Vegetable Gardening
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23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
If you pull up all the photos Jon Hughes has posted here of his many concrete block beds you can see all the things he grows in his block's holes. Green bunching onions is one of them but most any shallow-rooted plant will work. Carrots might if you stick with the small Nantes varieties.
Dave
I mined my entire garden with snap traps this spring after suffering through the same issues last year. Fifty dead mice (and a few voles) later, the amount of mouse damage has greatly decreased. Use PB. I think a mouse or vole is a more likely culprit than a squirrel, esp. for brassicas.
Thank you, I understand they need space. Unfortunately, I do not have much of it and my husband really wants a watermelon - I have to try to let him see for himself we can't do it and never ask about it again) He already won 1 melon every year - it did work well right in the turnip bed. But watermelon is too much for our tiny yard. By the way, are there any variety of bush watermelon?
Yes there are several varieties of bush watermelon. Easiet to find is Bush Sugar Baby. It is not really a bush but has short stubby vines that only run three ft or so. Another option is to grow a persomal size melon on a trellis. Yellow Doll, Red Delicious, New Hampshire Midget etc.
No need to toss it - yet. Many times they recover. The badly damaged leaves will likely die and fall off or you can remove them but watch for new growth and it should be normal in appearance. If not, then you can toss it.
On the other hand, since you already pruned it the production will be markedly reduced as Sweet n Neat is a very small determinant plant to begin with. So since it is so early in the season you might want to invest in an additional plant to get more fruit.
dave
The important thing about peas is that they don't like heat (I suspect you won't get too much heat in Seattle anyway), but they are freeze tolerant to 20F, which I suspect you don't get lot in the winter in your zone which, I believe, with regard to plant hardiness and winter survival, is the same as mine. (Everything else is different!) I plant my peas in November/December, and harvest in April. So yes, you definitely get another chance in the fall for peas. Yes, you COULD get a killer freeze, but it isn't likely, and the plants would be small then, so easy to protect. I used to live in Portland.
IME, the tricky part about starting any peas or brassicas indoors is that they are much less frost-tolerant than direct-seeded plants. Kale, one of the hardiest crops, will get zinged by even a light frost if you start it indoors and put it outside. Hardening off against wind and sun does not entirely help. You need to harden them to cold by exposing them to several cool nights (35 to 40 degrees F) in a row. Just something to think about for next year if you decide to go with transplants.
The peas have started sprouting! Not like crazy, but I have a few sprouts peeking out. I got the trellis up today.
I put my brassicas I transplanted under cover at night. I also put out my artichokes, and have them under cover also. Got a lot going now! Garlic, Leeks, Onions, Peas, Broccoli, Cabbage, Potatoes, Beets and Lettuce all sown or transplanted.
OK, I'll leave them be. Sorry -- I should not have used the word "dispose" ! I was not planning to harm them -- just wondering if there was a way to move them safely. But it seems not, so I will leave them in peace and hope one day they return the favor to my lettuce. :)
It's good to see that your concrete blocks are still in pretty good shape after years of being your raised bed border. In fact, they can be used again, which might not be possible to say about some wooden raised beds.
So that means you just need to clear up the surrounding area to make the garden look not like it was thrown together, as you put it.
I would suggest to hoe or remove the sod/grassy parts between the beds or between the bed and driveway (the curved part). You can then mulch it or put those crushed granite/rocks there.
Having some kind of border edging material or weed guard would be fine also. I just worry about any car accidentally driving over it (which being grass now, is OK, but being edging, would hurt it)
You can also buy some covers for the square or round beds, and that will help make them look more finished also, as well as increasing the height. Giving it some additional height from the ground also helps a raised bed look more pronounced.
An example of the mulched look is here in this thread, which you might like to follow also for some additional discussion on almost a similar topic.
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/2981580/reconfiguration-of-my-garden
You have a pretty nice area to work with. With all gardens it's a matter of budget and design. If you want to re use the blocks I would definitely recommend doing some leveling. If you could find spare lumber or have the budget, I always like to use wood beds. Treated is the best but a lot of mine are just old 2x6's I could find for free and treat myself. In the case of between your beds I would recommend using weed cloth and mulch. It REALLY helps with the weeds and gives your garden a nice clean look. Here is the mulching I just did this weekend.
I buy my mulch by the truck load so all this was about 100$. Like I said earlier you have a really cool spot to work with. You'll get out of it, the time you put into it.