2015 SFG in Brooks, Ga

If I didn't have any critters to deter, 1/2 of my garden chores would be eliminated, and I live in town

Fall Update 10/30/15


Sweet Potatoes still hanging in there.  Waiting to harvest until just before the first frost.


Spinach bed doing well but slowly growing.



Fava Beans planted about 10/1 in whiskey barrel and more planted about 10/15 in a 2 x 8 SFG bed.




Miscellaneous fall planted veggies on 8/31.  Peas on left, broccoli in middle and misc stuff on right.


Leeks.  The ones planted without toilet paper rolls keep getting leaves in the holes.  The toilet paper rolls sticking up out of the ground keep the leaves mostly from falling in the holes.



Trying to save buckwheat seed.


Winter pea cover crop in my non SFG bed.


Daikon radish cover crop in my non SFG bed.  Need to thin and eat as micro greens maybe.


Hoops built over my 32 foot row of 2 x 2 SFG beds.  Ready for the 6 mil plastic to keep the lettuce from freezing as long as possible.


And my live oak tree beginning to shed.  The garden starts just under the drip line of this tree on the other side of the tree.  Its great having all those leaves right where I need them but bad because the roots are growing into the beds.  Time to raise some of the beds.

yolos ... you have a great garden including a wonderful variety of beds and growing methods.

Hmm somehow I missed the last couple weeks of this thread. Just wanted to say how wonderfully organized and healthy your garden looks. Bummer about the peas getting eaten by critters ... fresh peas are right at the top of my favorite veggie list.

Wow, yolos, nice gardens! You have a lot going on, for sure.

What are fava beans? When will you get a frost?

Scorpio Rising wrote:Wow, yolos, nice gardens!  You have a lot going on, for sure.  
What are fava beans?  When will you get a frost?  

I have never grown or eaten fava beans.  I was looking for something I could grow over the winter.  The package of this variety says it can stand very cold conditions (to about 15-F and can be planted in the fall or winter for spring harvest.  The 2 x 8 bed I planted them into will not be used until the weather gets real warm in the spring (sweet potatoes) so there should be plenty of time for these to mature in the spring.  Here is a copy of the seed pack.

Some people use fava beans as cover/green manure crop because it does grow in very cold weather.  We shall see.


Our average first frost date is Oct 28.  Last year it was Nov 2.  The weather forecast for the next ten days looks good, all above freezing.  Lowest night temps for the next ten days is 45F

I have never heard of them before, and am amazed they can take that kind of cold! Keep us posted! They would never make it here, but some might put in an early set!

Yolos, Great looking garden!

Scorpio Rising wrote:I have never heard of them before, and am amazed they can take that kind of cold!  Keep us posted!  They would never make it here, but some might put in an early set!

Thanks SR.  From my research, not all varieties of fava beans (also called broad beans) will survive those temps.  The research showed that the Alquadulce variety was very cold tolerant so I am trying that this winter.

Friend of mine grows them over the winter. They produce a huge amount of green stalk and leaves, so they make a fantastic cover crop and protect very well against soil erosion.

Marc Iverson wrote:Friend of mine grows them over the winter. They produce a huge amount of green stalk and leaves, so they make a fantastic cover crop and protect very well against soil erosion.

So then you just chop it down and cold mulch it into the garden? Like farmers do with rye or oilseed radish? Just a throw away Crop for mulch?

It looks great!  

   Makes me feel ashamed I'm not doing much with mine right now....

Scorpio Rising wrote:

Marc Iverson wrote:Friend of mine grows them over the winter. They produce a huge amount of green stalk and leaves, so they make a fantastic cover crop and protect very well against soil erosion.

So then you just chop it down and cold mulch it into the garden? Like farmers do with rye or oilseed radish? Just a throw away Crop for mulch?

My friend actually loves eating the fava beans, so he goes through a lot of them, freezes a lot, and gives plenty away. The greenery itself ... I think he just pulls it, but he may till it back into the soil the traditional way. He does have and like using a rototiller.

I'm too young for it, but I saw him peeking through the tall stalks one day and told him he was giving me 'Nam flashbacks.

