After a feeble & short-lived attempt at gardening in the rock-solid clay of Georgia, I decided to try gardening in raised beds. I designed the beds based off research done on line and with the aid of Mel Bartholomew's book, "All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space". Then, with the support of my generous & loving parents (who lent both muscle & money toward the project) & with Jeremy's help, we built the beds in March over the course of a week. The end result is that we now have two 6' long x 4' wide x 12" deep beds & three 4' long x 4' wide x 12" deep beds, which are constructed out of cedar (a rot & insect resistant wood) & sealed with a waterproof stain on the outsides (to provide them with additional protection from the elements). For the soil, we used a mixture of vermiculite, peat moss, compost and top soil. Lastly, we constructed grids dividing each raised bed into 12" x 12" squares, as recommended in Mel Bartholomew's book.
The image at the beginning of this post is of the raised beds around April. As you can see, at that point we had just planted a few things -- mostly lettuce, some tomatoes & peppers. A more recent photograph (above) shows them as they appear today -- filled with cucumbers, eggplants, herbs, peppers, squash, tomatoes, and other plants. However, the cucumbers & squash plants really haven't done very well in the raised beds, so I planted some in the yard. Ironically, those plants are thriving! Just see for yourself!
On the left are cucumber plants. Below are squash plants; we planted zucchini, straightneck & crookneck in mounds behind the raised beds & near to the sunflowers that I planted for the birds. I noticed recently that the squash plants are budding - I can't wait until we have fresh fruit to eat!
It's been quite awhile since I last posted here, which a few very important people have pointed out! Since my previous post spring has melted away into summer. In case you were wondering, I do mean that literally! It is Georgia after all & it's hot as the dickens! The past few months have been spent working on a number of outdoor projects. The first few I worked on, but the last couple have been almost entirely (if not all) Jeremy's accomplishments.
For example, thanks to Jeremy we now have:- a fenced-in compost area
- several brick bases for our rain barrels, which elevate them so that they drain more easily when we use them to water the garden
- stepping stones & a brick border for our front flowerbed and
- a brick ring surrounding the tree & the lantanas planted around it
In April Jeremy & I also planted gladiolas, calla lilies, asiatic lilies & freesias behind the house. Planting them was quite a project, as we had to dig an enormous trench into the rock-solid Georgia clay that makes up our backyard. To give the plants a chance to thrive, we made the trench at least 12 inches deep, filled it with a soil mixture of peat moss, vermiculite & compost, then planted the bulbs at their recommended depths.
Although the asiatic lilies & the freesias have apparently failed to thrive, we've been pleased with the bright & pastel gladiolas that have bloomed (the photo at right is actually a mixture that I picked). I'm hoping that as the plants age they will reproduce so that each successive year will result in more abundant colorful blooms. Only time will tell, as they say! I'm also glad that we put the gladiolas in the backyard, as it doesn't matter if they start to look sloppy as they fall over.
Meanwhile, the veggies & flowers that we planted in the raised beds & directly into the ground are doing great! So far, our crop consists just of tomatoes; we're still waiting for the peppers, eggplants, squash, etc. to get large enough to eat (as you can see I also planted some sunflowers for the birds, which are lovely). Anyway, since it's nearly August, I'm getting a bit nervous & wondering if we've done all this work for so little profit. But, there's always next year! At least then the raised beds will already be prepared, so we'll get everything planted earlier. At the very least, this year has begun the learning process that will likely continue for the rest of our gardening lives...
Photos on this web site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
On the left are cucumber plants. Below are squash plants; we planted zucchini, straightneck & crookneck in mounds behind the raised beds & near to the sunflowers that I planted for the birds. I noticed recently that the squash plants are budding - I can't wait until we have fresh fruit to eat!
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