So, I had explained my raised bed garden plans to the Darlin' Man and explained to him that we either needed more cinder-block/stone or lumber of some sort to construct them. I figured we would budget out the funds in April and see what we could find in the way of scrap lumber on Craigslist as well.
Well. Sometimes things happen...
My Darlin' Man is in the military.
His unit is getting ready to deploy again to Iraq, so they have been getting lots of equipment, etc. Lots of equipment, etc. means lots of pallets and shipping crates.
Friday afternoon his C.O. told him to "get rid of all that stuff now". The fella said "Sure, when the dump opens back up on Monday". C.O. said "I need it gone NOW". Fella: "I can get rid of it, sir, IF I can take it off base" C.O "Where are you taking it?" Fella, "I believe in recycling, I'll take it to MY house". C.O. "Grab some warm bodies , a few trucks, load it up and be gone. I don't want to see a scrap of this sh*t here on Monday."
Apparently his C.O. told another unit's C.O. about this clever plan to clean up all the scrap lumber in time for an inspection Monday morning...so they added a couple truckloads as well...
These were NOT pick up truck loads, mind you. These were trucks that were a little larger than the average dump truck but a little smaller than a semi with a trailer.
A platoon of guys came along to unload.
So...until around 10-11 pm Friday night I had a line of trucks showing up with nice men in uniform, unloading their contents onto a corner of the property. As we have walls around much of our property, our befuddled neighbors could see the trucks arriving, but could not see what was being unloaded.
Needless to say, a few neighbors asked questions on Saturday!
Many of the crates are already PERFECT for raised bed gardens!
All I need to do is drill some holes in the bottoms for drainage, fill with soil and plant!
I have WAY more than I need, so a couple of my neighbors are getting ready-made raised bed gardens as well!
The pallets will be put to good use as well. I am starting a new compost heap in the front yard and will use pallets for the sides along with a bit of left over fencing. A neighbor is getting a few to build a small chicken coop for the hens she is getting.
Just think...if we weren't recycling all this lumber, it would be taken to the military dump and burned! What a waste that would have been!
A nice thing about the lumber is everything is labeled...the labels not only tell us what the crates contained, but also what (potentially) hazardous chemicals/materials may have been in them, whether or not the lumber itself was treated and with what. Information you normally don't get with scrap lumber and is important to know if you are going to be using the lumber in a garden bed!
So, first seedlings are sprouting nicely...raised beds are darn near ready...the first of April we get our garden soil delivered...I am S-O-O-O-O-O ready to get this garden going!
This week I will start my *second wave* of seedlings. I stagger plantings all season long for maximum productivity. That way I don't end up with a gazillion heads of Bibb lettuce all ready at once, or a ton of tomatoes all ready for canning at once.
Since I live in the American Southwest, I have the luxury of having an extremely long growing season, so staggering my plantings just makes sense!
Showing posts with label raised beds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label raised beds. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Garden Planning and My Seeds
The bulk of my seed order arrived in the mail.
Here's what I have from Bakers Creek:
Garden Pea (Lincoln)
Tomato (Ananas Noire)
Lettuce (May Queen)
Leek (Bulgarian Giant)
Carrot (Danvers 126 Half Long)
European Mesclun Salad Mix
Arugula
Snow Pea (Golden Sweet)
Tomato (Amish Paste)
Tomato (Black Cherry)
Cucumber (Delikatesse)
Pepper (Emerald Giant)
Black Bean (Cherokee Trail of Tears)
Watermelon (Royal Golden)
Watermelon (Cream of Saskatchewan)
Seeds I ordered on ebay:
Basil (Italian Large Leaf)
Winter Squash (Buttercup)
Endive (Green Curled Ruffled)
I also have seeds saved from last year:
Michihli Cabbage (A type of Napa Cabbage)
Extra Dwarf Pak Choy (Bok Choy)
Kale (Blue Curled Scotch)
Daikon Radish (Chines White Winter)
I also have some squash seeds saved from a wonderful winter squash a neighbor grew and gave us...yummy to the extreme. I have no idea what the name of the squash is, I just know it is round, kinda squat, and is blue and grayish in coloring.
Because I am gardening in a desert region, my garden planning has to be pretty specific in terms of water, shade, etc.
I found out last year that the soil here is not very good for seed germination/growth/gardening.
So, I spent a good part of the last week calling around to find out how much places here charge for decent topsoil. Some were not too bad, others made my hair stand on end! And you don't even want to know what the delivery charges were like! Fortunately, a neighbor lets us borrow his pick-up for our *farm jobs* (and I am glad, because while transporting the goats in my Darlin' Mans classic Mercedes would have been funny, it wouldn't have done much for the upholstery!).
The wind here is dry. VERY dry. It sucks all the moisture out of the soil so fast it is surprising to me! So, wind breaks will be in order, as well as mulch to hold in moisture.
We will be doing raised bed gardening, it is the only thing that will work here.
But I will HAVE to have some type of *bottom* in my raised beds, as the under-soil will suck down every drop of water as fast as it can. I am thinking of using tarps under the beds, up behind the beds (they are beside a chain link fence), and then, I can also use the same tarps on frames to provide shade...bottom, wind-break and shade in one!
Also, I need to line the bottom with some sort of material that will *hold* moisture for the plants when their roots grow. I am thinking peat moss, combined with the compost/straw mix from the goat pens.
I will be growing some of the plants in containers...I have oodles of containers! Whoever lived here before us had loads of them, our neighbors that have moved gave us many, so I have 30 to 40 large (5 gallon size and up) containers! Many of them perfect for herbs, salad greens and such.
