The Strawberry Post

Today's Menu Features:
The Indoor Strawberry Pyramid

Fresh from the side yard garden, from our pyramids. The Berry on top is the from the first crop of strawberries harvested from the newest pyramid. The plants in the newest pyramid came to us thru Freecycle last year. That berry on top is a beauty! I can hardly wait for all the runners from these plants to shoot out! I intend to catch and root them. I will be giving some away and repopulating the older pyramid with new plants. It's almost tempting to establish a third pyramid for us! It is so wonderful to step outside and pick a ripe berry, the flavor is marvelous.

This is the fun part, when you reap the benefits of all that hard work.

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...

We Have Wings!

Yesterday the lumber was cut and fitted for the Upside Down Garden expansion project. The new, two wings. The lumber was cut and notched, the corners were trimmed, final fitting was checked and braces were cut and fitted. The entire thing was installed, one on each end of the frame.

Installation in Mid-Afternoon 5/24/2008

A Closer Look At The Brace

The new extensions had the screw eyes installed, were painted and then, left to dry overnight.

Complete Project, built and ready to go, 5/25/2008

This view gives just the perspective of one end of the garden. The two "window" boxes are planted with Hyacinth beans (in the left side box) and nasturtiums (in the right side box) Both have germinated and I hope when I take photo's again during the coming week you will be able to see the growth. We strung the sides of the upside down garden with twine to help support these climbers. This side closest to the house, seen from the deck and the bedroom window first thing in the morning, has the "pretties". The other side was planted, just today with "Kentucky Wonder" Pole beans.

The Upside Down Garden Now supports 10 "Planters"

And, the sides will act as trellis for others plantings. You may wonder why I have the window boxes up on cinder blocks and, why I have a fence around the square foot gardens. The fact is, I try to think about lawn maintenance and the ease of care, The plastic boxes take a beating from the grass string trimmer in the hands of some operators, putting things up on blocks means no need to worry about damage and no need to be "extra careful" around the gardens. It also means, I don't need to worry as much about my little dog (he's a boy) "adding" to the garden (those window boxes are a might short without the risers).

I have gotten quite a bit done in the SFG as well, including quite a bit of planting. We have one more SFG bed to weed.

Square Foot Garden 5/25/2008

We will likely put that on the top of the list for tomorrow. I hope to have things well in hand by the end of this holiday weekend!

The two front SFG Frames are covered in plastic mulch, topped with wood chips. (I have only mulched those square feet that have been planted) This plastic mulch is this years experiment. Lots of folks swear by it and I am hoping it will conserve water resources but, I am very concerned about the solar heat gain from the plastic being too much for the plants and their roots. I am taking a wait and see approach, if it looks like things are not coming along nicely I can always, easily tear up the plastic and return to the original plan of mulching in the hottest season, with wood chips. We have plenty on hand.

I will go into further explanation about the milk jugs that line my frames soon. They are also a "testing system" I think they are working well on the conventional "New Square Foot Garden Frames" I'm not sure how well they work with the plastic mulched frames. Time will tell.

There is always something going on in the garden. I hope you'll stop by again.

My Sweet Potato Adventure

I had a difficult time finding simplified information about sprouting sweet potatoes. To help fill the void, I will be adding all the info I learn, including lots of photos of my sweet potatoes to help other folks with similar interests and curiosity. Here is the first of what I hope are many Sweet Potato entries. I hope there will be some that are of interest to folks. I look forward to learning more about growing sweet potatoes as I go along. I will share my research and any worthwhile links I find along the way.

