Toke's 2012 Summer veggie garden

[tokeroo]

I am trying to shift towards organic. Need to figure out compost teas, but so far this is what I have.

I mix my own soil, each box has this:
- 3cu ft of sphagnum moss
- ~3cu ft of bagged manure from big box stores (moo-nure, mushroom compost, humus+chicken manure, humus/cow manue conditioner)
- 1-2cu ft perlite
In the cabbage box and bush bean box I also added some vermiculite in lieu of some of the perlite and added in (pelleted) dolomite lime and Espoma Plant-Tone fert.

Buckets are about the same but no vermiculite.

my seedling soil is moss+perlite+espoma plant-tone and a few handfuls (IIRC) of mushroom compost. I start in jiffy pellets and transplant into this mix. First for this year, and so far it's doing well.

The moss+perlite+espoma+lime is working great as a potting mix for trees I just received from Arbor Day (bare-root stock) and some young trees from the big box stores. Just make sure it's nice and wet, I don't even bother watering them after planting.

Anyhow, pics of whats going so far:

 

[tokeroo]

Oops, forgot to note I added Blood and Bone meal to the buckets, cabbage box and bush bean box - and one or both (don't remember) to my transplanting mix.

 

[vierundzwanzig]

hey tokeroo, how did you amend the soil under the beds or is it even necessary? looks great and i covet your space.

 

[tokeroo]

hey tokeroo, how did you amend the soil under the beds or is it even necessary? looks great and i covet your space.

Thank you :)

I didn't amend it at all - I laid weed fabric down over the entire space, put the boxes on the fabric and then put the mulch down around the boxes. I probably should have double or tripled up on the fabric as the creeping grass we have is poking right through it under the mulch. I didn't do it that way however, because I thought it might make drainage a problem.

I am planning to just keep amending the medium in the boxes every year - but we shall see how that goes.

 

[Mogrow]

great looking garden tokeroo. good idea with the mulch, i've been wearing my hoe out... :cool: . that is the kind with a handle and a spade like divise on the end of it......

 

[tokeroo]

great looking garden tokeroo. good idea with the mulch, i've been wearing my hoe out... :cool: . that is the kind with a handle and a spade like divise on the end of it......

lol nice ;) Thank you and I know what you mean. I can't keep up with the weeds out here working a 40+ hour week. They grow so fast. I tried the raised beds last year, but w/o any mulching and my tomatoes got lost in the overgrowth - and that was just letting it go a couple weeks w/o cutting.

I happened to be planning all this the weekend Home Depot put their cypress blend mulch on sale for about a buck a bag. Worked out perfectly.

Before I put all that down though, I did put a large sheet of black/white plastic over the area to help kill what was there. Left it there for a month. Didn't kill much of anything. These weeds out here, let me tell you...

 

[LordVane]

Awesome looking veggie garden and really nice patch of land to be growing on. Should yield you some decent vegetables.

 

[420alldaze]

nice spot ya got there tokeroo. hopefully a bountiful harvest this year. 42o

 

[outwest]

Nice, I'm going to run some veggies this summer too.

outwest

 

[putembk]

toker, nice start! Your plants are a little a head of me, I'm at 6,000 feet. All cold weather starts are doing well, cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, peas, carrots, radishes and beets. Keeping tomatoes and peppers under cover for a few more days. Will plant warm weather seeds later this week if the long range weather holds.

My whole garden is a raised bed, approximately 500 sq ft and over the years have raised the soil level close to 20" by adding a combination of barn yard mix with planters mix each fall. In the spring I will amend the soil with a 5-5-5 fertilizer only on plants that flower before they fruit. Things like lettuce, spinach and broccoli I will let the nutes in the soil take care of them.

I am getting lettuce and radishes and some spinach now. Can't wait for the tomatoes, won't eat a tomato unless I grow it. Store bought tomatoes suck, even farmers market if they have been refrigerated.

Indoor garden is slowing with summer coming and spent most of the day outside with my veggies...great to smoke a fat one and go pull weeds. lol

 

[vierundzwanzig]

Indoor garden is slowing with summer coming and spent most of the day outside with my veggies...great to smoke a fat one and go pull weeds. lol

first thing in the morning while the worms are still screwing if you like sci fi lol

 

[tokeroo]

a few more pics from yesterday. If only my pot plants grew this well!

 

[vaporedout]

things are blowin up!! dont know if your gonna do zucchini but they like growing vertical too..

 

[tokeroo]

things are blowin up!! dont know if your gonna do zucchini but they like growing vertical too..

My wife keeps mentioning how I didn't do any squash at all - I am not a big fan but she and the little girl both really like it. I may get one zuc and summer squash going before it's over :)

 

[vaporedout]

what?? heres the deal, cut em up into 3/4 inch thick pepperoni and put em in some tupperware, a lil oil, some salt and pep..... shake it up, then throw it on the grill, turn each one so they get crispy, DAMN..... im gettin hungry, also do chaote squash like that too, awesome

 

[tokeroo]

Thanks for the tip, will have to give that a try :)

 

[tokeroo]

Alright, went and bought some squash and zucchini. Each one had two plants in it - I wonder if this going to be a problem ><
The cabbage was destroyed by cabbage worms, and they are hitting the kale pretty hard too.

 

[sox]

Looks AWESOME!