Seed sewing, gardening

MrCookingNurse

Wife and I are gonna try our hands at gardening. Bought this little burpee seed starter and some squash, spaghetti squash, tomatoes, Lima beans, and sunflower seeds. Well they are sewed and we will see what happens. Making a raised bed this weekend. Would love any thoughts from those of you that do this. So far I'm less than $10 in so if I'm doing something wrong no biggie! This was kind of an impulse buy while at lowes tonight getting weed&feed.

SteveWPBFL

You need some peppers!

canegger

Ha you need something else in there and then you could get the xxl with the extra money ha ha

caliking

Good luck. When we lived in Iowa, SWBO grew all kinds of stuff in 2 garden boxes i built in the backyard. We barely went to the store for veggies. Oh yeah - grow some peppers if you like hot stuff!

GrannyX4

Cucumbers or anything else you might like pickled. I see canning in your future. ;;)

MrCookingNurse

I've got pepper plants I'm use. There weren't seeds for the peppers I wanted.

Bullibe

I loosely used this site to plan mine. Mine is 5'x8'x 12".
http://www.vegetable-gardening-online.com/
I used the Yella wood from Home Depot, because supposedly it doesn't contain arsenic.

GA_Dawgs

Hope you guys enjoy it. It's great to be able to go to your garden and pick your veggies for dinner. Like Granny said, do some pickles and I suggest you make some hot sauce with your peppers.

Village Idiot

I've had a raised bed garden for several years.  I used concrete blocks for the raised sides, then filled with garden soil from Lowes.  Works well.  These were taken about 3 weeks ago.

I also have an herb garden near the kitchen door.

SmokinDAWG82

We always do tomatoes and peppers, going to try some herbs this year. We also have a few blueberry bushes that did great last year.

Egghead_Daron

Anybody ever do a raised bed on a concrete slab?

Botch

Good luck!  (and beautiful garden, VI!)

 

I've got a black thumb, can't even grow tomatoes.  I do manage to keep some herbs growing in pots for a few months, but then they die too.  

:(

SWVABeanCounter

+1 for peppers and cukes.  As for tomatoes, I really like the cherry tomatoes best.  I also started an asparagus bed last year, already have some shoots up this year, but I know they won't be edible until next year.  Also planted cherry, apple, peach, pear and almond trees last year.  Gonna be a few years until any of them bear fruit.  We figure we'll always have something to eat when we retire.

Village Idiot

SWVABeanCounter said:

 Also planted cherry, apple, peach, pear and almond trees last year.  Gonna be a few years until any of them bear fruit.  

I don't know about the apple, cherry or pear trees, but I planted a peach tree last year, and I've got tons of peaches coming on.

SWVABeanCounter

VI, they look good.  The previous Christmas we got a Gurney's gift card and went crazy buying fruit trees.  The only problem is they are "baby" trees, not like you'd get at a garden center or Lowes so we knew going in it would be a few years.  We're in no hurry (and no, I have no affiliation with Gurney's).

Village Idiot

Oh, I see SWVA.  We got ours at Costco.  It was probably 6 ft. high, but it's grown  like a weed since we planted it.

Mama Roneck

Spring just arrived here in NY, so our garden is currently in two pieces.  Hope to bring them together in the next few weeks!

MrCookingNurse

Mama Roneck said:

Spring just arrived here in NY, so our garden is currently in two pieces.  Hope to bring them together in the next few weeks!

I really like what you have going on there!! I was just gonna make a big rectangle, but I love the skinny lanes and walk through for easy maintenance and picking.  I might do something like this now. 

MrCookingNurse

@bullibe

That is what I am struggling with now, picking out wood. PT wood is so cheap and easy to find, but I don't really wanna grow my veggies in a bed of poison.. I've read some people say it isn't enough to matter, and some say run from it.  

robnybbq

We got the same seed kit.  We planted seeds 2 weeks ago and all the seeds are growing.  Can't move the plants outdoors for another 3+ weeks

We planted
Green beans (These plants are a foot tall already in 2 weeks)
Roma Tomatos
Big Boy Tomatos
Basil
Green Bell Peppers
Red bell Peppers
Jalepenos

Planning on putting them into pots on the deck once it stays warm out.  Hope they come out good.

