The Modern Victory Garden

I did some minor chores in the garden this morning before heading out to get my hair cut and run some errands.  However, once I got home again most of my day was devoted to getting ready for the delivery of the chicken coop and covered run kit.   It was scheduled to be shipped out on Monday or Tuesday and should be making it’s way to us by truck.   It is traveling from Pennsylvania so it will take a while for it to reach us.   In the meantime, we had some site prep work to take care of and we needed to provide a larger run area for the birds.              

Just as a reminder, here is a picture of the coop kit and covered run that we ordered.                            

We will be installing the gate on the run on the other side from what is shown in this picture. The reason is that we will have it open up into the larger covered run that we assembled today.                          

This is a very economical (cost less than $350) and easy to assemble covered chicken run. The prefabricated panels are connected using simple clamps and a socket wrench.   It has a door with a latching mechanism on one end, and on the opposite side a square panel designed to be easily removed to connect it to either a small hutch or (as in our case) to another covered run area and coop.

The other task we took care of today was to level the area that the coop and other run are to be located.   Our backyard area is quite sloped, which is why our back garden beds are all terraced.   Using a good garden spade, I carved a flat area into the side of the slope wide enough and long enough to accommodate both the coop and the covered run.   This next picture shows you the prepped site area.   The square area on the new run we assembled today (closest to the site prep area) is the panel that easily unscrews and pops out.   The entire run will be moved closer to the other run once assembled and the connecting panel will then be removed allowing the gate on the wood covered run to be opened up into the larger run.                                   

Just to give you an idea of how much I had to cut into the slope.

Notice in the last picture there is a pet carrier sitting up next to the house.    That is how we have been transporting the chickens from their pen set up in the shop to the out of doors.   Once the coop is here and assembled we can stop messing around with that, but it has actually worked quite well in the interim and the girls are pretty relaxed about the whole process.   This final picture just shows you how the run and coop/run combo will be situated in relation to the raspberry patch and the back section of the garden.            

With a little work his afternoon we are now all set for the coop kit to arrive.    In the meantime, we can use the larger run area for the birds to spend daily time in without having to move their portable dog pen set up in and out of the shop.   Tomorrow, I am planning to plant the rest of the beans, as well as some dill.   Overall, the garden is growing and doing well. With the exception of some weeding and some watering to take care, the garden is not too demanding of my time at the moment because most everything is planted up and (other than some daily fresh harvests) there is not much else that needs to be done.

Grey wet day today ending a week of grey and wet conditions.   The heavy rains gave me some grief earlier in the week.   I had my horizontal pea support structure covered with clear plastic to help warm the seedbed and keep predators out.   Unfortunately, it had a flat surface area, which collected large amounts of the heavy rainwater - causing breakage and a collapse of several of the support posts.   I pulled the plastic cover off midweek to try and avoid any further damage but unfortunately it left the sprouting pea seeds exposed to bird predation.   I found evidence this morning of empty seed coats scattered about which looks to me like birds enjoyed some nice pea sprouts and left the tough coating behind.   Not sure how much I lost to the birds but it was obvious I needed to do two things 1) fix the trellis supports; and 2) get another cover on the bed – but this time it needed to be one that would not create the problems that the clear plastic did. 

Here’s the bed this morning.   There were three posts that were broken by the weight of the pooled water in the plastic covering.          

I picked up some replacement ¾ inch square 3-foot long pieces of wood doweling during my lunch break on Friday so I would be ready today to make the necessary repairs.   It was a simple matter to remove the hook eyes from the broken posts and place them on the new posts.   The new posts were then inserted into the structure.   Repair completed!                    

The second step was to get it covered again so that I could stop the bird carnage.   Rather than use plastic this time, I pulled some reemay fabric out of the shop storage area and placed it over the entire structure.   I have a big roll of this stuff but almost never use it.   I am hoping it provides protection and insulation and that with it being porous that it will allow the rainwater to drain through and not puddle.

It sort of looks like a Christmas package all bundled up – but I think this will work fairly well.   The real question now… is how much did I lose to the birds?   If it was too excessive, I may have to reseed the entire bed.   Going to just wait and see what emerges before taking any further action.  

