Vegetable garden planning
By LaineDru
6 comments
Big plans this weekend. We are building our raised beds this weekend. It is very exciting. I wish the weather were warmer. Thursday it was 70 out. Today, the high is mid 50s only. At least there is no rain in the forecast. It is our 5th year anniversary today. The traditional gift for 5 years is something made of wood. So, what fits the bill more than a raised bed? haha. That is our anniversary present to each other. Last year we used plastic fencing around our garden. BAD IDEA. The rabbits just chewed through it. This year we are going to use chicken wire, planted a few inches and curved outward. Let’s see those pesky rabbits get through that! ha. I’m ready to get my beds done and get some veggies out. Peas, onions, lettuce, radishes, carrots! Yay for spring! This will be our first year planting potatoes. Has anyone had success with the straw method? (pushing the eyes into the soil, then covering with straw so the potatoes grow above the ground). I read this method somewhere and I think it would work nice for my garden. Our soil is kinda clay, it gets clumpy and rocky too. I will work my beds double depth, but with potatoes I was worried about getting the soil worked deep enough for them to thrive. We got a tumbling compost bin earlier this year. The compost isn’t ready yet. That’s a bummer. It’ll be a nice supplement later in the year though. I am excited to use it. Let’s hope for more rain this summer. We had about a full month and a half without rain last July/August. It was definitely a bummer for the garden. Spring is exciting. I’m glad to have this website/forum to share my enthusiasm. Even if I am a pretty bad gardener. Maybe my thumb will start to turn green…. with a little help from my friends on this website!
19 Mar, 2011
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Comments
Happy Anniversary! What a lovely present to share with each other! Looks like you've got lots of things to be getting on with, which will keep you busy for a while. Just think of the summer ahead and how good you'll feel picking your own produce, all those lovely veggies for your salads etc, all from your Anniversary present! About the chicken wire you might want to put it a bit deeper than a few inches, just think how far down those rabbits burrow! About the potatoes, never grown them in straw but I've heard it works, good luck with it all!
19 Mar, 2011
Good luck with your veggie beds - gardening has so many exciting aspects to it doesn't it ?
Hope you send us some photos when all of your plants have grown - happy gardening.
20 Mar, 2011
Sounds like a great way to celebrate. Sound like an interesting way to grow potatoes, not heard of it, wont they go green? I grow mine in potato bag but not a great sucess, very few potatoes.
Good lick with keeping the vegis and rabbits apart!
sue
20 Mar, 2011
Sandygirl, if the straw is thick enough the light will be kept out, it's a case of just adding more as the potatoes grow!
20 Mar, 2011
Thanks for all the comments. We ended up digging the trench 6 inches to bury the fencing. We are going to curve it outwards, away from the beds, also. We used some sketches from a gardening book for the idea. Here is what my gardening books says about growing potatoes in straw for those of you who haven't heard of the method (I also hadn't heard of it before I read this book): "In soil that is very heavy, shallow, full of rocks, or poorly drained, grow potatoes above ground (called straw potatoes.) Set the seed pieces at the correct spacing but gently firm into the soil surface, then cover them loosely with 6 inches of clean straw. The potatoes will root into the soil, but the tubers will form at the soil surface." We got the beds half done yesterday. We are gonna try and finish up today. I'm getting lots of pictures of the progress so I can post before and after pictures. Thanks again for all your help. HAPPY SPRING!!!
20 Mar, 2011
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Hi good luck with all your vegi planting, you sound raring to go,i hope you get the weather you need for good crops.Also congratulations on your 5th aniversary.
19 Mar, 2011