Much earlier this spring I haphazardly stuck three toothpicks in each of two sweet potatoes that we purchased at the local grocery store. Resting those toothpicks on the edge of a coffee mug filled with water, I waited. I was not sure what I would see, but I waited and I watched. In a few days it began to sprout shoots, those shoots grew and got leaves and grew more. I had no idea what to do with them, no idea what I was really doing. I had no expectation, I was just playing. It grew and grew and grew! There were 5 or 6 shoots growing from each potato, getting longer and longer and developing lovely folliage, the roots the had grown out of the bottom of the potato (that part submerged in water) iand nearly filled the cups, leaving little space for water. Now I was watering them twice a daybecause they were drying out quickly. I asked online for advice about what to do with these new plants but did not clearly understand what folks were instructing. I was told to simply pull off the shoots and put them in water. I was totally unsure of myself and afraid if I did that they would just break and I would kill what I had begun.

Time passed, and the leaves on the long and slender stems began to turn brown and shrivel up. Once again I turned to the internet for help, this time I expressed my complete ignorance regarding these potatoes and how to manage them, I asked for specific, very simple instructions. I was told to firmly grip the sprouts close to the potato and snap them off. Once free of the potato they were to be placed in water. I was apprehensive but, I steeled myself and "just did it". Here is what they looked like 5 days later!

Sprouting Sweet Potato Starts

Here are the roots, a little closer. Impressive growth for 5 days in water.

I did lose a few more leaves to the browning phenomenon, but clearly I have plenty of root development and the leaves that survive seem vital. I hope to get these planted in soil within the next week. It will be interesting to see how many potatoes we get from the plants.

Just for fun, because after all, this was just a lark to begin with, I stuck the potatoes back into the water to see what might happen, now that the shoots were all broken off. Surprisingly, one of the potatoes is beginning to grow some new shoots again!

A Second Crop Of Shoots?

I will try and post regular follow ups about my sweet potatoes. Including the planting, the growing season, and of course the harvest, if and when it happens. I don't have places to grow more potatoes but, I am just so amaized at the tenacity of this little potato, I can't help but be curious to learn what it can and will do. Stay tuned! I intend to follow up on this adventure.

Planting the SFG Frames

Today I began the actual planting of the SFG (Square FootGarden). I planted 20 pepper plants, some hot peppers and some sweet peppers, several different varieties. Also planted were 2 summer squash plants and 2 eggplants.

Aerial View of SFG 5/21/08

With all this recent rain the soil in the newly flled beds had settled a good bit, making the soil level lower than was optimal. We stole a little soil from one of the new beds, the one closest to the gate. We have plans to replace it very soon. We have still not gotten back to weeding out the older established beds (those we built last year). As you can see, the cardboard is still in place over the weeds, I sure hope it is helping!. Maybe tomorrow or Friday we'll get to them and get them weeded. I need to get on it soon, the tomatoes need to get in the ground and start climbing those vertical frames. I think they are growing tired of their tiny pots.

Behind The Scenes

Wash Day!

Today's weather seemed perfect to get a start on the container gardening. Before I plant I like to empty the dirt out and wash out the containers. There are quite a few planters. Not all will be planted this year, some will be stored for next year. Sitting out in the elements they only last a few years. I keep collecting them as I can so that I will have a good supply when I need it. Planning ahead means I will be able to continue to grow what I need now, and in the years to come.

Many of these containers will live on the deck, outside the kitchen. Others will be set in the garden and possibly be placed around the yard. I hope to put some pretty flowers into some of them.

I set up in the driveway for my big "wash day". I set up two saw horses and set a Rubbermaid watering trough on top, it saves my back quite a bit. After gathering my rags, scrub brushes, and green Scotch Brite pads, I fill it with the hose, add bleach and wearing two pair of rubber gloves get to scrubbing! (a lightweight neoprene pair inside of a heavier latex pair) I try to wash the containers every year before replanting them to make sure they are not harboring any bugs, viruses, fungus's, nothing that might put this years plants at risk, that might persist in the corners of a plastic or clay pot.

Once the pots were clean, I washed the rocks you see laying on the blue tarp. They used to cover the flower filled area there, near the window. This year, once they are all cleaned up, they will line the bottoms of various containers. No longer "decorative", they will now be put to practical uses.

