SFG's, 2nd Story Addition, and My Helper

Well, it's the last day of our long weekend off, working together on the garden. We have accomplished a lot! Things are really shaping up! I can really see things coming together and I am able to begin to imagine what it will look like in the midst of this years growing season. I dreamed about it all winter, and some of those plans have changed as circumstances and other plans changed but all in all, I can sit back and feel quite pleased with all we've done!

Before heading to the hard work of building and digging and moving garden things this morning, I surveyed what we had done and watered and plucked at a few things. I discovered several beautiful strawberries on the pyramids! They are hiding in the floiage so you have to look carefully in the picture I took for you below.

Ripe Strawberries!

Next I checked in on the Upside Down Garden, sadly I must report that one of the already planted tomatoes, a "Mortgager Lifter" passed away in the night. I had feared that result but I did not give up hope until the bitter end! I will be replanting that pot tomorrow along with several others.

On a brighter note, the beans and nasturtiams are doing beautifully!

Baby Hyacinth Beans!

My boring photo's of the beans developing are likely as stimulating as watching paint dry for the rest of you. I am still taken with watching how quickly they progress! I will try to not go on and on about them but, consider yourself warned, there will be more bean photo's.

The Nasturtiams Have Sprouted Too!

I never got the nasturtiums to germinate last year so, I am really pleased that these seeds are doing so well. (these are seeds left over from last year) I do look forward to watching them blossom and climb up the twine trellis we have running up the side of the garden structure.

Once everything had checked out and been watered, I got to work moving the dirt from one of the side yard SFG's. It is not well protected in the side yard and we really wanted to use that space for other purposes so, I got my garden cart and shovel and got digging.

Digging All The Way To Empty

Since reading Mel's "New Square Foot Gardening" book, I have gotten in the habit of using tarps to move and, to mix dirt whenever I can. Today, I lined the garden cart with the tarp and it worked beatuifully. When I was done moving the dirt, there was no need to clean out the cart. I'm lazy, I love saving myself work.

Here comes some, sort of "technical stuff", I hope it will answer an often asked question of many folks new to square foot gardening, regarding how the wood holds up and how long will it last etc. The frame I emptied and re-purposed today is going into it's third year of service. It was built using 2x8 lumber from one of the big box stores (Lowes or Home Depot). It has endured two growing seasons and 2 winters. I remember, when we built these first frames wondering how long they would last.

These next three photo's show you the inside of that wood, the pieces that were in direct contact with the soil that entire time. (2 growing seasons and 2 winters)

Side Rails

On the left, you can see that the wood is a darker color than when it was fresh, the darkness deepens as it moves to the edge of the board that was in direct contact with the native soil here in Northern Virginia, mostly clay, not very well draining soil. I must in fairness note, that we experienced drought last growing season, but we did keep out crop watered throughout. We also had a tremendous amount of rainfall this winter and spring.
On the right, you are looking directly at the edge of the board that was in direct contact with the native soil here. Darkened but no sign of rot at all. These were all painted on the exterior areas that were exposed to sunlight, none were painted or treated in any other way on any interior surfaces.

A Close Up, Cross Section, Of The Side Rail, Showing The Interior Side

The End, Near the Wood Joint, Shows The Contrast In Color

This photo shows the section that was inside the frame, in direct contact with the soil and athe section where it was butted together with the end piece, in direct contact with the wood at the end of the frame.

All in all, I am impressed with the condition of the wood frame. I really expected to see more signs of rot. I think it's just another indication of how well the "Mel's Mix" drains.

Once we had the frame empty and the wooden parts separated and cleaned off (we brushed off the dirt to be nice to our saw and saw blades) we modified it. My plan originally was to find a space for this frame in the rear section of the SFG garden (the spot with all the "junk" you see in most of the Aerial Photo's). After some pondering, I had already taken some of the soil out to finish filling a new bed we set up earlier so it wasn't full, I decided that it would maximize the value of what I had on hand to set up a "2nd story" on the one un-planted bed. We had that bed/frame on the schedule for weeding today. I had already planned to use 6 squares of that frame for two zucchini plants, that filled a nice square spot on the end, leaving us 5 feet of frame length or 10 square feet, not yet spoken for. We sawed off 3 foot from the end each side rail and slapped the pieces back together with screws, forming a 5 foot by 2 foot box.

Voila! 10 Square Feet, 5 Feet Long x 2 Feet Wide, Our New 2nd Story

I set the 2 - 3 foot pieces aside for later use. the little fella inside the new 5 foot frame is Murphy, he is my sidekick and my constant companion. He has been learning about being a gardener right along with me these past 2+ years, his favorite 2 activities are, finding a shady spot, close by, to rest and, watering things!

Second Story Installed

It's not quite full of soil but that will be easily remedied. I will add some more compost, peat and vermiculite ("Mel's Mix") as soon as I can get out to the store to buy more compost, likely tomorrow. (I still don't have enough home made compost to meet my needs - fingers crossed next year will be better for compost production). I also need to subdivide it with twine (like the others) to mark out the square feet. I like to make sure that I plant it carefully and make the most of the space I have.

This second story should make a great place for growing our rutabaga's, carrots, and other larger root vegetables. I am pleased with my decision to build a second story.

This afternoon's Aerial View 5/26/2008

I did my best to "crop out" the left over mess and visual distractions, I needed to see it looking nice after the weekend of work we've put in. Sorry for the odd size/shape of the photo.

Tomorrow's expected weather is rain. That will give me time to make bread for the family and run a few errands, maybe even do some "behind the scenes" work for dressing up the garden a bit.

It's good to have goals but, I may just sit quietly, rest and ponder.

I hope to get more planting done after the rain subsides. Stand by, I still haven't shown you the upper deck garden! And there are plans for another container garden area and...