Back-yard-gardening
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A little compost can grow wonders in your backyard gardening project
Side note: A beautiful cauliflower plant I started last November2011
April 22, 2012. Do ever feel like ur behind the powercurve? Well it's the middle of April and we had two days of almost 100 degree weather and gess what happened to my beautiful cauliflower plants? Yep if u gessed they went to seed u would be correct! Below is a few new pictures of my ever changing garden. I have been busy setting up anew watering system. Last year I tried the 1/4 " socker hose on my 3 x 4 ft raised garden boxes. They worked great most of the season but dried out and stopped working properly. So on with the new! Next up is setting polytube with flag 1 gal drippers. These may seem to be the answer to my watering needs. Here in the high desert, were the temp gets 100 degrees during the summer, the need to water may be double, even with heavy mulch. My onions and garlic are doing great and look forward to the harvest soon.
Wow, how time fly-s when you are getting ready for the next season. Today is March 7, 2012 has it been a whole year! Last years garden showed great results with tomatoes and tomatios, and the winter crop of lettuce, onions and garlic are growing like weeds! Needless to say. My compost is showing wonderful results. Just harvested 3 wheelbarrows of compost from my CPB. (compost bin) 2;weeks ago planted more lettuc, radishes peas, and spinach. Looking forward to my best garden this year. Next is plans to start tomato seedlings in the house this weekend.
Its January 17th 2011 and my Mescalin mix lettuce survived snow and a flood, and i just harvested a grocery bag full!
January 25th 2011 : another harvest of leaf lettuce from the same plants. i am getting ready to order new seeds for this next season. all fun and Great hopes for this years garden. i just emptied one of three compost barrels i have and it have me 8 -2 cf of compost. I sold 6 of them and kept 2. I'm getting ready for my garden this spring!
March 3, 2011, placed paving stones around garden boxes today, worked on getting compost cooking in my barrel, getting ready to plant.
March 17th, 2011 I have been working on making my garden a bit showy! well for me anyway, i will post some pics in a few weeks, planted corn and cucumbers today. working on placing drip system soak hoses on my boxes. in some of the pics on this page you will see sprinkler heads sticking up around my garden,
i wasted a-lot of water using them this last year, so this year i will move the connections closer to my boxes and install drip manifold heads to replace the risers, then connect soak-er hoses to the drip manifold heads. It will be a-lot of digging to move everything but this will be a water saving task worth the work. i will post pictures a soon as i have some more done.
Hey, Leave a comment at the the bottom of this page please, tell me what you think of my Lens! and thanks!
March 29Th,2011 gardens doing good, my Dog learned how to unlatch my gate and did a small amount of damage to the plants in my raised garden boxes, but not to much! I have German radishes, pea's, corn, spinach, carrots and brockley coming out of the ground fast and the temp here is going to be 86 F. tomorrow, that should get the garden hopping. my tomato plants are growing nicely inside the house looking forward to setting them out soon in the square foot garden box. Making plans to build a raised bed garden box on a old dinning table stand. it's going to look great! My newest Compost bin (all in black) is cooking really nice right now, I am happy with that for sure!
April 7, 2011 Have corn, peas, pole beans, carrots, cabbage, gladiolas, onions, giant radishes, spinach and garlic coming out of the ground, (well the garlic has been there since last fall), and i am excited for this years garden, still working on putting in my drip system/soak-er hoses. April 25, 2011. My tomato plants are looking great I'm there starter pots indoors. Should be setting them out next week and will do a test by planting some tomato seeds in the ground to see which one does best
Its also time I replanted some of previous crops in order to exstend the harvist.
Table of Contents
- A hobby to be proud of
- Mel Bartholomew
- Are you tired of bending over to Garden
- No more bending down with the raised bed gardening system
- Books I recommend for you
- The Square foot garden Box
- The only thing Growing in My Raised Backyard garden bed so far! (My first year gardening in my new home)
- Mrs. Muffet's gardens.
- Making a growing frame out of pvc pipe
- Tumbling compost barrels
- Well, have you something to say? Please Do, Good or Bad I can take it
- Music to My ears of corn!
- Garden Music!
- my other lenses
- garden in style
- Books I have come to love and would be a great addition to your Backyard gardening project
A hobby to be proud of
How i started my backyard gardening project
When I was a boy growing up in Maltby, Washington, I remember always being tasked with going out to the family back yard garden to weed along with my brother and sister, we had had about 6 to 8 garden plots in our little chunk of land, but the weeding seemed to never end! rows and rows of tall weeds, I never liked weeding and i think most people with backyard gardens feel the same.I never though i would make gardening my Hobby, But I Just love It!!!
I do what is called square foot gardening, Here is a picture of this years garden at my home in the high desert of California, Mind you, I just built my raised beds this last year in another part of my yard, because my lovely German Shepard decided that the boxes would be a nice place to dig and sleep (see picture below, you'll see what i mean!)
I moved it to another part of my yard which ended up being the best spot, as you can see in my picture to the right it is coming along nicely and the radishes well they speak for themselves!