MrCookingNurse

@robnybbq

Good to hear! Yea, I'm work on getting beds ready, but I have pots I will move seedlings into on the porch before they go in the ground.

Mama Roneck

MrCookingNurse said:

Mama Roneck said:

Spring just arrived here in NY, so our garden is currently in two pieces.  Hope to bring them together in the next few weeks!

I really like what you have going on there!! I was just gonna make a big rectangle, but I love the skinny lanes and walk through for easy maintenance and picking.  I might do something like this now. 

I followed simple instructions on Sunset's website for building raised beds with 4x4 posts and 2x6 stacked sides.

http://www.sunset.com/garden/backyard-projects/ultimate-raised-bed-how-to-00400000011938/

It's really simple to do rectangles, but we quickly realized we could make it any shape we wanted in our 15' x 15' space, so came up with what you see in the picture. I may have a Sketchup stored somewhere and will forward it if I can find it.

After a lot of research, I decided to use PT lumber even though everything in the garden is organic.  Arsenic hasn't been used to pressure treat lumber since 2003, and the main ingredient now is copper, which is antibiotic and anti-fungal.  Most PT lumber you'd get today is ACQ:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkaline_copper_quaternary

I encourage you to research it as I did.  There's lots of back and forth on use of PT in raised beds, but I learned that even when arsenic was used, the amount that actually migrated into plants was trace or negligible - similar to amounts that occurred naturally in a lot of foods. If you don't use PT lumber, plan on rebuilding every 7-10 years.  If you do use PT lumber, make sure you buy quality fasteners!

henapple

Egghead_Daron said:

Anybody ever do a raised bed on a concrete slab?

I can't imagine that working. gardens or any plants like to be watered deep... not often and shallow

nurse, my neighbor went to a sawmill and bought 2x12 rough cut cedar. also, I've had better luck buying tomatoe plants than sowing seeds. usually at a nursery or co-op instead of large chain stores... keep us posted. I miss having a garden.

MrCookingNurse

@henapple

We have a nice nursery here that I can more than likely get most plants at.  Over the next two weeks I hope to make the beds, and if the seedlings don't take, I can quickly re-route to plants.

I'll post some update shots.  We don't eat a ton of veggies, but I think this would be a fun way to start.

MrCookingNurse

@village idiot

thanks man for all the info, your post on your garden is a nice set up!

MrCookingNurse

Do most of y'all build a bird or animal screen? I don't have a fenced in yard so rabbits and deer could have a field day. Rabbits might have trouble getting up in the bed tho

Village Idiot

Mr.CN,

I bought Mr. McGregor's Garden fence when I first made mine.

http://www.mrmcgregorfence.com/

I had a real problem with squirrels.  It is an electric fence and it worked for me. My dogs tested it once, then left it alone.  I suppose the squirrels learned, because I haven't had to turn it on in a year.

henapple

one thing about plants is you'll get tomatoes earlier... we usually plant mid April...I use 5 gallon buckets to protect in case of frost.

SmokinDAWG82

MrCookingNurse said:

@bullibe

That is what I am struggling with now, picking out wood. PT wood is so cheap and easy to find, but I don't really wanna grow my veggies in a bed of poison.. I've read some people say it isn't enough to matter, and some say run from it.  

I saw in a Family Handyman or something to staple Roofing felt to the inside of the PT before you put your dirt in. I'd probably still worry about it though

MrCookingNurse

We should be done with frost by now. I went to a nursery and they had a large selection of veggies and peppers already started

Working on the plans for the beds, I know what I want, but SWMBO has veto'd the first sketch.

SteveWPBFL

I did what you're doing a few months ago with peppers . I suspect they have a reluctance to root out from the dirt pod to our Florida sand so make sure you plant them in some good garden soil.