So, tonight I sketched out a basic garden plan that I will hone and tweak as my seeds sprout (I will be starting my seeds tomorrow).
******************************************
Patches the goat has not given birth yet. I am beginning to think that perhaps (despite what the vet says) that she is merely a rotund, overweight goat, and not pregnant at all!
Gabrielle the goat is weaning Geordi, but is giving us about a quart and a half of sweet, creamy milk a day!
The hens are laying eggs like they do it for a living! Five to nine eggs a day now!(That's collectively, not individually!)
Red the rooster is his normal psychotic self. :-D He seems to be a bit happier since I ordered the waterer from Livestock Concepts on ebay a couple weeks ago.
Here's the one I got:
Chicken Water Fountain
They had a free shipping deal, plus the price was cheaper than I could buy it locally, so I figured I'd go for it.
It is working out real well, and now I don't have to tote water to the coop 3 times a day...less encounters with Red equals less stress on me (and the broom!). No, I don't get anything from the folks at Livestock Concepts (well, except for the catalog they sent with my order), just wanted anyone out there with chickens to know about a Good Thing.
The tabletop project is...progressing. Tiles and grout done...HOWEVER, the OMB the fella and I got is apparently not quite up to the task as it seems to be warping a bit. I need to reinforce the base somehow and am going to work on it tomorrow to see if I can come up with a solution.
Hoping everyone out there will go to sleep dreaming of carrots and lettuce, peppers and tomatoes, beans and squash...just like I will! May all our gardens be bountiful this year!
Here's what I have from Bakers Creek:
Garden Pea (Lincoln)
Tomato (Ananas Noire)
Lettuce (May Queen)
Leek (Bulgarian Giant)
Carrot (Danvers 126 Half Long)
European Mesclun Salad Mix
Arugula
Snow Pea (Golden Sweet)
Tomato (Amish Paste)
Tomato (Black Cherry)
Cucumber (Delikatesse)
Pepper (Emerald Giant)
Black Bean (Cherokee Trail of Tears)
Watermelon (Royal Golden)
Watermelon (Cream of Saskatchewan)
Seeds I ordered on ebay:
Basil (Italian Large Leaf)
Winter Squash (Buttercup)
Endive (Green Curled Ruffled)
I also have seeds saved from last year:
Michihli Cabbage (A type of Napa Cabbage)
Extra Dwarf Pak Choy (Bok Choy)
Kale (Blue Curled Scotch)
Daikon Radish (Chines White Winter)
I also have some squash seeds saved from a wonderful winter squash a neighbor grew and gave us...yummy to the extreme. I have no idea what the name of the squash is, I just know it is round, kinda squat, and is blue and grayish in coloring.
Because I am gardening in a desert region, my garden planning has to be pretty specific in terms of water, shade, etc.
I found out last year that the soil here is not very good for seed germination/growth/gardening.
So, I spent a good part of the last week calling around to find out how much places here charge for decent topsoil. Some were not too bad, others made my hair stand on end! And you don't even want to know what the delivery charges were like! Fortunately, a neighbor lets us borrow his pick-up for our *farm jobs* (and I am glad, because while transporting the goats in my Darlin' Mans classic Mercedes would have been funny, it wouldn't have done much for the upholstery!).
The wind here is dry. VERY dry. It sucks all the moisture out of the soil so fast it is surprising to me! So, wind breaks will be in order, as well as mulch to hold in moisture.
We will be doing raised bed gardening, it is the only thing that will work here.
But I will HAVE to have some type of *bottom* in my raised beds, as the under-soil will suck down every drop of water as fast as it can. I am thinking of using tarps under the beds, up behind the beds (they are beside a chain link fence), and then, I can also use the same tarps on frames to provide shade...bottom, wind-break and shade in one!
Also, I need to line the bottom with some sort of material that will *hold* moisture for the plants when their roots grow. I am thinking peat moss, combined with the compost/straw mix from the goat pens.
I will be growing some of the plants in containers...I have oodles of containers! Whoever lived here before us had loads of them, our neighbors that have moved gave us many, so I have 30 to 40 large (5 gallon size and up) containers! Many of them perfect for herbs, salad greens and such.
So, tonight I sketched out a basic garden plan that I will hone and tweak as my seeds sprout (I will be starting my seeds tomorrow).
******************************************
Patches the goat has not given birth yet. I am beginning to think that perhaps (despite what the vet says) that she is merely a rotund, overweight goat, and not pregnant at all!
Gabrielle the goat is weaning Geordi, but is giving us about a quart and a half of sweet, creamy milk a day!
The hens are laying eggs like they do it for a living! Five to nine eggs a day now!(That's collectively, not individually!)
Red the rooster is his normal psychotic self. :-D He seems to be a bit happier since I ordered the waterer from Livestock Concepts on ebay a couple weeks ago.
Here's the one I got:
Chicken Water Fountain
They had a free shipping deal, plus the price was cheaper than I could buy it locally, so I figured I'd go for it.
It is working out real well, and now I don't have to tote water to the coop 3 times a day...less encounters with Red equals less stress on me (and the broom!). No, I don't get anything from the folks at Livestock Concepts (well, except for the catalog they sent with my order), just wanted anyone out there with chickens to know about a Good Thing.
The tabletop project is...progressing. Tiles and grout done...HOWEVER, the OMB the fella and I got is apparently not quite up to the task as it seems to be warping a bit. I need to reinforce the base somehow and am going to work on it tomorrow to see if I can come up with a solution.
Hoping everyone out there will go to sleep dreaming of carrots and lettuce, peppers and tomatoes, beans and squash...just like I will! May all our gardens be bountiful this year!
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