Above you see a picture of my latest harvest of radishes, I used my own compost in my back yard garden and these baby's showed up in about 25 days from planting. Before i started using my own compost they took forever to grow and the results were dismal to say the least! This lens is a work in progress just like my backyard garden and i will be adding to it very soon. thanks for stopping by. Bowen
Mel Bartholomew
Founder of The Square Foot Gardening system
Are you tired of bending over to Garden
then this is just what the Doctor ordered!
I found some plans for a raised bed gardening system that is very sturdy and looks great. I will be incorporating a few of these in the near future for my back yard gardening projects, take a look at the picture and you'll see what i mean, for more info on this project click the big arrow below. Books I recommend for you
Here is picture of some of the books i recommend anyone wanting great information on starting a garden, starting a compost operation, getting into advanced gardening techniques, and needing help getting rid of garden pest and curing sick plants with home remedies. Really great resources!
The Square foot garden Box
basic, inexpensive and effective
You may ask, where can i buy a raised bed box? most gardening stores like home depot or Lowe's carry these type of items. You can buy them online and there are even some links around this page that can sell you a raised bed garden kit.
But if you have a saw, a hammer and measuring tape, you can make one by gathering free wood from a construction sites scrap pile (ask first), spend $5 bucks on some nails or used screws, and make your own.
All the pic's you see above are from scrap wood and other materials I gathered from different places around town, If you do not like the color of the wood after it has weathered, paint it. Go to your home depot and buy miss matched paints for around $5 a gallon! cheap huh!
Here is a idea I have been thinking about, go to your local fabric store and get a few yards of cloth any color or print style you like and rap it around the box for a nice custom look. The store in my town sells bulk cloth for $3 a yard.
There are many ways to dress up you garden box.
As Mel would say, "A square foot garden box is not a square foot garden without the Grid!"
I found some orange strapping laying around and Cris-crossed it for a stand out grid. my back yard garden project started with one box, i think the 3' X 4' box size are perfect. You might like a 2' X 4' box or a 4' X 4' and maybe a 3' X 6' foot box. as long as you can reach the center of the box with out stepping on the dirt, your box will be perfect for a Garden!
Put polls on the north side of the box and get some nylon string and weave your own net for growing crops up! (see my instructions below for making a PVC frame.) If you buy a box from the store expect to pay $ 50 to $100+ for the kit.
The Best part of having these Boxes is if i don't like the way it sits then i can move it and shovel the dirt back into the new locations box. or build a bottom for it and have a few friends help you pick it up and move it where you like! and if you put some sturdy handles on the sides to help in the relocation process. Now that's a great option in my opinion!
The only thing Growing in My Raised Backyard garden bed so far! (My first year gardening in my new home)
Is this what a "Dog wood" plant Looks like?
My very first Dog wood Plant!
Mrs. Muffet's gardens.
Here is a Idea from a friend of mine
Have some old buckets just laying around?? containers or what? You can do what Miss Muffet did in helping one of her clients she cares for, which missed having plants and flowers around her home. They used these recycled kitty litter buckets with miracle grow dirt to start a small but effective garden in a old dog run that was not in use.
Notice the sunscreen on the fence, this will help the plants a little later when the hot sun in our area starts getting hot, all those plants will be happy with the shade in a 120' degree heat. Also notice putting the back-yard-garden in the fenced in area, the dogs and cats will be prevented from messing up the garden. Great Idea Mrs. Muffet! as a added benefit the garden plants can grow up the fence!
Planted in this recycled container garden are corn, carrots, Alaska peas, green beans, radishes, tomatoes, spearmint plant, pickle cucumbers and a whole lot of joy in having a garden!
If you have some pics of your garden ideas let me know by sending me them with a bit of background and I'll be happy to post them. Send your pic's with info to: Justhear2@yahoo.com, with the subject "garden Pic's" thanks Bowen
Making a growing frame out of pvc pipe
As you can see in some of my back yard gardening pictures, I made some half circle frames to grow crops upward. I have a single PVC pipe frame in which I grew climbing spinach up. It worked very well. By the end of the season the whole thing was covered with spinach leaves. If I had made it larger and more sturdy the plants would have covered it completely also. here is how i made it.supplies: 1- 10ft PVC pipe 1/2 inch or larger,
2- 2ft sections of re-bar (1/2 inch or 3/4 inch)
Pound re-bar into ground at inside or outside of your growing box or growing area.
Place pipe over re-bar and shove into ground.
Next - at bottom of one side of pipe tie twine or nylon string and string it to the other bottom side of the PVC pipe.
Do this across each side of the half circle in tell you have about 5 or 6 strings crossing the pipe horizontally.
Spaced about 4"inches apart.
Next- start from the top center of the circle and tie twine spaced about 4" inches apart and cut to length leaving a little extra
length on the bottom. After you have each of the vertically tied strings attached start in the middle and go downward making
one rap around the horizontal strings keeping the string tot but not so tight that it pulls the horizontal string upwards. except
for the last string at the bottom.
