Urban Farmer

Since last time I wrote, I pruned the tomatoes and they took off.
Over the weekend, as part of some other projects around the backyard, I took two fence gates that I have collected over the last little while (from part-time landscaping/fencing jobs) and stood them at each end of the tomato bed.  Used tomato stakes down through the chain link to hold them up.  Then ran string through the chain link at the appropriate places and heights to get the same effect as Chuck’s “Florida weave” (see his DVD on growing tomatoes).  Here is a picture:

Tomato Bed with String for Support

 You can just see a corner of one of the gates. I need a wider shot picture to show you how the gates work.  Try this:

Tomato Bed, 7-14-10

That should give you a much better look at how it works.  Looks kind of cool, too.

With some decent rain and hot weather, the other vegetable bed is also starting to take off.  Eggplant, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, squash all showing signs of early production.

Vegetable Bed 7-14-10

Meanwhile, back at the herb garden,
One of my weekend projects was to chip up some brush collected from my own clippings and from helping a friend take down a tree.

The chipper I have makes some really nice mulch and that mulch I put on the herb garden.  Looks really nice, if I do say so myself:

Herb Garden, 7-14-10, West

Herb Garden, 7-14-10, East

A couple of comments offered the education I so sorely need.   One suggested I peruse manureteas.com, the other offered a source for a manure tea that is ready to go.  I’ll be checking into both and not trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to feeding my plant.  At the same time I want a quality, organic way to do it.

I also this week checked into some options for the bubbly fountain.  Stopped at a “pond store” and looked at some of the options, got some ideas.  Meanwhile, had another idea for where to put the pond/fountain that I may actually like better.  So that project is still in the ponder stage, even though some digging has started.

Trust your garden projects are doing well also.  Until next time,

See you in the garden!

Jon

Bad News in the Backyard!

Last week I applied some homemade manure tea to the herb garden.

Woops – was way too hot and I burned up almost everything.  The Borage, Chives, Parsley and Oregano survived – the rest of the herbs are no longer with me!  Never imagined a low nitrogen, organic fertilizer made of manure and similar would be so potent.  But it was.

Bad news is I screwed up my herb garden.  Good news is never again will I worry about low potency, slow releasing organic fertilizer not working!

Besides the herb garden, a couple other things are going on in the backyard.

First, the day lilies are blooming.  Thought all I had was the standard small-bloomed orange variety.  However, it turns out I have a larger maroon colored bloom and a lighter reddish bloom as well.  They are really pretty and a pleasant surprise.  Here are some pictures.

Yellow, small

Maroon, large

Red, large

Second, my wife and I went off for the weekend to celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary.  We were in a farming community (almost anything outside of metro St Louis is farming) and stopped at a local grocery.  They were unloading some plants at almost give-away prices so I spent $10.  Thought I would get about 20 plants but I got 20 packs of 4!

Came home and started on the raised beds so I could get them in the ground.  Got one bed scuffed up and put some dirt in from the old garden area which I want to level out and where I want to make my labyrinth.  Monday I then planted 16 tomato plants, 4 each of 4 varieties.  Got to make another bed for the rest of the plants.  Also plan to pack more into the tomato bed to do some “ecological gardening.”

And while I was planting them, with the ignominy of not knowing how to make manure tea fresh in my mind, I decided to get an education about tomato growing – even though I’ve grown them before.

So I came in and ordered my friend Chuck’s DVD on Growing Tomatoes featured on the sidebar to the right.

Don’t plan to be stupid twice in a row!

Third, the pool/fountain project is on hold until the vegetable beds get going.  It’s getting late and time to get some plants in.  While we were gone, though, we stopped to see some friends who happen to have a pond/waterfall and I asked how they put theirs together.  So I got some more ideas for when that project gets going again.

See you in the garden!

Jon

Getting some great comments from readers; thanks to all of you!  Keep them coming, and ideas as well.

Had a nice weather week.  Some rain but not too much.  Some heat but not too much.  Actually had a nice rain shower this afternoon; wasn’t sure I was going to be able to take pictures tonight.

But it passed and we are back on track with posting on Tuesdays.

Here are the current pics:

One of my new-found garden friends reminded me early on to be sure and emphasize soil health – and she is absolutely right.  Last week my friend Chuck asked if I had ever used manure tea.

Thinking about soil health, after posting last week I opened a bag of Fertrell organic fertilizer and added water.  Let it sit for a few days to make a “tea” and tonight poured it and a slurry of the fertilizer to the individual plants.  The organic fertilizer is a slow release and should allow the plants to use a wide spectrum of nutrients as needed.  My son came out during the process and asked what smelled like “poop”!

I haven’t had a chance to actually do any more digging or stone work on the pond this week but was “pondering” (groan) the design.  One layer, simple goldfish type pond or two layer, riffle, pump and the whole works.  I want the latter but the pump and electric connections and the space required for two layers makes it all a bit difficult.

Then, one day I drove by a landscape type place and had a brilliant idea!  I will build a “tower” of stone to cover the pump and let the water bubble up from its center and then fall down the tower creating the riffle.  Small in size plus the waterfall effect.  Sounds brilliant – we’ll see.

Before we go today, a reminder that the veggies ought to be planted by now.  I am late with this – still have to lay out the beds and move a bunch of dirt.  Hopefully I can get at least a few tomato plants in soon.

For any of you growing tomatoes as well, my friend Chuck has been doing this for a while and has put his techniques and results on video, making it available for the rest of us.  Here’s a link and it will be posted on the blogroll to the right as well.

See you in the garden!

Jon