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

Nearly another week has passed and we are nearly at the 4 week mark.  Weather has been good, a mix of hot and wet that has been near perfect for growing things.

Here’s what the herb garden looks like today:

As I promised myself, over the weekend I weeded the herb garden, both the periphery and the cross paths.  Looks nice.  Can’t believe how much the plants are growing!

Besides the herb garden I also began to work on another project in the list of what will transform the backyard. 

I’ve decided to make the area where there is a redbud growing a central sit-down area.  Over the years this tree will grow and offer shade and a central peaceful spot.

Beside it, the previous owner had an area ringed with stones with some flowers.  I previously used it for a “holding area” for plants we picked up in the landscaping business.  This included mostly some ornamental grass and a few other things that have not survived.

A couple of weeks ago I dug up the grass, split it up and transplanted it against the back fence hoping it will grow and provide some privacy by the end of the summer.

So this week I trimmed the redbud of some low branches to provide room for a bench.  I then moved the stone to the lower side of the area to level it up and dug an area for a small pond.  Haven’t decided yet if it will two layers with a small “waterfall” or just one level with some type of fountain.  Stay tuned.

Here’s what it looks like:

I took up some large stones from a “path” down the yard and will use them to finish building up the wall in the rear.

And finally, the lilies are starting to pop.  Here’s a couple of pictures of them, along the north fence and around the deck:

Until next time,

See you in the garden!

Jon