So, to make me think of happier times, we are going to discuss my garden, or at least the garden I have planned.
I've wanted to have some plants here at the house for a while. Last year, I had a few tomato plants mixed in with my flowers, but it was an awful year for tomatoes. I think I got about 5 fruits from 4 plants. This year, I'm going to try for quite a bit more, and I'm using the square foot gardening method by Mel Bartholomew.
Because we have a raised septic bed, hideous soil (It's all backfill and small rocks), and LOTS of manure, I'm going to do 3 raised beds that measure 4'x4', which gives me 48 squares. I also wanted to attempt companion planting to make my garden as productive as possible. It was a bit of a nightmare figuring out how to organize it, so I turned it into a craft project.
I wrote out what I wanted to plant and how many squares I would need for it. Then I cut out the squares and sorted them into piles of what vegetables like to be with each other. Then I arranged them into 3 larger squares that would be my raised beds. For example, each tomato plant gets its own square, so I cut out 6 tomato squares. On the other hand, 12 bean plants fit into one square, so I only cut out 2 squares. It ended up looking something like this (apologies for the HORRIBLE formatting. Anyone have any idea how to create boxes in html?):
Box 1
Cornell’s Bush | Cornell’s Bush | Tomato (1) | Tomato (1) |
Zucchini and | Zucchini and | Zucchini and | Zucchini and |
Jacob’s Cattle beans | Jacob’s Cattle beans | Purple beans (can’t | Purple beans (can’t |
Strawberries with | Strawberries with | Strawberries with | Strawberries with |
Box 2
Snow pea (1) with vining petunia | Snow pea (1) with vining petunia | Sugar pea (1) with vining petunia | Sugar pea (1) with vining petunia |
Carrots (12) | Brussel sprouts (1) with nasturtiums | Brussel sprouts (1) with nasturtiums | dill |
Purple bunching onions (12) | Brussel sprouts (1) with nasturtiums | Brussel sprouts (1) with nasturtiums | Large leaf basil & garlic in fall |
Carrots (12) | Genovese basil | Genovese basil | Large leaf basil & garlic in fall |
Box 3
Tomato (1) | Tomato (1) | Tomato (1) | Tomato (1) |
Sweet pepper (1) | Sweet pepper (1) | Fish pepper – hot (1) | Fish pepper – hot (1) |
Spinach - succession planting | Swiss chard – succession planting | Strawberries with marigolds (2) | Strawberries with marigolds (2) |
Strawberries with marigolds (2) | Strawberries with marigolds (2) | Strawberries with marigolds (2) | Strawberries with marigolds (2) |
I'll be growing everything but the tomatoes and strawberries from seed. (I ordered from William Dam and Terra Edibles). The tomatoes I'll buy from a neighbour and the strawberries I ordered in a fit of foolishness from Veseys because they were 25 plants for only $10 (never mind the amount of room they need. Yeesh).
If you're actually interested in the specific names, let me know, and I can look them up. I'm being lazy right now and don't want to get off the couch because, did I mention, the weather STINKS!!!! Now, pass the cheese.
3 comments:
Ha, ha--you're weather sounds like a typical Pacific Northwest winter (good thing we have good cheese here!). Your garden plans look great--I'm impressed by your ambition. We've decided to just stick with a CSA for now--maybe some day we'll plant our own garden, but not this year
I'm very curious to hear about you getting bought out at Russet House Farm, so I'll be all ears (or would it be eyes?) when you decide to post about that. :)
We do have lots of cheese here in Wisconsin! As Chris mentioned at one time, feel free to drop by. And just as Kara mentioned in her post, I too would love to hear about Russet House Farm buy out. Take care and happy gardening!
Here's a winter pick-me-up that I learned about on our friend Erin's blog:
http://www.colormeblogg.blogspot.com/
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