2010 Garden Begins at New House!

It's here! It's here! We've stared at the date on our calendar since November and it's finally here!

I got our dirt at Mecklenburg County's "Compost Central", which as it turns out was just a mile and a half from where I work. So during lunch one day, I got a big-@ssed load of county compost, a.k.a. "black gold", and prayed I'd make it home safely. I did, though my truck drove completely weird. I think I was a bit overloaded. The next day I got another load, and that bulldozer operators skimped a a bit when filling my truck bed, so altogether I think between the two loads we evened out.

No, that's not from a giant mole. Rather, it's compost pile, load #1.

Then Yvonne and I sat down for a contentious round of on-the-spot game-changing planning ... as in something like 3 hours! However, Yvonne didn't just want to start digging in the dirt, though I did, and I had a sinking feeling she was right. As we talked it out, we realized that we want the easiest, most productive means of gardening in our back yard. Our gardening guru, Jerry Baker, uses "enclosed beds" in his own back yard. So what's good for Jerry is good for us. No tilling the ground and having to worry about fences versus coyote urine granules to keep out the critters ... and oy vey, the weeds, oh, yes, the weeds. And our first gardening experience here in Charlotte at The Cameron on Pecan Avenue utilized extremely successful enclosed beds. So we decided that enclosed beds were the route we'd go, combined with our successful county compost experience last Fall at Flynnwood.

So we began our first garden at our new house by, of course, measuring Tabla. (Doesn't everyone start their garden by measuring the pets?) He was pretty happy about it, 'cause it meant he got to head-butt something ... like the yardstick. The purpose was to see what the average height of the male cat is, since cats seem to be a "pest" in these parts, followed by geese and rabbits. We've seen rabbits and were really concerned about them until we read that cats really do a great job of keeping rabbits at bay ... and we know there are something like 5 or 6 cats that pass through our yard daily.

Next up was a trip to Lowe's, for a ridiculous, long wait to get some wood, nails and tie clamps. We'd spent the previous week planning ('cause we like to do that) and getting dirt. We began by laying out the pieces of wood in the order that they'd be put together, all based on the graph paper diagram Yvonne seemed all too pleased to draw out beforehand. Of course, after gridding out on graph paper, we had to grid out in the actual yard using flour as our demarcation lines on the ground, as we measured out the actual square footage compared to a plat diagram we had when we bought the houses versus Yvonne's graph paper diagram. My brain was itching from the inside out. Were we EVER going to get to plant anything? Please?! Aaaaaiiiiiiiieeeeeeee!!

So with the pieces laid out in the appropriate order... "uhhh, how does this look? To the right? No, to the left? Unh-hunh, how much? 6 inches? Another 6 inches. Now? How 'bout now? And again??"

we began nailing them together to create our 16' x 4' enclosed beds. We went with 2x12" treated boards. Should be good enough to keep out grass, weeds, voles and other varmits. Yvonne hammered like a girl, so I took over on the nailing duties. Actually I love hammering nails in wood and am pretty darn good at it. :) I just used her long nail experience as an excuse to take up the hammering reigns. Shhhh, don't tell her, though. ;)

Then it was time to fill the boxes. YEAH!!!! Oh, wait ... uhhhh, "Calling all precincts, calling all precincts: be on the lookout for a white male suspect, 5'11" driving a dirty gray pickup truck, dirt under his nails, newsboy hat and bad plaid shirt. Roger."

We spread a layer of newspaper to help kill the grass. (Actually, Yvonne did most of that. Okay, she did all of that. ;) )

and then tacked a layer of black plastic to the inside of the boxes to hold the dirt (I did that part ... we really worked great together). Yvonne cut a bunch of slits in the plastic for drainage, using scissors, while I nailed little ticky tacky nails up along the top edge of the plastic.

Now, it was time to use the collected leaves we'd be stealing from our neighbors all winter long. Nice of them to help us out like that, huh? I just LOVE IT when people do all the work for you, namely raking their yards and putting perfect compost material in tidy clear plastic bags for you. Awesome!

Next went in a layer of leaves. We filled up about half of the depth, knowing full well it would settle. The leaves provide excellent drainage, will break down to create awesome compost, and also allows us to use only half the dirt to fill the boxes.

Then we topped with compost.

We did a wheel barrel test before finishing the second box. Wanting to ensure there is enough room to get between the two boxes. Yep, looks good enough.

Then we built the second box....

and repeated the filling process.

Once all the dirt was in Yvonne smoothed it out...

I took a pH reading. Woo-HOOOOO, we were at 6.3 on the pH scale, awesome, awesome, awesome!!!













After we ran out of daylight Saturday, we prepared a seed soaking tonic to help the seeds along. Jerry Baker, again, totally rules.

For our first planting we're using spinach, turnips, lettuce, carrots and beets. Onions are good neighbor plants for all of those, so we left space to plant onions inbetween each, with one larger row of onions then several sub-rowlets. We'll plant those in a couple weeks (if the seeds arive ).

We gave everything we planted a good soak...

and covered them up for a good night's sleep. It's still in the 20s here at night so they need to be protected from the cold. The frost cloth keeps temps 15-20 degrees warmer underneath, while letting rain and good sun through. I was excited, 'cause this means we can overwinter many things come 2011. :) The bags of leaves, and a piece of slate my brother Mark gave me holds the cloth in place. Then, just two days later? Snowfall here in Charlotte. Good thing we put the new seeds to bed. :)

As the Worms Turn

Okay, so I'm never quite content with anything once I've achieved something. Success in the worm bin is another example. My trusty wooden bin has been functioning well, though it's overrun by creepy crawlies, which makes harvesting and feeding of the bin ... well, something I don't look forward to. There had to be a better way. Plus the wood box is slowly breaking down to the elements.