Once the pea patch repairs were completed, I turned my attention to the seed starts.   I was planning to start the peppers and basil this weekend, but despite juggling the seed trays around – I just don’t have room for them right now under the big grow light set up with the heat mat.   After thinking about it for a while, I have decided to go ahead and purchase a tabletop light stand and heat mat to provide for my peak season overflow needs.   I have been doing without for some time now and am ready to give in and purchase a second smaller set up.   I really love my Goliath light stand (my primary set up) and am not interested in replacing it to go much bigger, but by adding a tabletop set up I can augment it for the high season of seed starting.   I placed the order today and hopefully will have my new lights by next weekend.   I will just postpone starting the peppers and basil for one week until it arrives.            

I did do some seedling care this morning.   All of the trays of seedlings were thoroughly bottom watered.   I then used scissors to trim the tops of my onion seedlings and to remove extra seedlings from the seed trays – leaving only the strongest plant in each cell.   I moved the Merlot lettuces, Ching Chiang pac choi, Improved Dwarf Siberian kale, and Tronchuda and Savoy Ace Cabbages from the shop to the greenhouse.  The onions were moved out there last weekend.   I made some temporary staging out of two short saw horses and 2’x2’ plywood board in the greenhouse and placed the trays of seedlings on that.       

The greenhouse is starting to get busy again.                                              

The top left half-barrel planter has the Chinese cabbages and kale that were started back in mid December.   They are quite happy in their permanent home in the greenhouse.   The middle half-barrel has the mache growing in it and the top right half-barrel planter has the pac choi that I planted up last weekend.   In the planters to the right are onions and the lettuces that I planted up last weekend also.   The little planter to the left is my cat Sid’s catnip plant.   It has been over wintering in the green house.   Sid begs to get into the greenhouse so he can go visit his catnip plant!   Out of the picture to the far left is the temporary staging I set up with the seedling trays.  

Despite the grey skies today, we went for a nice hike in the woods mid day.   Frogs croaking, birds declaring their territory, buds swelling, and leaves unfurling – heralds of springs arrival were all around us.   Tomorrow is supposed to be a little nicer weather and I am hoping to finish constructing the raspberry bed supports.   Unfortunately, the raspberry bare root plants did not arrive on Friday as expected so I will probably be planting them in the dark after work next week.  

Keep your fingers crossed for me that the birds did not eat too many of my pea seeds this past week.

Last spring we put in a new raspberry patch as part of the big garden expansion project.   Ten bare root Heritage raspberries were planted in mid March 2009.   We were right in the midst of clearing the expansion site area and constructing new garden beds, so the planting up process was kept to a bare minimum.   In fact, we did not even put a support structure in place for the raspberries and opted to use some tomato cages and ladders to support the raspberry canes for the first year instead.   The plan was to come back in the fall or following spring and finish up with the support structures.   Here’s what they looked like last year when we first planted them up.         

And here is what they look like now, just a little less than one year later. The area needs weeding and the canes need a little pruning.                          

We had fifty percent survival rate on the bare root nursery stock in that five have grown out and five never even broke dormancy.    Not very happy with that outcome so this spring when I ordered the five replacement Heritage bare root plants – I went to another source for my nursery stock.   Hopefully the next five will have a better success rate.                               

In addition to replacing the failed plantings and constructing a support structure, there was another problem that revealed itself this past year that also needed correcting.    Specifically, the area the bed is planted on is quite sloped and even with drip irrigation it was difficult to keep the plants properly watered because the run off was so severe down the slope.   Knowing the replacement bare root plants will be arriving within the next few weeks, I decided to get going on the first phase of rejuvenating this raspberry patch.   The focus today was on creating a terraced bed for both rows to correct the slope problem, weeding and grubbing out the beds, and pruning the prior year canes back to the growing points.

I have a stack of timbers behind the shop left over from last year’s garden expansion project.   I had been toying with the idea of using them to make beds in the green house but have sinced talked myself out of that idea so these were available to be used for the raspberry patch rejuvenation project. 

The temporary supports and drip irrigation line were removed.   I then dug out the lower edge of the bed, laid out the timbers and anchored them into the soil using stakes and tamped down dirt.   The bed area was then weeded and cultivated and raked level.   The last step was to do a quick pruning - taking off dead sections but leaving the one-year-old wood that had growth so that it will produce a summer harvest for us.     Here’s how the patch looked when I wrapped up for the afternoon.                            