How Things Look In late May

I did a bit of this and that around the garden and yard today, nothing worth lengthy description. So, I thought it might be a good day to take a couple of photo's to show progress or...possible failure. I like to think of all of it as learning experiences. The more I do this the more I learn what to do and what not to do.

An Upside Down Tomato Getting Comfortable

If you look closely, you see the tomato is doing pretty well, beginning to look up and curl toward the sun. Look even closer, and you will see the side planting of basil. It does not looked nearly as happy but it does seem like it may settle in and do reasonably well.

A Comparison Of Side Planted Basil Plants

The plant in the foreground looks like it will survive and maybe even thrive. The basil in the background is barely showing any life. I'm not sure what the difference is between the two plantings. I know that we have had a lot of rain recently so, it may be more surprising that the one plant is doing so well. Basil does not like to be wet all the time.

I still have not replaced the watering reservoirs in these upside down planters. I hope to get more 1 liter bottles to use soon.

The "New" Strawberry Pyramid Is Filled With Flowers

The Strawberry Pyramids are growing nicely, making lots of flowers. There are quite a few small immature berries already in place, with more to come along soon! I am hoping to get enough fruit to put some up this year. The pyramid above is the one I put in last year (2007) These are the berries I plan to catch runners from and transfer into the other pyramid later this season. I think the fruit in this pyramid is superior in size, flavor and vigor. I will be sure of the flavor aspect once this crop is ripe enough to eat. I check them daily.

Here Is The Original Pyramid

This pyramid holds two different species of strawberry, one is a June bearer and one an everbearer. I am not impressed with the vigor of either these plants. I hope the plants in the other pyramid (given to me thru Freecycle) live up to my expectations. So I can replant both pyramids with the same fruit.

I hope to build a new "cage" for the "new" pyuramid soon and I will explain the process and take photo's along the build so that others can see how I make a cage.

It seems a gardener's work is never finished. Once these finish their fruit they will send out runners. I plan to catch those and transplant some of them others, I plan to give away on Freecycle. Then, I need to renovate the pyramids. They need to have some dirt replaced, some food, and maybe some pruning later in the season.

Progess as Planned

Waiting Patiently

First thing, I checked on my seedlings and gave them all a drink! They continue to sit and wait patiently. The collection grows regularly, every trip to the nursery or local shopping center parking lot (they have a temporary plant sales place set up there) results in two or three new plants. Next year, I will plan it all out in advance and grow my own seedlings again, not this year. Buying seedlings is expensive business, though I admit, I enjoy the search and the discovery of new things. Yesterday I bought a penny royal plant and a Stevia plant, nice additions to the herb garden.

Not Done Yet

Mid-morning we ran out of vermiculite and had to quit our soil mixing work. Before I left for the nursery for more, I took a few pictures to document the progress we had made.

This picture, taken from the garden gate, shows the progress and the two frames that I have sitting in wait, covered to keep those weeds from growing too fast until I can get to them.

Coarse Vermiculite

I made lunch and then, headed for the Nursery, Merrifield (Fair Oaks Location) in Northern Virginia. This was the first time I have been able to find coarse vermiculite. Third year of SFG'ing, three must be the charm. Since it was so difficult for me to find this product. I decided to take photo's of the bags that it came in and to share it with others here. I hope it's helpful to some of us. The Gentleman at the nursery tells me that they carry it...when they can get it. Seems it is difficult to get so, they buy it when it's available. Call first! Make sure you are specific when asking about it, this particular nursery had 3 different packages of vermiculite, only a few bags of the coarse variety, even less after I bought mine. The bags were about 1/2 the size of the usual 4 cu. ft. bags of medium vermiculite I had bought in the past. Special thanks for the info about Merrifield Garden Center availability to, Detrick from the SFG list!

Close up! (the ink is deep green)

Now that we have more material, it's back to work!

We finished filling the frames today. The garden area (and beyond) are all trimmed up. Next will be the installation of weed blocking tiles around each frame. That "should" keep the weeds from encroaching on the boxes/frames and keep the string trimmer from beating up the outsides of the boxes.

