This year we decided to grow a veggie garden. Buying organic stuff at the store is costly, and who knows how long its been sitting around. After a few months of work its starting to pay off. Each day, we can pick enough things to cover dinner - since I am eating mostly vegetables now - and sometimes even lunch. The stuff we can't use we are going to try to freeze and have in the winter.

We've keep a journal (most recent listed below) or click here to view all the entries and take a lot of pictures which are in our gallery. We also took a very studious approach to making a garden, so links and information we found really good are in our resources page.

     Warm regards - Farmer Bill and Farmette Christi

Recent Journal Entries Lost and Found: Found in the garden ( August 28, 2005, 05:23:25 PM ) Christi came across this yesterday in the garden... A big friggin spider - click to view Update - the link this was going to is gone.  It was a big "black and yellow argiope" apparently. Out of my coma ( August 28, 2005, 05:07:32 PM ) Well, I was not really in a coma, but for some reason just have not updated the photos or text here in a while.  Things are wrapping up in the garden - the cucumbers are gone (pickling cukes had a good season), the zuccinin have been eradicated by a nasty larva that gets into the root and eats the inside.  The Winter squash has been attacked by squash bugs - which as far as I can tell simply cause blemishes on the vegetable when they suck out the juice.  We've still got lots of tomatoes, eggplants and carrots to go.  We've learned a lot from this year, but I have to say - and Christi would probably agree - we did a darned good job for our first crack at it.  The biggest thing we did wrong that I can tell are: Not enough room between some viney plants Not enough trimming of tomato plants early on Need Water early in the day, automatic timer Trim male blossoms on some plants More weed control (mulch, plastic, etc) Cut off vegetables instead of pulling Needed earlier, better support for peas Things we did good, but will improve next year Most tomatoes will be hanging, or tied better on the ground Netting for peas Vertical cucmbers, not on the ground Crawlers on the perimeter of the garden Posts to guide hose need to be much bigger Plug ends of bamboo so wasps don't move in Thin seedlings more enthusastically Marigolds and Nasturium in pots not in garden Plant in the raised bed earlier (better drainage) We also planted a second crop of beans and peas... we will see how that goes Typhoon good for garden! ( July 25, 2005, 04:41:32 AM ) I don't know what spiked the growth, but today I got a total of 33 pickling cukes and 2 lbs of beans and one normal cuke.  Have to bring two bags next time.  Gave away cukes, split the beans with Christi and blanched and froze mine.  Mmmm, beans. Typhoon strikes garden - output down ( July 24, 2005, 03:17:31 AM ) Well, a sudden and fearsome rainstorm struck last night.  Lightning and high winds blasted trees all around town... and a few of our tomato plants.  I found several of the ones, with cages at that, knocked over.  I have to go back to restake them tomorrow night.  Managed to pull a few cukes and some peas out of the debris though.  I am hopeful it will all recover soon.  BTW, if anyone knows a good way to keep bean and cucumber leaves from annoying the forearms... let me know!  Please!  owwwwww.  Click here to continue reading the journal entries...

Laying out the garden

We planned to deviate from traditional rows and instead do it as 6 foot wide zones. Each zone was accessable from all four sides, so in theory - you only had to reach in 3 feet. We did six zones with 3 foot wide paths in between. We figured we could simply run the rototiller up and down the rows once in a while to deal with weeds and keep the soil from becoming compacted. The rototiller died shortly after we started this plan. Otherwise its worked out fine.

Companion gardening

Carrots love tomatos. Honestly.

Watering

We took a conservative approach to watering... we got a water wand, which is a 4 foot long stick with a control and a shower head on the end. It allows you to put the water directly at the base of a plant instead of watering the whole garden. This conserves some water and keeps the weeds down a bit (since you are not watering the other areas). However, I think the greatest growth spurts happen when we get a lot of rain (and the most weeds), so next year or even later this year, I may try the saturating approach once a week. We also really did not mark well what needs a lot of water, and what wants little.

Lessons learned so far

I like to think, or at least tell people, I am capable of learning from my mistakes or lack of knowledge. While I read two books and countless web pages in preparation for this garden - there are still things that I leaned the harder way. I make this list so that I can refresh my memory next year, and maybe someone else will learn.

1. When its says something needs a lot of room, they mean it.
2. Make the posts marking the corners of the beds higher, so the hose can't jump it.
3. Fix the rototiller.
4. Put a thick black tarp over the area you are going to plant to kill the grass 4 wks ahead of time.
5. More vertical gardening in cages and teepee's for cucumbers

1. Put tomato cages up early... stake the cages into the ground in case of wind. Or build boxes around them.

Recent photos