Scorpio Rising wrote:

Marc Iverson wrote:Friend of mine grows them over the winter. They produce a huge amount of green stalk and leaves, so they make a fantastic cover crop and protect very well against soil erosion.

So then you just chop it down and cold mulch it into the garden?  Like farmers do with rye or oilseed  radish?  Just a throw away Crop for mulch?

Yes, but first you get to eat the fava beans.  Don't ask me what they taste like because I have never eaten them.  If I don't like them at least I get a green manure crop from the plants.

The Sweet Potato Saga 11/15/16

I harvested the last of my sweet potatoes today.  These potatoes were grown in large nursery pots about the size of half whiskey barrels (6 pots).  I was worried about the production of these potatoes because it was the first time I ever grew sweet potatoes in pots.  Also, normally sweet potatoes push up the dirt when the tuber is enlarging, but there was no evidence of any tubers pushing up.  So I started harvesting and got down about 2/3 of the way to the bottom and found no tubers.  So I thought to myself I would not grow in pots again.  I went and got a small claw tool to just break up the soil in the bottom of the pot so it would be easier to amend in the spring.  And what to my wondering eyes did I see in the bottom, the whole bottom was full of sweet potatoes. And, the tubers grew out thru the drain holes and I had big sweet potatoes around the bottom of the outside of the pot.  This is a picture of the bottom of the first pot.


Some more pictures of the harvest today.  The largest potato was 1.15 lbs.



Add the newly harvested potatoes above to the ones I harvested in Sept (see below) and I have a boat load of sweet potatoes.


And I posted the following picture back in Sept and someone mentioned using it as a table decoration so I will do that.  

I see some mighty fancy peeling there....LOL.
Looks like a lot of fun with those, let us know how they taste.

Fascinating. I see a couple more to add to the center piece.

Nice Harvest!

Are you going to cure them?

AtlantaMarie wrote:Nice Harvest!

Are you going to cure them?

Yes I will cure them as best as I can in my living room until Thanksgiving.  It is too cold outside now so the living room is the best I can do.

Woa!  Those spuds are AMAZING!  I'd have a blast playing with my food if they were mine. I wonder if that snake one would keep critters at bay if placed in a box...?

Nice crop!  Wish they would grow here.  I love sweet taters.

CC

Garden Update 12/10/15

We have had a very warm fall this year.  Only about 5 days under 32*F.  The lowest temp was 28*F.  The only vegetables damaged by the frost were the English Shell Peas.  The vines are still growing but the actual pods were damaged by the frost.  I covered the lettuce with Agribon 19 and 6 mil plastic with Christmas lights under the plastic.

I took a lot of pictures today.  The first picture is of my 4 x 32 foot bed that is not technically SFG.  The first 8 feet is a green manure crop of winter peas, then 4 feet of a cover crop of annual rye grass, then 2 feet is an experimental worm bed, 2 feet of leeks, 8 feet of garlic, 2 feet of shallots, 3 feet of a cover crop of daikon radish, and the last 3 feet left for my grandson to dig in.


Here is this fall's garden experiment.  A worm bed in my raised bed.  I dug a trench and added veggie scraps, leaf mold, and soil and loosely covered it with landscape fabric.  I am trying to attract more worms to my beds.  If it doesn't work then just call this trench composting.


About 7 varieties of spinach in my 4x8 bed.  I harvested the larger leaves on the right side of the bed and will harvest the large leaves on the left side of the bed this weekend.  I am using the baby spinach leaves in my salads.


My 2 x 32 feet of 2x2 Beds of lettuce.  Boy have I been eating and giving away a lot of lettuce this fall.


CC - this picture is for you.  This is the Four Seasons lettuce (not Marvel of Four Seasons).


This is one of my three 3x8 beds.  All three beds are planted about the same.  On the left side are English Shell Peas, down the middle is broccoli, and on the right side are misc veggies (carrots, green onions, radish, kholrabi, beets, pac choy, kale).


Fava beans that I am growing for the actual beans.  Fava beans are also used as a cover crop but I am growing them for the beans.  I hope they taste good.  I should have bought some at the store first to try them out before planting them.  I have two whiskey barrels of the favas and a 2x8.

Beautiful as usual.

Yes, it is...!!

Yolos
Very nice set up

Absolutely gorgeous! Thanks for the pics!