Tril's garden... finally!

Today was "the" day. I mixed up my MM... then realized I had bought enough for ONE SFG, not TWO. So I did one... then went on a search for more MM ingredients. It took ALL DAY, but here are my gardens!

















Tomorrow I'll get more material for my second grid and that one will get planted, too. Mixing the MM was hard work! I kept telling myself, "You only have to do this ONCE!"

Gorgeous!

It's looking good, Tril! Mixing the Mel's Mix is hard work, but I found that the method of using the tarp to mix it really worked well - thank goodness, I had my hubby to help with it! Now, let the fun begin!!! I wish you the best of luck with your sfgs.

Tril - Mixing the mix and putting it in the box is backbreaking! I started out this year with 5 boxes and if it weren't for my husband, they'd still be sitting out there with about 2 shovel fulls in each... Plus I had to put up a chicken fence first so then I had to wheel the wheelbarrow in the doorway there and, well, I'm glad that part is over with!

Your boxes look beautiful! And I love the lath look. Next year I'm switching from string to lath.

Now. What do you have planted in that box? Are those transplants? They look beautiful, whatever they are!

I used some of the same soil ingredients as you have there.

Oh! How lovely!!! Congratulations on getting one done, You are now a SFGardener!!
This year I mixed my MM in batches in a large wheel barrow then poured it in the boxes. It was so much easier!

My DH kept telling me he'd help me mix... but we've had rain for the last 9 days. Today was gorgeous so I decided I could do it alone. The tarp DID help. I mixed most of it with a hoe, but then dragged the corners across to the opposite corners and that mixed it even more. Thank goodness for the "water each layer" rule. It gave my back a break between shoveling.

The white grid is actually 1" PVC pipe. I wandered around Lowe's looking for something to use and found the PVC pipe. The bottom lengths are set into the MM, the top ones are just laid over those. The MM holds them in place.

What did I plant today?? Let's see... 4 cayenne peppers, two varieties of red bell peppers, 1 green bell pepper, 4 lettuce, 1 Early Girl tomato, 1 yellow grape tomato, basil, oregano, garlic chives, 1 rosemary, 4 red marigolds (by the tomatoes and peppers) and 1 cilantro. That took up 15 squares. I'm going to plant either mesclun or radish in the empty square tomorrow.

Glad the labor part is over... I'll enjoy the next few days of planting... and then I'll start the worrying about pests, fungus, blight, etc.

Thanks for the support, everyone. It's MUCH appreciated!

Tril:

Don't forget the weeding! I guess you have that covered under etc.?

I'm one of those crazy people who enjoys weeding. I find it calming... it's a sickness, really. LOL

Congratulations on getting your first SFG box done! And yes, getting all that MM in is a real back-breaker. lol Your garden looks great!! =)

your SFG looks great!!

one great thing for me having to mix the MM.....i have lost a few pounds!....my husband was making fun of me when we were shopping for the mix's.....he thought the bat poop was the icing on the cake though....ha ha ha until I told him we needed to hunt for the worm poop! to make worm tea.....ha ha ha

hugs
rose

Tril,
I'd say all the back-breaking work was worth it. Your garden is looking great.

I'm amazed at all you got planted today. Good for you. I am putting my tomatoes in tomorrow but holding off on the peppers another week and then the eggplant after that.

You'll be harvesting delicious foods pretty soon.

Tril wrote:The white grid is actually 1" PVC pipe.

OH! Now where did I put those glasses...

QB.... I probably should have waited til next week, but the weather looks stable over the next few days so I decided to go for it. Lows at night will hover around 50*F. We're also staying home this weekend to do "yard work" so I'll be around to water and cover as needed. I'm already feeling very attached to my babies (plants).

I ended up with some leftover MM. I think I'm going to get some of those potato buckets and try them. I have to go to Lowe's anyway, for more PVC pipe. I also want to look for a black 5 gallon bucket for my garden water. Our well water is very, very cold. I need to bring the temp up before using it on my garden.