Phase 2 of the raspberry bed rejuvenation project will have to wait until after the replacement plants arrive.   When they get here, I will plant them out and then fertilize the entire bed, reinstall the drip irrigation line, and put down a thick layer of compost over the beds.   The final task will be to then construct the supports for both rows.   Got the hardest part of the project completed today and I think they will do much better with this simple fix. 

Yesterday I planted up a 4-foot by 12-foot section of garden bed in spinach using one of my new planting jigs.   I took pictures as I went but am going to wait to post about it until I am sure it worked as expected – which will be confirmed when the new plants begin emerging.   Hopefully within the next several weeks I will have a complete report for you on this.                    

Do you have any garden “fixes” you are attending to this year?

Three-day weekend coming up for me and I am looking forward to it with more anticipation than normal, because my work schedule has been over full of late.   It also represents a a great opportunity to knock through several garden related tasks and projects that I have on my personal “to do” list.

• Start some onion and lettuce seeds  (Done - started some Pac Choi too)
• Pot up the Chinese cabbage and kale starts into larger containers (Done)
• Purchase materials to make my planting jigs (Done)
• Construct planting jig – attempt to translate the idea in my head into an actual tool  (Done)
• Process the remaining two pumpkins in the storage area into puree (freeze in 2 cup portions)  (Done)
• Do some baking – extra loaves of no knead bread for the freezer for emergency weeks, pumpkin muffins to use up some of my surplus of pumpkin puree
• Weather permitting – turn over the green manure crops of crimson clover and let them start decomposing

The seedlings I started on December 13th are a month old today and are rapidly outgrowing their starter cell pots.                                        

I am going to pot them into some larger containers and keep them under the grow lights for a while longer before eventually transplanting them under the protection of the greenhouse (or a grow tunnel) to grow to maturity.   The weather is still pretty cold and the sun strength and length is still pretty low (albeit increasing!).   I think another month under the lights is probably a good idea but they definitely need to move into more roomy quarters for their roots. 

Hopefully I will have an update soon on how the shop project (planting jigs) worked out to share with you.

This is the season of the dreamtime.   That quiet period when nights are long, temperatures are chill, and the garden is largely hibernating for the winter.   The rush of the annual garden season grows still, and there is time – time to plan, consider options, and most of all … time to dream.               

For many of us the Muse of our aspirations is delivered right to our mailbox.   Glossy and beautiful, every variety described in glowing terms - the annual parade of seed catalogs cannot fail to excite the imagination and provides much needed distraction as we while away the long winter nights.   I must get at least 15 catalogs a year.   Enjoy reading through all of them, but usually order (seeds and supplies) from only about 4.   A few of my particular favorites:

The catalogs set the dreams in motion, but the seeds… oh the seeds!   They are like a rare treasure that must be acquired, admired, inventoried, and stored with great care.   My seeds have all been requested, saved, or purchased for the 2010 garden season and as of today several of them are here, but many more are yet to still arrive.    Some recent arrivals:

The really big order from Territorial Seed should be coming any day now and it will largely complete the annual seed acquisition process.        

The seed order arrivals tend to just throw gasoline on my fire of excitement and impatience for spring to arrive.   I have gardened all of my adult life and yet I still get a bad case of spring fever year after year.   It helps to find useful employment for my energy and enthusiasm.   One form of off-season entertainment is to busy oneself with the construction of various garden structures or equipment.   Last year my shop project was the horizontal pea trellis, which turned out to be a resounding success.   This year, I have a simple idea in my head for a planting jig to make closely spaced planting easier to do – uniform spacing and fast to employ.   I spent a little time in the shop yesterday evening refining the idea and figuring out what supplies are already on hand, and what will need to be purchased.   Hoping to purchase the few items I need this coming weekend and get the working prototype put together.   I will need to clear off a section of the shop bench before I can do much work though!   All the small hand tools seem to just end up there as permanent residents.                                        

Sources of garden dreams also come in the form of surprise gifts that come my way.   I paid a visit to my sister and her husband on Christmas eve day.   She had acquired some really nice looking (and large!) planting containers – the kind that medium to large potted trees are sold in.   She gifted me with four of these beauties and I must have spent a good week enjoying thinking about all the possibilities of what I could grow in them next season.         

