole beans.


• September will be the month I get my tomato seedlings in the ground and seeds of squash, bush beans, collards, and carrots and brassicas.


• October follows with seeds of lettuces, spinach, radish, kale, and snap peas.


• November is for succession planting.

The fall edible garden can be tricky ~~ according to weather. Last year October was as hot (but dry with NO rain) as August and I had to re-seed everything. Then we had early freezes in December which made the whole schedule upside down. You never know. But the point is to keep trying. We keep learning from our successes and our failures.

What are you growing?

Vegetable Garden::Full Spring Ahead

During this season of warmth and rapid growth gardening takes on the all consuming pose calling for even more time and energy of passionate gardeners everywhere. Not only in the landscape but especially in the vegetable garden where those annuals increase in size seemingly from each morning to each night.

Chive blooms glistening with heavy droplets of dew are just one among the many delightful discoveries on an early morning walk about.

The first dawning hours being the best time for thorough inspection and the picking off any tiny worms boldly chewing away at the greenery for their breakfast.

The watering regimen follows. It's best done by hand with the garden hose. Irrigation was installed this winter with its own separate timer and assuredly comes in handy on occasion. But it is not preferred over individualized watering for just what is thirsty at the moment.

This February when it was necessary for me to rebuild the 4 outer beds I reconstructed them in a (rectangular) box shape leaving a trench of-sorts in the middle. It occurred to me to create a place to fill with water which allows it to slowly seep into the roots of the four hilled up sides.

My amateur (veggie) gardening status gives me all kinds of lenience for trying different methods. This one is proving to make sense toward preserving the run-off from the hills as well.

When they are dry I don't mind compressing the interior soil by walking in it to inspect the plants or harvest from the inside.

Spring is the time when all living things awaken to the newness and splendor of the season. Signs of vim and vigor are everywhere we turn.

Succession harvesting of the earliest crops are well underway.

While many others are staked, bushing, or twining their way into exuberant growth with each glorious hour.

Snap peas of the blue-podded sort were planted this year for a try at a new variety.

But mostly for the interest of that adorable tiny violet flower that precedes the sweet blue pod with its little peas all huddled inside in a perfect row.

Handfuls of the most tender and tasty green beans are best gathered first thing in the day. But if it can't be helped a late evening culling works just fine for hungry tummies, too.

Already the flowers placed throughout the veggie garden are over-taking their bounds.

Naturally, that is the plan when situating them among the vegetables to draw in nectaring beneficial insects. The aesthetics they add call out to me to linger a bit longer and inspire me to pull another weed or plant another seed.

New crops of romaine lettuce have come in so fast even I'm surprised.

And small wonders! The onions planted from seed are actually looking as if they might grow ... yes, onions. It was decided in February to give one more go at planting them after two previously failed attempts. Never hurts to try again. Fingers still crossed for onions forming.

Flat leaf parsley from the fall garden is sited in between tomato plants towering to a height almost as tall as me. It's being allowed to flower for the small beneficial bugs such as the parasitic wasps who need tiny flowers for nectar. They will use other garden pests and aphids as a nursery for their young. We wouldn't want them to fly away after that for lack of nectar sources that fit their small mouthparts.

There are at least 6 miniscule flying insects on the parsley flowers. So tiny they were not even noticed until the photo was uploaded.

This is my third spring of growing warm season vegetables. Many lessons have been learned and many lessons elude me still.

Maybe just maybe enough room was provided for the enormously sprawling zucchini and summer squashes this time. It's been my repeated mistake to underestimate and forget how very much room each plant requires.

They were placed in the newest planting bed created this season. Tucked underneath the edge of the overhang from the front oak trees it is afternoon-shaded more than the rest of the garden. Which also explains the debris (from the oaks) still falling onto the wide, umbrella-style leaves.

This site gains them a much better air-flow than previous beds in the back of the garden. It seems they are happier and no signs of that pesky powdery mildew so far!

It's nice that peppers grow easily with no fuss involved. These are the successes that keep us trying! Some come easy and others... not so much.

Only five tomato bushes were planted this season and they, too, seem to be the happiest and healthiest of any other season. I wish I could pinpoint the exact reason(s). It must be the complete switch to organics using Tomato Tone and Fish Emulsion. Previous years the plants got so big, so fast and waited for the fruit to catch up. Too much nitrogen likely. I'm taking diligent notes to figure this one out and praying we don't get too much rain, too fast... or too much humidity all at once ... or the night temps don't get unbearable ... or an infestation of aphids and worms I can't keep up with...

Well, you know the drill. Tomato plants can have lots of issues in the blink of an eye without warning.

No matter. We'll not think about that until we have to. We've plenty to smile about and to keep us busy this beautiful month of April.

Happy gardening and happy spring days to each dear reader! Meems

The Joys of Fall Vegetable Gardening

It's kind of hard to know at this point what the end result will be in the fall veggie garden. The challenges have been numerous.

"So," you say, "that's nothing new in any garden."

"True," I say.

Only this season it feels as though just when we thought we got some things right ... one more adverse element was on our heels to challenge our tenacity.