Rose, I wish I could say that all of this activity would make me lose a few pounds! I doubt it will happen. DH came home last night while I was planting and fighting off the black flies. I was a mess... dirty, bloody, sweaty, swollen/bumpy... but smiling. The first thing I said to him was, "I hope you're not hungry because I'm not cooking dinner tonight!" After I got done planting we planned what needed to be done to the back yard (having drainage issues) and DH got busy digging out there. I took a very long hot shower and sat down with a glass of pinot noir... dinner last night was wine, crackers and spinach dip. DH had cereal.

Today... grid, seedlings, seeds, potatoes. Then I start planting the ground cover on the banking in front of the house. I also found a source for loam... for the yard. And I have about 8 piles of rock to spread. OH MY ACHING BACK! And I forgot... I have to stain the north side of the house and the back dormer. And clean and oil the teak furniture on the porch. And keep up with the mowing.

No rest for the weary!!

Oh, Tril, your box is beautiful . I love your house too, it's exactly what I'd like to build if I were to have one built.

I planted potatoes in some old tires. They took 17 days to sprout, so don't get anxious if yours take longer than 2 weeks, they'll come up.

When I mixed my MM, I put all the compost on the tarp. Then took a bucket of that (used a 3 gallon bucket), one of peat and one of vermiculite and mixed it all in a wheel barrow with a hoe. Some times using my gloved hands to get the chunks broken up. It was back breaking work, I wasn't sure I could do it. I did 3 boxes in 2 days. After I opened the second bag of vermiculite, I realized it was a different size, so I took all the MM out of the boxes again and mixed it all over again.

I hear you about all the other stuff that needs done. I've been so wrapped up in my boxes, I've neglected other things. DH even told me that I need to quit playing in my boxes and pay attention to my grapes as they are starting to crawl on the ground (he could do it, but he knows that I would do it over again). My DH has been eating a lot of cereal too, lol.

stripesmom wrote:When I mixed my MM, I put all the compost on the tarp. Then took a bucket of that (used a 3 gallon bucket), one of peat and one of vermiculite and mixed it all in a wheel barrow with a hoe.

I did that too. I had my pile of compost, pile of verm, pile of peat, took turns putting a shovel of each into the wheelbarrow, mixed it up there, carted it off. I wanted to be sure I had equal amounts. I'm not sure how you mix everything altogether on the tarp without knowing if they're exactly equal. Just getting all those different types of compost to mix together pretty much assures you're going to have more compost than other ingredients. (I would think.)

Exactly NHgardener. I'm not very good at math anyway. I figure I can add ok though, lol.

stripesmom -

Yup, I can pretty much handle 1 + 1 + 1 = 3. Beyond that it gets a little fuzzy.

Might be another cereal night here! I got my other box done today. OH... before I FORGET... the PVC pipe I used is 1/2", NOT 1 inch pipe. I bought more today. The guy at Lowe's kept asking me, "Now... you want me to cut these into 4 foot lengths, RIGHT??" LOL I didn't bother to explain why, that would have just confused him more.

I still haven't mowed the lawn. There's always tomorrow!

Oh, Tril - they are beautiful! Congrats and happy planting!

Well.... we didn't have cereal last night. We had PBJs. LOL DH said it was okay, he wouldn't "fire" me yet, since I was working so hard outside. LOL I didn't mow last night... instead I planted 23 ground cover plants on the banking. I finally sat down around 8PM. That's when I had a glass of pinot noir and a PBJ sandwich. Life is good. And who knew that wine and peanut butter & jelly paired well???

Tril - I just saw that you are from Gardiner. I think that is kind of ironic.

NHGardener wrote:Tril - I just saw that you are from Gardiner. I think that is kind of ironic.

Ironic indeed.

I know... funny, huh?

Tril,
You get two thumbs up. Your garden looks fabulously fantastic!!!!! Way to go!

I'll post pictures soon... but I have to share this cuz I'm SO excited! I planted my seeds on Friday. This morning I went out and BOOM, seedlings!!! The radish are up and the mesclun is up!!! That's FAST! Conditions were perfect for germination. Light misty rain Friday, Sat and Sun... but warmer temps. Heavy rain Sat and Sun nights. HOT HOT HOT sun today. DH is impressed with the MM... he says he's never seen "soil" retain moisture like "your mix" does. He grew up tending his parents' three field gardens. LOVE MY SFG!