It's been planting time around our house for the last couple of weeks. I planted more veggies than usual - and am trying some new gardening methods. I have tomatoes growing in straw bales (click here for a great link to straw bale gardening), and a couple of beds done in a non-traditional way. Instead of digging, you lay down sheets of newspaper 6-8 layers thick (or a layer of cardboard), cover that with 7-8 inches of wheat straw, then layer 2-3 inches of potting soil on top. Sow seeds or plant young veggies and water as needed (I'm watering every day until the plants are established). Voila! No digging, no weeds and very little work!
I also have a tabletop garden using dishwashing tubs, purchased from the dollar store, (got the hubby to drill drainage holes in them) and I have cabbage and okra planted in them. The advantages of a tabletop garden are: little to no weeds, less bugs since the plants are not on ground level, and -most importantly - my little cabbages and okra are out of reach of the rabbits... who have acres upon acres around here to feed on but insist on coming into my garden every night and devouring the hard work that I did earlier in the day! They have eaten almost all the leaves off my Black-eyed Susans. As Elmer Fudd would say, "Those pesky wabbits!"
So far, all of my veggies are being grown organically. This is something new for me too, so I'm learning as I go. I'm mulching heavily to cut down on weeds and we put a chicken wire fence around the watermelon/cantaloupe patch and salad garden to keep both rabbits and deer out. As soon as the tomatoes bear fruit they'll have to be fenced off too. Deer love to mosey from one plant to the next, taking a bite out of almost every tomato on the vine, and every bitten tomato has to be discarded. It's a summer long battle: me and my veggies vs. the deer and rabbits!
I'm posting some garden pics taken this morning. The salad garden has a really ugly border around it.... but, though unsightly, cinderblock is great for this because it's so heavy it's not going anywhere and it's about 8 inches in depth.... perfect to keep the straw and potting soil from washing away in heavy rain. In a garden, function rules over form!
Have a good weekend.... I'm playing with watercolor again (that's Laure's doing) and will post that little quickie pretty soon.
12 comments:
Looks like you have lots of yummy things to look forward to. It's no wonder the rabbits and deer frequent your yard! We have two tomato plants in an Earthbox (I wasn't very ambitious this year!) and I hope I'll get the tomatoes before the critters do.
So nice to hear about your gardening. You have some interesting gardening methods! I got my garden planted about 2 weeks ago with about 6 tomato plants and some herbs. It was hard to decide which tomato plants to get -- so I brought home 6 different ones. Have fun watching your plants grow and harvest ripen.
Oh, your garden sounds like it will be so yummy. We haven't grown anything in 30 years. My Dad always had a garden and I miss green onions of all things! They are never the same from the store. :(
Bravo! et merci pour l'ensemble de ces belle photos.
What an interesting idea, I have never heard of this method before.
Your garden looks great, I'm going to try this method, maybe not this year, but next for sure! Love the photos!
Oh I forgot to tell you, I tried the bread and love it!
Thanks
VIcki
Wow! What a cool way to garden! The idea of less fuss is definitely worth trying out!
Oh, and we're blaming me now because you keep flitting from one medium to another?!!
Some really interesting gardening methods, look forward to the results. That is very time consuming work....good to hear from you!
That looks like a lot of work, but will reap lots of rewards! Wish the weather would cooperate so I could plant something. Looking forward to seeing your watercolor work!
The tabletop garden is a great idea! I will also try to do.
I am curious about the water color.
Thank you for the link!
Yes, I guess we're all on the side of Peter Rabbit till we grow up and are trying to grow vegetables of our own! I have a lot of trouble with hungry deer around our yard!
Great posts Teresa. Next to blueberies [well maybe ice cream] good home made bread is my favorite food. No fooling. My dad was a great bread baker. He also had a Sourdough starter that furnished a lot of great pancakes and breads.
Funny reading folks blogs on gardening while we are watching snow fly. 9 of the last 10 days. Although today made it into the 50's and there was this great yellow ball in the sky that was warm feeling.
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