Well, such as it is for now. This is my 32' Roma tomato bed. There are 32 plants here as well as 2 vermaculture worm towers.
Hi everyone!
I know I've been absent. I just don't blog when Bob is home. This time I didn't get my usual Sunday to schedule posts since he was leaving out a day early. I wasn't spending his last day home with my fingers connected to a keyboard.
So after getting the business stuff rolling then dealing with a back issue, I'm here. Of course, you know those two things set me off track so I'm here tonight (Thursday) seeing how many posts I can get written and scheduled for the entire month. I do have a book to write, after all.
Let me show you where we started.
I got the idea for galvanized tin beds from Homestead Heart. Click on her name to be taken to her YouTube channel.
Unlike wood-sided beds, they won't fall apart any time soon. Granted, they'll rust and deteriorate but hopefully they'll last until I'm done gardening. I did get lucky. A guy I know who owns a restaurant built a patio off his cafe when the pandemic hit. Unfortunately, the tin leaked so they stripped it all off and started over. Leaking wasn't a problem for me so he sold me the stack of 4x12 sheets for $10 each. We had all of the 2x4s Bob needed to make the corner pieces and I'd purchase stakes a couple of years ago I never used. Bob used them to seam the sides and for supports about mid-wau down the 8' and 10' beds.
I mowed down to about a #2 on my mower then we mulched everything in with cardboard. I got most of it from two furniture stores - so they were big boxes. When I got ready to do that second bed to the right, I acquired a bunch of heavy boxes from (of all places) a fireworks stand! Sara had her oldest boy load all that I wanted.
That second bed is built but won't be filled til this fall when I'll layer it with mulched leaves and tree shredding to compost down over the winter.
Here is the 16' zucchini bed:
I believe there are 12-14 plants in there and they are going gangbusters! I'll have plenty of dehydrated zucchini for muffins and zucchini flour to last the winter for sure. There may be a few turned in to slices for fried zucchini chips. This bed was planted around the decomposed straw bales that held tomatoes last year.
Across from this bed I have a double bed (one on each side of a swing set frame sorry - no picture) that holds cantaloupe. They seem to grow well in that spot so I figured why not. This fall, I'll strip off the chicken wire and we'll cover it with Pig fence panel so I'll have a more sturdy wire and all one piece.
Then there is this bed:
A couple of weeks ago we had to make an unexpected 4-day trip to OK. And honestly, the temperatures and heat indexes were killer so Bob and I hadn't been out to fill the remaining beds so we could move plants. I needed to keep everything watered while we were gone.
What you see is a kiddie wading pool filled with about 125 Roma tomato plants... and all are producing!!!!
You know, when I planted seeds last spring I never imagined I'd have 100% germination. That never happens!!
I'm just counting this as our settling in year and we'll be ready to go for 2022.
One picture I don't have... before we left, I took three big cattle feed tubs that I'd used previously for other things and filled with composted straw and potting soil. We planted a Slicer Tomato in each one with a sturdy cage from Menards. I use THESE They are much sturdier than traditional tomato cages. We had to trim the prongs down about 10" to fit in the tub and the wire was hard to cut with heavy duty wire cutters.
Incidently, here is the potting soil I have used for everything: Menards Master Garden This soil is lightweight but has the same composition and time-release fertilizer as the higher priced stuff. I used this to top dress the beds as well as in my 1 qt pots when I transplanted my seedlings to their next stage of growth. It's what those kiddie pool tomatoes are thriving in!
As weather continues to cool down and we can work outside more, we'll get the other 4'x8' beds (5 of those) and the 4'x10' bed (1) positioned and start filling them with mulch, composted straw and all the leaves I can gather this fall.
I will be back on Monday to get us back on track. Travel Tuesday, I'll take you to Elsinore MO and a special shopping find.
Whatever you choose to do, Enjoy the Journey!
~Kelly
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