SFG, End Of The Day From Up Above

Raspberries!

In the far back corner of the SFG, lives my small, temporary patch of raspberries. I decided a "close up" without all the surrounding junk in it was in order. Though mostly neglected, they seem to be doing very well. I intend to build out their frame/box once we get the big old platform torn out of there, later this season. It is hard to be patient when I can see such progress being made.

Upside Down From Up Above

Here is one more photo of the Upside Down Garden, not much change, a few seeds planted in the small boxes on the ground, one side is hyacinth beans and one is nasturtiums. I can hardly wait to watch them climb up the side of the frame.

The weather folks are calling for rain. Time to take another break from the outdoor work and get back to work indoors for a day. Sourdough bread is on the list of chores today.

Hope to get back to work on the garden this weekend, if not before then.

A little bit of this and that, Updates

These first two pictures are for my friends, Dorothy (who sent me the seeds of friendship) and my friend vi, who loves all things lavender.

I met Dorothy online, she lives across the country from me, thousands of miles away. I mentioned that I loved violets and wished I had some. The next thing I knew there were packages of seeds for viola's (johnny jump ups) in my mailbox! I planted them and they grew! And they grew some more. And, they smiled at me all winter and they spread their seeds everywhere! I have them in the cracks of the sidewalk, in pots that I had not gotten to replanting yet and, little surprises popping up throughout my lawn. They are peeking out everywhere, what lovely little surprises!

Seeds Of Friendship

Seeds Of Freindship, Popping Up Everywhere!

And now for the updates:

Here is a photo of the chain and hook I use to pot the upside down planters. It sure makes the job easier! (Sorry I missed putting it into the earlier entry)



I bought a new Concord Grape Vine today. I bought a dormant root plant earlier from one of the big Home Centers but it just didn't make it. I was so determined to establish a grape vine this year that I purchased another. this one looks hale and happy, hope I can manage to keep it that way! If you look (photo below) back in the far corner (top of the photo) you can see that we have finished filling one SFG frame with soil. We did it the other day, just before the rain started. (I think we must have gotten 5 inches of rain since then, maybe more. I feel sure that the drought restrictions have been or will soon be lifted here. I was glad we got a break in the weather so we could get some more progress made today.
Tonight we emptied out the last of the bags of mulch we had stored, out of the last unfinished SFG frame, turned it over and attached the chicken wire to the bottom. We are preparing to finish filling the SFG frames tomorrow.
We trimmed the weeds down low on the established frames. I then cut cardboard to fit over the tops of the frames, over the the weeds. I am hoping to keep the weed development down until I can get back to them to weed them out. I am so busy building the rest that I was afraid the weeds would just get away from me if I didn't do something.

And lastly, here is the most recent photo of the Upside Down Garden. I added the growing boxes at either end today. They will be planted with beans that I plan to have grow up the "A frame" sides of the Garden Frame.

Tomorrow we will lay the cardboard under the last frame and fill them all with Mel's Mix. Then I will begin placing the newspaper and tiles around the new frames. Preparation is all I can think about these days and the work I need to do to make these frames as low maintenance as possible throughout the coming growing season.

I'll be very busy tomorrow, "making hay while the sun shines" you know. I'll be doing my best to take a few pictures of the progress between all the work. I might not get to the photo's until the end of the work day.

Thanks for stopping by and happy gardening!

How To Build An Upside Down Tomato Planter PART II

MAKING THE RESERVOIR

This is a new "design" for us. We managed the watering of the upside down garden very differently last year. We experienced drought conditions last year. The drought and the fact that we are expanding the garden so much this year has made us rethink our watering practices. It has always been important to us, to not waste water, we are now more conscious about water use than ever before. Along with the conservation of water, I am also working to mange my time and personal energy resources well. I am hopeful that by the end of the season, I will have a system in place for all the gardens that manages all my resources well and is very simple. Simple enough that I could easily leave the care of my garden to some one else with little explanation or worry. For the Upside Down Garden, this means integrated water reservoirs.

