Kansas Hillbilly Backyard Garden 2013

   

Finally broke down and bought some compost today, 12 CuYds of it.  Got started hauling it to the back yard, manually, with two kids and the wife helping.  What a job!  This may take a while!

That is a great shot of the kids helping.  That is way cool.  OBTW, I am a big Nascar fan as well.  Hope you have a great 2014 garden neighbor!

Haha, love the little dump truck the boy is shoveling compost into. Who knew it would come in so handy?

  Sweet

The good news?  The compost is all in the backyard garden beds.
The bad news?  Either I sorely miscalculated (probable), or I was shorted about 4 cubic yards (possible, not likely).
So frustrating to get 'done' only to be that short...and I thought I was over estimating by 2 yards.  Will have to find another solution -- delivery fees are too expensive!

In the meantime, got some pansies and violets in the ground...so that feels good.

12 CY is a very large dump truck...are you sure they didn't deliver 8 CY?

Their truck had a capacity of 20 cu yards, so...not sure.  Don't think there's an easy way to measure either, especially now that the pile is gone.  I'm not too tore up about it.

Looking at the photo you posted, I don't think it was 12 Cu. yards. ???

I just went over my calculations -- and I was wrong!  That doesn't happen very often!      

Turns out that the "new" beds required about 6" of compost, instead of the 3-4" I was estimating...and that really ate up the compost fast!

BOOGER!

Here is this year's seed starting setup -- two sets of shelves this year.  Total of twelve 4' dual bulb shoplights with one each of 32watt 6500k and 5500k bulbs, on for fourteen hours per day.  I use a 28 quart sterilite storage container to place the 3" square seed starting plastic trays in -- fits 24 perfectly in each container.  Have twelve containers for a total of 288 'seedlings'.  List below picture of what is started.






PEPPER - Green Pepper
PEPPER - California Wonder
PEPPER - Golden Cal Wonder
PEPPER - Orange Bell Pepper
PEPPER - Ozark Giant
PEPPER - Tam Jalapeno Pepper

TOMATO - Arkansas Traveler Tomato
TOMATO - Bonny Best
TOMATO - Chadwick Cherry
TOMATO - Cherokee Purple Tomato

HERB - BASIL GENOVESE
HERB - LAVENDER
HERB - THYME
HERB - CILANTRO
HERB - OREGENO VULGARE
HERB - MARJORAM
HERB - TARRAGON, RUSSIAN
HERB - SAGE BROAD LEAF
HERB - BASIL EMILY
HERB - ROSEMARY
HERB - BASIL DARK PURPLE OPAL

BUTTERFLY FLOWER (Asclepias tuberosa)
BLACK EYE SUSAN - Rudbeckia hirta
ECHINACEA - Purple
ECHINACEA - White Swan
ECHINACEA - YELLOW PRAIRIE CONE FLOWER
ECHINACEA - OZARK YELLOW

Slim, Very nice set up.

wow....I like the set up too!  Cant wait to see these guys growing in the garden....love all the herbs you have....

we are growing more  herbs this year too....they just came up in the seedling tray, and went out to the green house   ....sure hope they will be warm enough in there.....we only  have one shelf up with lights and our peppers, tomatoes and celery are using it......

happy gardening
rose

Lookin' good, Slim!     Wish I had so many shelves!  I have one big shelf and some scavenged windowsills.  

GG

Thanks everyone.  Seems this year we are about two weeks behind, weather wise, as we have been in the last couple of years.  Wacky weather we've had...ground temps are still cool and not a lot of moisture to be had.  Next big project, outside of planting, is setting up the eight 55 gallon barrels for water storage / rain collection.

When will you be seeding veggies outside?  Peas, spinach, beets, carrots, etc, could probably go in anytime if the weatherman would cooperate.

I planted spinach, all my lettuces, peas, and some carrots last week in the garden, about a week later than in years past...and I think I still am going to get bit by the freeze.  Had one night it got down to 26*F and snowed a little.  We'll see.

It's an interesting year, weather wise, take a look at the below photos.  Top one is this year, March 17, 2014.  Bottom one is March 17, 2012.  Quite the difference.  In 2012 I already had bulbs flowering, the tree had buds, the grass was green, flowers in the flower bed, etc.  This year, the bulbs are just now starting to come up, no buds on the trees, just a tiny bit of green grass, etc.

Big Difference!

March 17, 2014



March 17, 2012

Lovely house!

We'll be at the mercy of the weather...if we get a late start seeding hopefully it won't get too hot too soon.

I may try planting some beets and peas this weekend...we're due for some 20 degree nights just about all next week. 

I SFG at home in Merriam, but also have a spot in a private community garden in Shawnee...25'x25' plot, water storage tanks, bee hives, etc.

Landarch: Sweet.  Didn't know we had a community garden here.

Here's a (poor) video update for this year's backyard garden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYu0uQnmN-U&feature=youtu.be

Very nice, Slim!  And your son's adorable!

What a nice flat yard!  I'm jealous!

Can't wait to see your next update.

Nice, huge garden! Lucky kids to be able to watch the butterflies and veggies growing.

awesome huge garden. Really like your butterfly setup.

Thank you everyone.  Working on a video of the front yard today...it's a little more chaotic and one giant slope.  Eventually (next year maybe), I'd like to convert the front yard into a flower garden that also helps prevent water run off.  You can get grants in our city to do that, up to $1,000, but you have to apply and I missed this year's deadline (plus, I ran out of money!).