Y had a great idea ... use our just emptied 5-gal. paint bucket somehow w/the worms. She was envisioning it as a holding area for our kitchen scraps. I on the other hand knew I could create an easy-to-maintain, and creepy-crawlie-free worm condo. I started by buying a 2-gal. small bucket to hold our kitchen scraps (we put our scraps into a scraps holder on our counter, and then in a couple days move it to the bucket).

I took the 5-gal. bucket, washed it out, and put in some 1/4-inch holes in the bottom for drainage and 4-inches up the sides all around for ventillation. Then I used a hot glue gun around the holes, and placed little squares of breathable fabric around the holes, sealing with more hot glue. This keeps out the creepy crawlies.

I put plenty of bedding of moist shredded newsprint in the bottom, then lots of food, then my worms, then topped with 2 times as much bedding as I put on the bottom.

I left it for 2 weeks. Today I turned the pile, which was almost completely consumed and turned into compost, using my rubber-gloved hands to do the work. You can build a successful worm unit of any shape, size or variety as long as you include 5 things that they love: food, ventillation, moisture, drainage and bedding.

I rinsed out a second bucket and drilled 1/2-inch holes all into the bottom, making a Swiss cheese effect. Then I drilled 5 or 6 holes near the top of the second bucket for ventillation. I took off the lid from the starter bucket, placed the 2nd bucket on top, added bedding, then food then lots more bedding, and lidded the 2nd bucket with my original lid. Everything is sealed nice and tight with plenty of air coming and going. Then I placed my new wormy condo in an old litter box I use to hold my shredded newsprint when I need it. This will catch liquids as they leech out, and the pan is easily rinse-able.

Also, this new vertical condo is WAY EASY to move into the shade when it gets too hot or into the sun during the cooler months, which are upon us now. Yvonne gave me a ton of new scraps just after I'd finished putting in the second level. But it was so easy to add the new scraps to the new level, after removing the top bedding. I noticed that in just an hour or so after I'd turned the pile the worms on level 1 had gone to the top of the pile, and 2 were already surfing on the bottom of the 2nd level, heading up through the big holes.

Worms will automatically surf to wherever you're feeding. This makes harvesting way easy ... the wormies will all be gone onto the higher levels when it's time to harvest the first and second levels. And it allows you to keep feeding while harvesting, so you can use 4 or 5 buckets and begin the cycle all over again after harvest. Also I'm happy to know that I'm re-using old paint buckets that would've gone to the recycling bin or trash pile. :)

A New Beginning... and it's all ours!

It has begun.

Although there is still much to do on the inside of our new home, neither of us can stand looking at the big empty potential of our back yard for much longer.

We won't get it all planted right away. And we won't likely get all four beds prepped for the winter, either. But we CAN get some plans going on paper... and that's just what I've done!

Here is a first look at a preliminary idea of what we're thinking for at least part of the back yard veggie garden.

We took numbers from the property plat and figured things out from there.

After working through the numbers we were excited and overwhelmed all at the same time. The single bed we had at Flynwood was approximately 20'x20'. ONE of the beds shown in the layout here is about 40'x32'.... and there are FOUR of them! Holy moley that's a lot of veggies ... and herbs ... and fruits ... and greens, and so much more!




~Y(&T)

Gardening goings-on

The seeds we planted are all doing well. But what is REALLY doing well is the volunteer collards and squash growing right out of compost pit behind the garden. Tom kept cutting them down, cutting them down, cutting them down. He finally gave up and just let them grow (they're flowering now and going to seed, but that's okay with T).

Here are the collards NOT being grown in the garden, but in the compost heap (as well as T's new hairdo, which did successfully get cut down) ...

The squash hasn't blossomed yet, but here it is along with the collards...

We also had volunteer garlic shoot up as well. We decided to uproot the garlic and plant them in the garden beds. Here they are, looking a little wilted after the transplanting...

The lettuce is coming along...

as is the Swiss chard.

The cauliflower, however, isn't doing so well. We went a bit too long between rainfalls and didn't get them watered so they are struggling.

The turnips are as happy as could be. (Gee, I'm not sure either one of us even likes turnips ... but they're so easy to grow T's a believer now.)

Now the spinach is the real success story. Beautiful, eh?

Last weekend we harvest the biggest leaves and had ourselves a nice side salad. We'll have another one tonight! YUM.

I think all of you who get TY's Veggie Garden delivered to your email are aware that we are in the process of purchasing a home. Everything seems to be a go for a closing date of May 19. Exciting and overwhelming all at the same time!

As far as the garden is concerned, yes we are bummed about having spent a lot of effort getting it ready and now having to abandon it. But at the same time, we look VERY forward to putting our efforts into a long-term garden that we can work and nurture for years to come (no more moving, yay!) We will continue to eat what comes up from this garden, but we won't plant anything else here. We'll keep updating TY's Veggie Garden blog for the remainder of May so you can continue watching its progress. Then sometime in late Summer (or possibly early Fall) we'll likely start planting at our NEW house - well not "new" but a house we own - and we'll start posting again.

~Y

Moving along

The garden is definitely moving along. Everything that's been planted is coming up.

Lettuce...

more lettuce...

beets....

cauliflower....

turnips...

and last but not least, spinach....

~Y