When your done you should have a nice net looking grid for your plants to grow upward. If you would like to make one for
growing tomato plants on, make 2 half circles and build a grid on them also. Place each of the half circles about 1 ft apart
and cut a piece of scrap PVC pipe to use as a spacer. between the two half circles i used 3 spacers, tying one one each side
near the bottom and one centered at the top. to tie them on i first tied a 15" piece of twine at the top one on side of the half
circle. Put the string through the PVC pipe and then tie the other end to the top of the adjacent half circle. Then finish it by
attaching the other two pieces to the bottom sides of the half circles. i will have some picture up soon so you can see the
results. My tomato plant engulfed this frame and was well supported by it.
If making your own grid is not your cup of tea, you can buy your own netting grid from a garden supply center or online. Which
i believe will run about $14 bucks a roll, or you could spend $3 dollars for a roll of nylon twine. If you have any questions let me
know in the comment area and i will reply there also. Have fun!
Tumbling compost barrels
Your best deals are on amazon!
Well, have you something to say? Please Do, Good or Bad I can take it
Tell me and others about your backyard garden
If you have a picture of your garden that you would like to share, send it my way, I'll put it on here and it can give others inspiration and ideas for there garden, Don't for get go give me a story about it and anything else you would like me to put on the lens. It's my desire to have this page become kind-of a backyard gardening club so to speak, so speak out and join in. I'm just getting started and i would like you to come along with me........ And thanks for stopping by.
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landscaper61
Oct 19, 2011 @ 4:09 am | delete
- Very nice and thorough lens. The "dog wood" made me laugh a lot. Thanks for sharing.
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Miss Muffet
Mar 24, 2011 @ 5:05 pm | delete
- Bowen, Hi and thank you for posting my garden pic..In case anyone is wondering I did add drainage holes, and a good layer of pond pebbles in the bottom before adding the dirt, and have each bucket raised off the ground with a cynder block under each , and each bucket handle was used to secure to the fence..want to keep everyone plants and humans safe! :) We added watermelon and pumpkins today, that we plan to train up to the top of the cage..I will send you pics if it is a success..Healtht, fun and quirky... yep thats my idea of gardening. have a great day Bowen..
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Jd
Mar 22, 2011 @ 12:57 am | delete
- Wow great pics of ur garden bowen i like what u have done. I am very interested in square foot gardens and ur links to the books have some of the best prices
i have seen. Thanks for the info. JD
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BigGirlBlue
Nov 28, 2010 @ 10:01 pm | delete
- I forgot to mention that I love your "dog wood". I have a similar variety.
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BigGirlBlue
Nov 28, 2010 @ 10:01 pm | delete
- Gardening is a great hobby that yields so many benefits. Beside the beauty it offers planning skills, exercise, kudos from friends and family, promotes the environment. And usually keeps me out of trouble... unless I happen upon a nursery. I had to make a goal last year not to add anything new. I did pretty good. I only bought one miniature hosta.
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Music to My ears of corn!
I know that sounds Corny, but hey its a garden lens!
The Music i Love and you might just Love too! Maybe your plants will love the music too! On this list i have Many favorites, like The Man You Love and I Believe in You, also check out Unchained Melody. IL Divo is some Great Music and just because you may not understand the words, ( I only speak English my self) It will touch your heart just the same.
Farther down the List I put some samples of Andrea Bocelli, I would love to go see him in concert some day. Talk about a powerful voice, Andrea is blind but the sings from the heart
| Track | Artist | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regresa a Mí (Unbreak My Heart) | Il Divo | Il Divo | |
| Unchained Melody (Senza catene) | Il Divo | Il Divo | |
| The Power of Love (La Fuerza Mayor) [Live] | Il Divo | The Promise | |
| The Man You Love | Il Divo | Il Divo | |
| Amazing Grace | Il Divo | The Promise | |
| I Believe In You (Je crois en toi) [English-French Version] | Il Divo & Stockholm Session Orchestra | Ancora | |
| Time to Say Goodbye | Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman | Romanza | |
| Somos novios (It's Impossible) | Andrea Bocelli & Christina Aquilera | Amore | |
| Dare to Live (Vivere) | Andrea Bocelli & Laura Pausini | The Best of Andrea Bocelli - Vivere (Bonus Track Version) | |
| Can't Help Falling In Love (Live at Lake Las Vegas) | Andrea Bocelli | Amore | |
| Besame mucho | Andrea Bocelli | Amore |
Garden Music!
Some Gareners sing to there crops, How about a song or too!
search amazon here for your favorite music for the plants you love, and they will love you for it!
my other lenses
Books I have come to love and would be a great addition to your Backyard gardening project
by Bowenwcoen
Thanks for visiting my Lens, i enjoy Gardening and composting, my wish is that you find value in all the information on my lens and please leave a mes... more »
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Building your garden one box at a time
All New Square Foot Gardening
Amazon Price: $11.57 (as of 05/28/2012)
If you are new to gardening or have heard about square foot gardening and want to know all about it this is the book for you. My sister bought me thithe first edition book that Mellow Bartholomew wrote almost 30 years ago, and has since wrote a new and improved book that makes gardening so
easy that your young children could start there own garden. Just build a box. Fill with a special dirt mix, (you make yourself ) plant, water and watched your plants grow. As Mel would say "Bing-bam-boom" and your gardening. I started that way and u can too! Give it try today, Bowen
