My First Box

I finally got one of my boxes planted and seeded. I did the first batch of seeding on Thursday. They are:

1) bush peas
2) bush limas
3) bush green beans
4) bush purple beans
5) broccoli raab
6) carrots
7) beets

Today I planted the following plants:

1) bell peppers
2) leaf lettuces
3) head lettuces
4) cabbage
5) collard greens

While planting the collards, I noticed that one of the 3 plants that I
bought was actually a cauliflower. So, I got a surprise plant

Some of you might think "He planted in rows!" Well, I just like the look
of nice, neat-looking rows. The only patchwork I like is in my
Grandmother's Afghan Square blanket

In 3 of my pepper squares, I planted leaf lettuces. I figured that it'll
be a while before the pepper needs an entire square so why not get some
lettuce out of it. Same with the radishes. I planted radishes around
one square of cabbage. In 6 of the other pepper squares, I'm planting
spinach. They didn't have any spinach plants at the garden center I went
to on Wednesday. I hope the garden centers I go to tomorrow do have
them.

So I'm not overwhelmed with peas, beans, or limas, I'm planting more of
them in 2 weeks, and then more again in two weeks after that. The same
with carrots and beets.

In the pictures, you might notice that I have little sticks in some of
the squares. That's so I know which squares to water until the plants
start popping up.

Anyway, months of planning and preparation are finally over.







I have another picture but for some reason, the forum won't host it for me. It seems to hang during the uploading process.

It looks great, I don't think it looks like you planted in rows! Everybody has their quirks, I like to have something different in every square (nothing the same touching) My hubby likes to have the same stuff grouped together, you like nice neat looking rows!

Hope you find your spinach!

cheyannarach wrote:It looks great, I don't think it looks like you planted in rows! Everybody has their quirks, I like to have something different in every square (nothing the same touching) My hubby likes to have the same stuff grouped together, you like nice neat looking rows!

Hope you find your spinach!

Thanks!

Well there's 3 garden centers I can stop at tomorrow. Someone's bound to have spinach.

Since I have two open squares, I think I'm going to plant celery too

That is lovely. Good to see plants getting to enjoy that compost!
I am a block or strip planter, it helps me keep a little organized and gives my hubby a chance to find stuff.

looks great!

1) bush peas
2) bush limas
3) bush green beans
4) bush purple beans
5) broccoli raab
6) carrots
7) beets
bell peppers
9) leaf lettuces
10) head lettuces
11) cabbage
12) collard greens
13) spinach

and a surprised cauli

seeing it written out..... always hits me how amazing it is to get ALL of those veggies in just a couple of box's :drunken:

cant wait to hear about for first harvest!

hugs

rose

Lookin' good TooTall. I looked really hard, but I don't see any rows. But nothing wrong with that anyhow. I like how SquatJohnson does the mini-row gardening with his "salads squares".

BTW, when are all the tomatoes coming?

Good thinking on sharing the squares. I planted radishes and arugula all around some of my broccoli's just yesterday. I had wanted everything nice and neat in their own squares, but finally overcame that limitation.

I can't wait for my first harvest either. It'll be radishes of course. Actually I see that there's one radish sprout coming up already....if that's possible. I planted the seeds on Thursday.

The woman who's growing the tomatoes for me tells me that they should be ready this week. I'll see what the weather will be and possibly plant them this coming weekend. I'll at least get the supports put in for the Florida Weave.

I've been out to my garden at least a half a dozen times since I planted everythin today. Neighbors probably think I'm nuts


Oh yeah.....

I was peeling potatoes today for pot pie and noticed that a few of the potatoes started growing out at the eyes. So I decided to cut them off and put them in a 5 gallon bucket. I'll see what happens there. I might have another unexpected crop.

Looking pretty good TooTall.

Daniel9999 wrote:Looking pretty good TooTall.

Thanks!

Looks great! I still love the unique, stained boxes! Someday I'll get some stain and make my boxes unique, too.

Is it possible that radishes start sprouting after only 2 days??

Too Tall Tomatoes wrote:Is it possible that radishes start sprouting after only 2 days??

Sure. Radishes are very speedy and rewarding I am on my second crop of them already and after the tasty first crop I have decided I will always have them!

edit: I started potatoes growing like that too - it will work!

At first I thought it was a volunteer seed of some sort that survived the composting process.

I also have one tiny sprout in one of my broccoli raab squares.

TTT, look at you go man Your bed looks fantastic and I for one am impressed with all your progress! I wish you the best of luck this season TTT, you've really put forth a lot of effort and I'm sure it will pay off for you Keep us updated!

@TooTall.....Maybe your photo was too large. Did you reduce its size first?

I find that putting 2 or 3 of the same crop in adjoining squares makes it much easier to cover for shade if necessary, or against bugs. I'm doing that this year. Putting a cover here and another there dotted all over the box was way too much trouble for me. Now I put one floating row cover over all the brassicas. I make sure the following year I don't put in the same crops so there's rotation.



Above: I've got mine in trios, left to right, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli and cabbages. I'll transplant lettuces beneath their shade later. The back row is reserved for stringing cukes later.

I learn from my earlier mistakes.

Thanks Rooster

I'll definitely be posting pictures throughout the spring and summer. My next set of pictures will be probably next week when I get my tomato box planted up.


This is the picture I tried posting yesterday. It was a hair over 500K. I didn't realize it till just a few minutes ago.



I still have one square not set aside for anything. I need to add something to it....probably collards or another cauliflower to compliment the unexpected one I bought. Or I was thinking celery but I'm not sure if I want to "waste" a square just for one bunch of celery.

I also have 4 squares set aside for beets. I think I might take one of those to add another swiss chard.

I got home a little bit ago and I went to check the box that I have planted and seeded. I gave everything a drink(the one collard plant in particular looked a bit droopy) and while watering the seeded squares, I noticed that I have beets starting to pop up already! I also noticed that some of the bush sugar peas have started sprouting already!

So since I planted the seeds on Thursday, the radishes have sprouted, the beets have sprouted, and the peas have sprouted.

It's funny how the little things make me happy

Oh yeah....I found spinach at one store today but it looked very leggy. I decided not to buy them. They didn't have enough anyway....I need 48 plants. Another garden center had pak choy and it looked very interesting. I was all set to buy a few packs to fill in some empty squares but two of the little plants looks like they have flower buds on them already.