Posted on 05/29/2015 1:57:25 PM PDT by greeneyes
LOL. Go take a nap. tee hee
LOL! I wish I could. I can’t even think straight.
“Here in the also wet DFW area—what a monsoon dump of rain last night.”
I’m in that area and we got 3 1/2 inches of rain last night.
LOL! I hear that! I’ve been noticing changes as well! I’ve been using my camera to take very close-ups if I REALLY have to see something.
:-D
Thanks for the kind words! I’m just a fellow student who is sharing notes from the guys and gals who really DO know something!!
Been there - it’s the pits!
Oh BTW, I just heard we had 4 days in May where it didn’t rain.
A lot more than you might think - 260 sq. ft. of rich, black soil - enough to eat, share, and can.
For some reason my zucchini are hit and miss. One plant has a couple of zucchini growing and a plant two squares over have blossoms all over it and no zucchini.
I can’t figure this out. If the SHTF and my life depended on my garden, I would be in a world of hurt.
Chances are that one plant is more developed than the other, even if planted at teh same time.
Last year, many were concerned that there were many flowers on their 'Trumbacino squash', but no fruit getting set.
Squash frequently will set a number of Male (Stamen) flowers before setting Female (Ova) flowers in order to make sure that there is pollen for fertilization.
I'll bet you never thought you'd get a sex education here in horticulture/ gardening... LOL !!
Rats !! I forget to include my other point about sex in the garden.
The male flowers are like boys hips : slender, and narrow.
The female flowers are like girls hips : more shapely, and a little bit wider.
Check the former flowering and now fruiting squash with one from the other plant. I am sure you will see some difference.
Question to Greeneyes and Psalm 73:
#1 For those who are not familiar with raised beds, what is the depth of top soil in your beds ?
#2 Did you use a plastic/ polyethelyne liner to minimze evaportion / drainage run off ? If the bed starts to flood, you can always puncture holes in the plastic to maintain .
#3 What kind of wood/plastic/block structure did you use to construct your raised bed ?
#4 Any suggestions you would make/changes .. in hindsight ?
I am looking for suggestions from any others who have experinece with 'raised bed gardening' for the sake of any gardeners or 'lurkers' or other who are interested but havent asked .
Thanks so much TIK for your questions. I have a tendency to be overly prolific with words, so I make myself try to be brief and often this results in leaving out a few things, that might be of use. LOL
1,2,3. I started out with just 3” of Mel’s Mix for plants with shallow roots. I loosened the soil first, and turned over the top soil so that the grass was on the bottom. Then I put layers of news papers down (at least 5).
Then dug a little trench for the landscape timbers (make sure they are not treated with anything that is bad for you).
These first gardens were on a hillside, so the gardens are stair stepped down and are 3x8 foot plus one 3x4 foot. Hubby actually did this stuff for me, but I was the director, so I get to claim credit (like all my bosses used to do).
Then he added another layer of timbers. These were anchored with gigantic nails that are about 1/2 inch by a foot long. Then we added the Mel’s mix. We have added various components and additional Mel’s mix each year and we now have about 6 inches of good loam. Last year Hubby added another timber.
My goal is to get a little more than a foot of good soil. Not just for planting purposes, but to get the timber wall tall enough to sit on once in a while as I plant.
4. No. I wouldn’t, but I wish I had had the money to build it as tall/deep as I want it to be-But that was not in the Budget!
The 2cnd year, Hubby built another set along a carnahan fence row. Problem is that was too close to the Walnut Tree, but neither of us knew about the toxin it would produce. So I would have built the 2cnd batch else where, had I known. Also the postage stamp orchard would have gone elsewhere.
We can plant some things there such as corn, sorghum, beans for example.
Right now we have some stumps in the front of our side lot. Can you say UGLY? What I am thinking about is making a bed using concrete blocks. Planting something like Amaranth that gets tall and looks striking. Then plant some shorter edible flowers in the blocks cavities, or maybe some alpine strawberries. That’s for next year’s budget though.
:)
I dig down about a foot and place the box on it - no liner.
I make my own soil - keep two 4x4x4 chicken wire compost bins in the way-back - fill em' with ground-up leaves, coffee filters, egg shells, etc (and some horse manure) - this is what goes into the box gardens - takes about 6 months - rich and black, full of worms.
So right now the soil is about 5 inches below the top of the 2x10, so that gives me about (hmmm, 10 - 5 + 12), about 17 inches of soil - drains just fine.
The untreated wood lasts about 5 years, or so - when it rots through just nail another 2x10 in - nuthin' fancy.
Wacky weather here in soviet RED Hampshire over the past few days...94 degrees Saturday; then the wind swung around so it is coming off the ocean and BAM! 47 degrees right now...it’s pouring, so at least the ‘drought’ is over. :-)
Missouri weather is always crazy and constantly flip flopping. However, the weather here has also been crazier than usual. Yesterday we were hanging out at around 54 degrees all day with rain off and on.
I’m not sure what the temp got down to last night, but I was cold enough to exchange the sheet for a blanket, and heat up the rice sock and bean bag before I could go to sleep.
I do recall the terminology - the year without summer - hope we are not in for one of those! Anyway, at least the stuff we have planted is doing great so far.
The rains have come like big dogs. Good to go out to the garden and see watered soil and happy plants.
Anything is better than big dogs!LOL
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.