For now, I have settled on the idea of using them to grow four “Siletz” tomato plants.                                                                      

So what are dreams made of?   For me it would be seed catalogs, seeds, garden related shop projects, unexpected gifts of containers, but most of all, the first trays of seedling starts growing on under lights - promises of bounty to come.       

What are your garden dreams made of?

My first attempts at creating and posting some videos.   I don't think I will be quitting my day job to become a film director - but I believe it gives a good overview of the garden in winter.                                                          

There are many of us who have limited space availability for food production gardening and yet still manage to produce a tremendous amount of our own food supply.   This post is part of a blog series devoted to exploring the many techniques available to optimize food production gardening.   There are quite a few topics that relate to this pursuit - including (among others):

• Crop Selection
• Intensive Planting Practices
• Season Extension
• Soil Management & Fertility

Focusing on Crop Selection kicked off the blog series.   Now we are exploring Intensive Planting Practices.    Intensive planting techniques generally include a combination of planting in raised beds (either double dug or otherwise greatly amended and improved), closely spaced planting, intercropping and succession planting, and the use of vertical growing techniques – all for the purpose of producing the same amount of food in approximately 20% of the space used by traditional row gardening practices.   To date, we have discussed the topics of Raised Beds, Closely Spaced Planting, and Intercropping & Succession Planting.   This week we will wrap up the four-part segment on intensive planting techniques by discussing the practice of vertical growing.         

Vertical Growing –                            

Growing a traditional row garden is quite linear.   When you make the move to raised beds using within-row spacing in all directions (closely spaced planting techniques) you introduce a second dimension to your food production garden.   To really kick up the production level you can add a third dimension – vertical growing.       

Consider this … if you install a vertical support structure that is 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide on one edge of a 4-foot by 4-foot section of garden bed you just increased the growing area of that section of bed by 150 percent!   The vertical plane provides 24 square feet of growing area and the horizontal garden bed provides 16 square feet.   Combined you now have 40 square feet of growing area.    All of this increase in growing room is in the same footprint of space you had already committed to the growing bed.   By growing crops that will climb on a vertical support structure, you can save space in the traditional garden bed area for plants that cannot be grown vertically.                                    

Growing crops vertically not only saves space but it can make harvesting crops much simpler because they are easier to see and require less stooping and squatting to reach.   Getting crops off the ground can also help reduce pest infestations too.                        

There are many different kinds of vertical support structures available to choose from.   The simplest are poles or branches pushed into the dirt with plants surrounding them or a teepee-like structure made out of poles.   More elaborate systems include A-frames, board frames that are screwed together, electrical conduit (metal or PVC), a fence if one is near a garden bed, traditional trellis lattices, and many of these types of supports also use string or netting attached to the framework.   Vertical supports also include ladders, towers, and stacked cages commonly used for crops like tomatoes to hold the plants vertically - keeping them from sprawling on the ground.                                                                  

All of these are perfectly good alternatives so long as it is mechanically strong enough to hold up fully loaded with mature plants if a wind kicks up and are reasonably tall enough to handle the types of plants you intend to grow.        

Beyond those basic issues, what you choose is purely a matter of personal aesthetics, availability of materials, and your interest and skill level in constructing garden structures.   I generally use metal conduit pipe to create my trellis supports.   My husband is an electrician (although he has not worked in that field for many years) and as a consequence is quite comfortable using a conduit bender to bend metal conduit which is then connected in the center with a connector fitting to create a metal frame that I then attach nylon netting to (using tie wraps!).   They are pushed firmly into the ground so that they are well anchored and level.   The result are grow supports that are approximately 4 feet wide by 6 feet tall.    Here is a series of these supports that were installed on a 2-foot wide bed specially designed just for vertical growing.                    

The climbing plants are usually seeded or transplanted directly below the support structure so that they may grow up and easily grab on to (or be woven into) the support system.                           