I just keep telling myself "every ounce of diligence is worth it ~~ not to have to purchase days-old green beans from the market." The voice in my head that keeps me steady through it all reminds me how very invigorating it is to pick from the vine and sauté in the skillet for a delightful yummy freshness of which there is no replica.

We are happy to say we've been doing just that lately.

Maybe it's my tummy afterall and not my head that rules with such determination. *grin*

The summer squash is very happy we have finally dropped to temperatures yielding decent growing conditions.

After waiting until the last possible (planting calendar) date for our zone the lettuces, spinach, carrots, collards, beans, squash, broccoli, radishes, tomatoes (started earlier in the patio) and onions were seeded. What followed were four interminably, sweltering October weeks of unseasonably high temps. Day and night.

Those little seeds were begging for mercy but gave their best by popping out of the ground anyway. Bedraggled and stunted there was something else going on they were having to overcome.

Somehow the armadillos, I've always had to deal with in the rest of the garden, found a way into the fenced-off veggie garden. What they discovered by rooting their ghastly snouts into all that luscious soil was a gold mine of big fat earthworms. Ahhh... midnight delicacies easily supplying these night creatures with full tummies.

We managed to trap (and release into some woodlands) one of them. There are more and we are relentless in our pursuit to capture as many as we can. Some temporary fencing has been erected around each raised bed; too costly, but sometimes you have to pay for peace of mind.

As the heat and animal activity took its toll it was clear some re-seeding was necessary. Most of the onions, carrots, lettuce, spinach, and broccoli just didn't have a chance given the elements against them. It was kind of comical to see the radishes moved from one side of their hill to the other. Well, I wasn't really laughing... but to an onlooker it might have been comical.

The cool weather (re-seeded) veggies will probably still produce and maybe even better now that we have finally slipped into some cooler temps at night. There is possibly an up-side to all this trickery that goes into producing edibles.

The few tomato plants that survived the unintended additional tilling by the varmints are now producing some fruit.

The poor collard greens must be super-tough to withstand all the nose-nudging they've endured over the weeks. I've tucked and re-tucked their roots back into the ground as they were shifted around.

Last year I waited until spring to plant nasturtiums. This year I'm getting a head start as I think they'll be happier longer in this milder season. Flowers soon... hopefully.

In the meantime, the blue porterweed, the cosmos, alyssum, bacopa, pentas, black and blue salvia, salvia coccinea and ...

maple leaf hibiscus draw in the butterflies, bees, and flying critters of all kinds to keep everything balanced.

This time of year is so much easier to garden ... once we get through all those pesky troubles, that is. I'm pretty sure it's all going to be uphill from now on. *grin*

Happy Autumn! I sure hope your garden is bringing you lots of smiles, Meems

Fresh Dirt and Winter Seeds for Inspiration

Another round of papery pinky-colored bracts has burst out on the potted up Bougainvillea that my mom (thanks again, Mom) gave me recently. The veggie garden is the only place where enough sun is shining to sprout its pretty colors. It will stay in a pot for now to keep it tame.

The exact minute a yard of fresh garden soil was dumped in the back of our pick-up I was looking forward to getting it spread. Before that moment I was sort-of lagging in enthusiasm but still going through the motions to stay on target with the planting calendar.

Steam was rising from the warmth of it as it was poured early this morning. The awesome smell and feel of its earthy texture reminded me of cooler weather and a cooler harvest of veggies to be expected in a couple of months.

My Super-Duper Amended Dirt Concoction for Veggie Gardening

Mixed up in a 5 gallon bucket is dried blood and bone meal. Equal parts and stirred together with no particular scientific measuring involved.

A few shovels full of dirt go into the wheelbarrow then a couple of scoops (trowel scoops) of the organic mixture. Then I finish filling the wheelbarrow with more dirt.

As it pours out onto the ground and gets spread evenly the amendments blend with the soil. Spread out to add 4 or 5 inches of fresh dirt it will need to be left alone without planting for a couple of weeks. Rain applications will help to settle the organics into the soil making it ready for seed planting.

This week I mustered up the courage to pull out most of the self-seeded salvia coccinea, blue porterweed, some scraggly but blooming marigolds, and I cut back all the purple Angelonia. There is one poorly sited zinnia patch left with buds all over it. And, of course, the few sweet pepper plants that keep on giving me fruit... those things are tireless. I also left the border plants which were originally placed with thoughts of enjoying them from season to season... and I left a few blue porterweed ... for now anyway.

In all of gardening I've found that sheer discipline is my best friend for completing some jobs.

Good Timing on Rain and Mail

The rain was good to me this morning. I started very early but so did the thunder rumbling, cloudy skies. Rain threathened for a few hours while I worked under the welcomed cloud cover. Once the dirt was transferred and spread out in the beds in the veggie garden, I then spread a few carts-full onto my troubled front lawn grass, too.

After sprinkles here and there all morning... the skies opened up to water in those organic materials into the garden just as I finished the last load of dirt.

Then all my winter seeds were delivered today, too. All heirloom seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds... more inspiration. What timing!

As hot as it still is I'm beginning to recall how happy I was last year for planting a fall veggie garden.