First Time SFG and love it!

Wow, amazing layout! I love the pergola at the entrance. It totally makes me wonder if I can put an arbor at the front of my garden.....

Thanks for the kind words everyone! It's really cool to have a community like this to share with and learn from, I spent many of nights searching through hundreds of threads taking in as much info as I could before I built my SFG. I still have a LOT to learn but to me it's all about the challenge.

As for the food compost I really have been meaning to stop by the transfer station and take some pics of the operation. So I live on a Indian Reservation and the tribe has set up a composting program over the past several years, we have a huge casino with several restaurants(Ruths Chris Steak House, Brio Tuscan Grill, Paula Deans) inside the kitchens of these restaurants they have these giant yellow trash cans set aside for any food waste, once or twice a week the composters from the tribe collect the food waste and mix it with a single ground wood mulch, they use a dozer to mix it a few times a week for a couple months. Then it gets ran through a screening machine that's suppose to be really bad ass,lol. They also get lots of trout from the hatchery for composting. I don't think they let the compost cook long enough so I always let it sit awhile before I use it. I'll get a load delivered october, put a tarp over it and let it sit the entire season till April. It looks a lot like wood ash when I start to bucket it in then.

Everything gets composted though,dairy products,meat,bones,fat,shell fish, shrimp, etc etc. I find oyster shells all the time in it. They tell the restaurants not to add meat but they are just to busy to stop and sort everything out.

Misia Pedro wrote:As for the food compost
I live on a Indian Reservation and the tribe has set up a composting program, we have a huge casino with several restaurants (Ruths Chris Steak House, Brio Tuscan Grill, Paula Deans) inside the kitchens of these restaurants they have these giant yellow trash cans set aside for any food waste, once or twice a week the composters from the tribe collect the food waste and
mix it with a single ground wood mulch, they use a dozer to mix it a few times a week for a couple months. Then it gets ran through a screening machine that's suppose to be really bad ass,lol. They also get lots of trout from the hatchery for composting. I don't think they let the compost cook long enough so I always let it sit awhile before I use it. I'll get a load delivered october, put a tarp over it and let it sit the entire season till April. It looks a lot like wood ash when I start to bucket it in then.

Everything gets composted though dairy products, meat, bones, fat, shell fish, shrimp, etc etc. I find oyster shells all the time in it. They tell the restaurants not to add meat but they are just to busy to stop and sort everything out.

AHA! did you read this everyone! - He grows another Eden because everything goes in his compost: even fish, bones, & too dairy. - Since I'm starting over anyway, gonna try it too. Who knows what will grow... LOL

Terrific Garden, reminds me of Grampa's, really "Eden" is the only way to describe it. Good for you!

thank you Misio for the great info. your garden is "off the hook"!! congrats

lol LittleGardener, I got a good laugh out of the garden of Eden comment. SG I will make an effort to take some photos of the composting operation next week. Everything grew a foot over the past few days and I need to tiddy up the garden while it's still manageable. I have the next 4 days off so lots of time...

To heck with the garden! I am still drooling over the green grass! Been at least a month in Iowa since all ours went brown for lack of rain...extreme drought.

MP, where do you get all that bamboo that you build your supports with? I'm trying to grow bamboo but only have 2 single stemmed plants about 3 ft tall at the moment...

CC

It's like a jungle here, it rains about every other day but even if it didn't no big deal because I have a spring that runs 5 feet from my garden non stop.

CC, we call it "river cane" and it grows through out the reservation, i've never seen anything grow quite like it, literally 10 feet in a matter of 2 months. I've used some for over 3 years in a row, I have to say it's saved me hundreds of dollars from purchasing stakes.

OMG MP I just came in from tending my little 80 sfg and you have blown me out of my chair. Congratulations Everything looks fastastic.

Have I showed you my watering system? I filmed this a couple of months back.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=460501237313400

Loved the vid! Great set-up!

GG

Misia Pedro:
I am totally impressed and speechless with your fantastic garden!
You certainly have it in your blood....just love it!!

Misia Pedro: for sharing.

I sent you a message asking a contact # to get some compost; I have a friend close by

I'm pretty much speechless too... That whole watering system works from the single hose coming all the way from that little creek?!

I love that you created such a beautiful space and not just a functional garden. And how cool that you bottle and sell (I'm presuming) hot sauce with your produce! Amazing. Thanks so much for sharing the pictures.

Pepper wrote:Misia Pedro: for sharing.

I sent you a message asking a contact # to get some compost; I have a friend close by

My buddies at the tribal composting said they would love all the business they could get. Feel free to post it publicly if you like.

Thank you Dunkinjean and gwennifer for the comments! I have a goal of keeping everything alive till late Sept. when my visits from Arizona. That blight is tough....

Too much talk about compost and stuff. It was charging it with the secret powers that did it.

Wow, Grandma must be proud! Your garden is FANTASTIC

Misia Pedro wrote:Rain everyday for the past two weeks here, starting to get some fungus on my tomatoes. I hope it dries out soon. I had to use a ladder to extend the tomato trellis today.

Would taking the leaves that are below the tomatoes off the plant to allow a bit of air movment and drying out around the tomatoes like I do in the glasshouse help ???

I love the spring . It has been on of my lasses overriding dreams and wishes to have one on our property that does not affect the house foundations .

Do you have enough of a head of water to run some of it along an open gully on supports to drive an over shot water wheel old timer miner style providing electricity at 12Volts as a magnificent garden feature ?

AAHHHHH! Dream Garden! Love the pic with the pepper in the mouth, too!

GG

plantoid wrote:

Misia Pedro wrote:Rain everyday for the past two weeks here, starting to get some fungus on my tomatoes. I hope it dries out soon. I had to use a ladder to extend the tomato trellis today.

Would taking the leaves that are below the tomatoes off the plant to allow a bit of air movment and drying out around the tomatoes like I do in the glasshouse help ???

I love the spring . It has been on of my lasses overriding dreams and wishes to have one on our property that does not affect the house foundations .

Do you have enough of a head of water to run some of it along an open gully on supports to drive an over shot water wheel old timer miner style providing electricity at 12Volts as a magnificent garden feature ?

Yes, I did lots and lots of sucker pruning and removed any signs of blight whenever it popped up. I used a box fan to help move air around and keep the tomatoes dry. The blight seemed to appear anytime tomato leaves touched and allowed the right conditions for the fungus to grow. I rotated spraying sulphur and copper every 7 days, this worked wonders and while it didn't stop the blight completely it slowed it considerably.

Hydroelectric! Yes, I'm in the works on a project now. I have a couple hundred feet of head and its running at about 60gmp. Water wheel is a great idea, I might use one on my koi pond.

Misia.....I love the pics of your child labor. They are just adorable.

Tip for the future: You can always lop off the top of your tomato plants near the end of the season so they put their energy into maturing the ones already starting on the vine before end of your season. The same for peppers.

quiltbea wrote:Misia.....I love the pics of your child labor. They are just adorable.

Tip for the future: You can always lop off the top of your tomato plants near the end of the season so they put their energy into maturing the ones already starting on the vine before end of your season. The same for peppers.

Thank you Quiltbea! I'll give that a try this season!

Somebodies got a little princess or 2 running around in his beautiful garden! They are so adorable. And your plants...well, mine NEVER grew like that. What a great gardener you are!

CC