While you can install these trellis support structures on a wider bed, I have found that it is very difficult to pick crops reaching across 4 feet of bed area to get at the front section.   I personally prefer to construct 2-foot wide beds that have the grow support structures running along the length.   It is much easier to pick both sides of the vertical grow supports when the grow bed is narrower.   I use approximately 1-foot of the growing area to plant the climbing crops and then use the remaining 1-foot width to plant other items.   Here is a picture of a bed that has carrots growing in the front half of the narrow grow bed and vertical crops in the back half.      

To avoid problems with crops on vertical support structures shading out other parts of the garden, it is best to construct taller vertical supports on the north side of raised beds if at all possible.                               

I like to use trellis supports for peas, cucumbers, pole beans, runner beans, and I use other types of vertical supports for tomatoes and peppers (tomato ladders and stacked cages).   I could use trellis supports for other melon and squash plantings too but have personally found it easier to just find an area of garden they can run in and not fuss with slings or other methods to ensure heavier fruits (such as melons) do not slip from their vine and fall to a bad end from some height.                       

Do you use vertical growing in your garden and if so, what kinds of structures do you like to use?

Last Sunday, my husband and I did some work on the last bed to be constructed in the "garden expansion" project.   This last one to be built is actually a rework of a planting area in the existing garden footprint.  While productive, it was not working optimally because of the sharp slope to the area.  Last year I grew my zucchini, acorn squash, and pumpkins in this spot.  Here's a couple of pictures -  I think you can see the pretty dramatic slope to the terrain. 

Part of the garden expansion project this year was to rework this planting area making it a large retaining wall bed that levels the planting area and provides much greater (usable) planting space.   The approximate dimensions are 6'x12'.  Because the bed is so wide (6 feet), it will require a wide board walkway down the center to allow for planting and harvesting. 

On Sunday, working together, we got the timbers all cut, the foundation areas dug and leveled, and then placed all the timbers into position.    My husband did all the saw work and I did all the lifting, digging, and leveling work.  This is how it looks at this time. 

What we did not get done Sunday (because we knocked off early to go relax and enjoy the gorgeous sunny afternoon!) was to drive the large stakes into the ground to secure the timbers to - nor did we get the metal fastener plates screwed on to tie together the lengths of lumber.  There is a chance I will get this done on this coming Saturday but it is not likely since we have a variety of obligations and family gatherings to attend over the Easter weekend.  Once we do get the bed fastened and secured into position, I will finish filling the sloped area in using a large pile of rough finished compost I have on hand and some top soil from another portion of our property.  This bed is scheduled to be planted in corn this summer.                                               

The swiss chard transplanted out this weekend is doing well.   There is another spear or two of asparagus poking through the soil.  It won't be long now until we have enough asparagus for the first cutting. The tomatoes are  continuing their hardening off process and are thriving.          

Obligations or not, I MUST get the second round of broccoli seedlings into the ground this weekend - they are getting huge! 

Another stunningly gorgeous day today.  High's got up to 65 and it was definitely t-shirt weather.   Spent late morning into early afternoon constructing the retaining wall bed in the back area of the older section of garden.  This is the very sloped area where I grew my pumpkins and acorn squash last year.   With the addition of a retaining wall style bed structure - the area will be leveled out and produce far more useable garden space.   The bed measures approximately 6'x12' and will require a walkway down the center of it due to the width.    I plan to place wide boards down the center for that purpose.   Got all the timbers cut and laid out in place so that they are level and plumb. At the backmost portion of the bed the timbers are stacked four high.  These are heavy timbers so that was quite a bit of physical work.  I stopped working once the lumber was all cut and set into place because 1)  I was getting tired and wanted to clean up, and 2) I wanted to relax and enjoy the sunny afternoon!  I need to anchor all the timbers and then fill in the bed with compost and soil mix to finish this project up.   I may be able to get this finished next Saturday but it is Easter weekend and we have some plans that will make garden time very limited.    Planning to plant some corn in this bed this year.  

Moved the remaining tomato seedlings out of the shop and into the sunshine this afternoon.   This begins their hardening off process.   Not in any big rush though as it is likely going to be April 18th (at the soonest) that I get these into the garden.   The weather has just been too unpredictable this year and I still have to double dig the bed where the tomatoes will go yet (one of the new ones in the garden expansion project).