Stay tuned for future water saving measures, posted in future blog entries.

My Reservoir Piercing Tool







I use a "T" pin, any pin will do I'm sure, I just had these on hand and I find them easy to get a good grip on them so, I chose one as my piercing/perforating tool.


I chose one liter bottles this year because I wanted to bury them within the planters. One liter should not displace too much soil and it should give the plants enough to drink. My goal is to give them just enough to drink and to not have much drainage out the bottom. I am concerned about losing precious nutrients along with the water as it leaks thru the bottom of my planters. Since I don't rely on commercial fertilizers, this is very important to me.




I am using any plastic one liter containers I can get my hands on, soda bottles, water bottles and milk bottles, all are well cleaned and used this year.

First I pierced holes in the bottom of the containers, on this soda bottle I pierced all five areas that would be low lying once installed.

Next time, I will only pierce one hole. My goal is for the water to trickle out, five holes are just too many and the water is flowing too quickly.




















also pierced a few holes in the sides, next time I will only pierce one on each of 2 sides. The water is flowing much too freely. I am hopeful that I can slow the flow in such a way that it will soak the planting soil without losing much thru the bottom.

I did leave the caps on the bottles on purpose, they will be used all the time once the planters are finished. Now that the bottles are perforated, I set them inside the container, grab a couple of plants and head for the potting bench where I have a hook with a length of chain attached to hang the empty pot from .

This is the tomato I chose, it is quite well developed so, I will prune the bottom section of the plant before I pot it.



Here is the plant all pruned and ready to be planted. I will bury the plant up to where the leaves are now growing, that stem will sprout a wonderful network of roots, giving it lots of roots to pull in the water and nutrient it needs as the season wears on.
Remove the plant from it's small pot...


Remove most of the soil, the root ball has to be small enough to fit thru the hole you made on the bottom of the pot. It will not injure the plant if a few of the roots get trimmed so, don;t worry too much.










Put one hand inside the pot to grab the root ball once it fits thru from the outside, while you gently coax the root ball and stem thru from the bottom, allowing the top of the plant to hang upside down.

Be gentle and coax the roots thru. If you removed enough of the soil and trimmed the roots a bit (scissors can be used) it should fit thru. I always do this with seedlings, these are the largest seedlings I have ever used for the upside down planters and they fit with a little patience.


Once you get the root ball thru the bottom, you continue to support the plant from the bottom with one hand.


Now, while contiuing to gently support the root ball in your hand, begin to add dirt to cover the bottom of the planter with the other (unless you have a helper, which can be a very good thing!). Just cover the bottom with a few inches of soil, don't tamp the soil down, you want it to remain rather loose and airy at this point, it will all settle in naturally around the plant, it's roots etc. Make sure to put in enough soil to support the plant enough that you can let go of it and not so high that it gets in the way of placing the next plant in thru the side hole.



This is just another picture of my gloved hand supporting the root ball, taken from another angle, I think it is very hard to see what is going on inside the bucket at this point. I hope offering a second picture, from a different angle might help.

Next set the resevoir into the bucket, on top of the dirt. Make sure the top of the bottle is above the top of the bucket, you want the shoulder of the bottle exposed a bit (not much) so you can see the water level when you fill it. You may have to dig down a bit to place it correctly, just be careful, use your hand so you don't damage the plant(s) at all.

Now begin to fill with your soil around the bottle, filling up the bucket to near the very top. Please remember to not tamp down the soil, let it settle on it's own, just fill for now.

Here is a bucket I consider full, I can still see thru the shoulders of the bottle when I fill it with water. After filling it with water, I replace the cap. I hope this will slow the flow of the water from the filled bottle.



Finally, there is one pot, with an upside down tomato plant, hanging upside down, in my Upside Down Garden!

Stay tuned for, PART III