Watered the pea patch seedbed this afternoon to ensure it does not dry out too much in the warmer weather we are experiencing.  Have at least two more days of warm and sunshine in the forecast. The peas are poked through now and should get a great foothold during the next two days.

Harvested some lettuces and swiss chard leaves for tonight's dinner.   We are getting almost daily salads now from the overwintered spinach patch, the overwintered swiss chard, and the many succession plantings of lettuces (many varieties) that are growing in containers in the greenhouse.  

Those of you who subscribe to Garden Girl's Urban Sustainable Living Ezine will find an article in the April edition (released today) on double digging submitted by me at the request of the Garden Girl herself - Patti Moreno.   The article is basically an abbreviated version of the "How I Do It" page on Double Digging located here on this site.   If you are not a subscriber, Patti posts the prior month Ezine on her website after she releases the newest one.  My garden friend Sinfonian is a regular contributor and also has an article on rain barrels in the April edition. 

Busy and productive weekend.   Went by way too fast.   So much work yet to be done to get the new beds prepped for planting and next weekend will likely be tied up with family obligations for the most part.  Things always have a way of getting done just in the nick of time, so I am not going to stress about it.  

Hope you enjoyed some time in the garden this weekend too.

It was gorgeous out today - sunny, almost warm, and not a cloud in the sky.   I am glad I waited to do all the major outdoor tasks until today and avoided working in the deluge of rain we got yesterday.     I did manage to get some things done yesterday though.   Planted the snap peas ("Cascadia") in peat strips and put them on the heat mat to germinate.   I also watered all the seedlings and the container plantings in the greenhouse, and transplanted the lettuces ("Devils Tongue" and "Valmaine") into two of the half whiskey barrel containers in the greenhouse.  These barrels previously held the chinese cabbages that were recently used up.   I even did the potato patch repairs (dog digging episode) yesterday during a let up in the rain.  By getting all these minor things attended to on Saturday, I was set to really get to work on Sunday.  

I had several things I wanted to get accomplished:  

• Double dig the new vertical grow bed (2'X16') 
• Move 2 vertical grow support structures and make 2 new ones for the new bed 
• Set up another compost bin 
• Plant beets, spinach, and if time - the first round of 2009 carrots

I am pleased to report that I was able to get all of the "to do" items - "ta done"!

The biggest task was getting the new vertical grow support bed double dug and set up with grow support structures.    I did the double dig process exactly as I demonstrate in the "How I Do It" page on double digging beds.   I was definitely getting very tired by the time I reached the end of the bed.   There are three new big beds to double dig yet and I am going to have to really pace myself to get it done without injury.    This bed once dug is worked to a depth of 24 inches and amended with compost and rock minerals (dolomitic lime, rock phosphate, and greensand).   I then moved two grow support structures from a bed in the back most section of the garden.   These were the last two structures still in place on a 4-foot wide bed and they needed to be relocated to this narrower bed.   In addition to moving the two existing supports, we (my husband did the conduit bending)  put together two new ones and installed them as well - completing the length of the new vertical grow support bed with grow structures.   I hung the netting on the two new ones - using tie wraps to secure the netting to the conduit poles.  Here's how it turned out.  

Next task was to plant the front portion of the entire length of this new vertical grow support bed with "Mokum" carrots.   I added some organic all purpose fertilizer to the bed by hand broadcasting it over the surface and raking it in.   I then block planted the pelleted carrot seed using the same process as described in the "How I Do It" page on block planting.   When that was completed, I then moved on to planting the 4'x8' section of spring spinach ("Bloomsdale Savoy").   This was also done as a block planting and when I was through I put a cover of plastic over the bed to warm the soil more quickly and encourage speedier germination. 

I did exactly the same process to plant a 1'X8' section of "Pacemaker III" beets in the front portion of a part of the older vertical grow support bed.    I also covered this planting with plastic as well.  

I wrapped up the day by putting a wire compost bin up next to one of the current full ones.   While I was attending to this simple chore, I took a picture of the shallots, garlic, multiplier onions, elephant garlic, and regular onion patch.   

 It was a productive day and I hope we get a few more sunny days in the weeks ahead to get the seed germinated that I planted today.