Fourth Year SFG in Canada

sanderson wrote:Nice leaf fines.  I found I had to load up on greens to balance fine leaves.
...

I was thinking that would be necessary. Maybe I should try a batch of these shredded leaves and grass clippings in my EnviroCycle composter. The instructions say 75% green and 25% brown by weight.

Got another trellis finished today.  All trellises and grids are now complete. 

You've gone "trellis" happy.  I love using the nylon mesh on either EMC or PVC frames.

Edit. Wait, are those home made meshes? It's hard to see.

sanderson wrote:You've gone "trellis" happy.  I love using the nylon mesh on either EMC or PVC frames.

Edit.  Wait, are those home made meshes?  It's hard to see.

The mesh in the photo is the diamond shaped mesh the same as I used on my megatrellis. I prefer the square look so I turned the mesh at the expense of wasting some mesh. I ran out of mesh at the bottom of this trellis so I had to use scraps of individual strands to finish off the squares at the bottom.

Here are my first banana peppers for this year. They are small.

Ah, got it. The mega trellis material.

Yesterday I half filled my SoilSaver compost bin with mostly the finely shredded leaves, grass clippings and sawdust (from when I made my new grids).  The bin is already cooking nicely at over 130F.

Can you get some coffee grounds and produce discards to add to it today or tomorrow?

sanderson wrote:Can you get some coffee grounds and produce discards to add to it today or tomorrow?

I'm one step ahead of you. Earlier today I added kitchen scraps and coffee grounds.

Road trip starting tomorrow so the gardens and compost are on their own. Hoping for some rain while we are away. Getting some today. Rushing now to get more planting and seeding done.

I had some starts leftover and I hate to throw them away. I've already given a ton of things to my neighbour for their row garden and I will take some plants to my daughter on our upcoming road trip. The rest I have planted in two places. The first place is a pile of dirt and compostable stuff near the compost bins. This hill is now home to one each of white scallop squash, green hubbard squash, Canada crookneck squash, borage and cabbage. The second places is in the hardware cloth compost bin that has some partially composted materials.  It is now home to several varieties of tomatoes. This is all an experiment ... they either make it and overrun the place or they go to the great beyond for plants.





I took some photos of the SFG from a different perspective from what I usually use.












The 3x3x3 compost bin has been relegated to storage until the Fall when a new batch of leaves will be available.




Mrs TD's raspberry bushes.

Your garden looks so healthy. I couldn't figure out what looked different - The new grids!!

Safe journey.

TD, I get the idea that you really know what you are doing.  

I think I need me to get a house-husband so that I can do more gardening.

Looks great, TD. Raspberries.... Ummmm.... And those strawberry plants & chive blossoms!

AtlantaMarie wrote:Looks great, TD.  Raspberries....  Ummmm....  And those strawberry plants & chive blossoms!

The chives really took off and are putting non quite a show this year.

TD, I love love love your garden. So beautiful.

Also, great idea to use cardboard for the top hat boxes for your potatoes! I don't know why I didn't think of that. I wrapped landscape fabric around some pvc uprights for one of mine. I don't have a lot of lumber around to build them, but I have plenty of cardboard boxes!

BlackjackWidow wrote:TD, I love love love your garden. So beautiful.

Also, great idea to use cardboard for the top hat boxes for your potatoes! I don't know why I didn't think of that. I wrapped landscape fabric around some pvc uprights for one of mine. I don't have a lot of lumber around to build them, but I have plenty of cardboard boxes!

Thank you.

It will be interesting to see how the cardboard holds up. I also use it in the Fall to put around my garlic squares which allows me to add a thick layer of straw mulch on top of the squares. It holds up very well over the winter.

trolleydriver wrote:

BlackjackWidow wrote:TD, I love love love your garden. So beautiful.

Also, great idea to use cardboard for the top hat boxes for your potatoes! I don't know why I didn't think of that. I wrapped landscape fabric around some pvc uprights for one of mine. I don't have a lot of lumber around to build them, but I have plenty of cardboard boxes!

Thank you.

It will be interesting to see how the cardboard holds up. I also use it in the Fall to put around my garlic squares which allows me to add a thick layer of straw mulch on top of the squares. It holds up very well over the winter.

Spectacular! This is a game changer for me - thanks so much for the idea.

BlackjackWidow wrote:

trolleydriver wrote:

BlackjackWidow wrote:TD, I love love love your garden. So beautiful.

Also, great idea to use cardboard for the top hat boxes for your potatoes! I don't know why I didn't think of that. I wrapped landscape fabric around some pvc uprights for one of mine. I don't have a lot of lumber around to build them, but I have plenty of cardboard boxes!

Thank you.

It will be interesting to see how the cardboard holds up. I also use it in the Fall to put around my garlic squares which allows me to add a thick layer of straw mulch on top of the squares. It holds up very well over the winter.

Spectacular! This is a game changer for me - thanks so much for the idea.

With the garlic I build a cardboard wall around a group of squares rather than individual squares.

BlackjackWidow wrote:

trolleydriver wrote:

BlackjackWidow wrote:TD, I love love love your garden. So beautiful.

Also, great idea to use cardboard for the top hat boxes for your potatoes! I don't know why I didn't think of that. I wrapped landscape fabric around some pvc uprights for one of mine. I don't have a lot of lumber around to build them, but I have plenty of cardboard boxes!

Thank you.

It will be interesting to see how the cardboard holds up. I also use it in the Fall to put around my garlic squares which allows me to add a thick layer of straw mulch on top of the squares. It holds up very well over the winter.

Spectacular! This is a game changer for me - thanks so much for the idea.

Just got back home from our road trip and I notice that some of the cardboard is already falling apart. There are parts of it that have delaminated. I'll just replace as needed and try to keep it going.

We were away for a few days and when we got home we did an examination of the gardens. Some things have taken off during the hot humid weather while we were away. Unfortunately, Mrs TD lost all of her sunflowers even though she had them really well protected. Have yet to figure out what happened to them. As well I lost the two melon plants that I had growing in my U-shaped bed that has megatrellis. One was broken off completely and the stem on the other one is broken partly but the leaves are still green. I'm thinking the family of chipmunks in our yard may be the culprits.

On a positive note, Mrs TD's poppies are looking great. Some of the blooms are eight inches across.

I am so sorry Alvin destroyed some of your plants. But, very happy for those outstanding poppies! Welcome home.

trolleydriver wrote:

BlackjackWidow wrote:

trolleydriver wrote:

BlackjackWidow wrote:TD, I love love love your garden. So beautiful.

Also, great idea to use cardboard for the top hat boxes for your potatoes! I don't know why I didn't think of that. I wrapped landscape fabric around some pvc uprights for one of mine. I don't have a lot of lumber around to build them, but I have plenty of cardboard boxes!

Thank you.

It will be interesting to see how the cardboard holds up. I also use it in the Fall to put around my garlic squares which allows me to add a thick layer of straw mulch on top of the squares. It holds up very well over the winter.

Spectacular! This is a game changer for me - thanks so much for the idea.

Just got back home from our road trip and I notice that some of the cardboard is already falling apart. There are parts of it that have delaminated. I'll just replace as needed and try to keep it going.

Sounds like a plan - actually, another reason that I like this idea, because the cardboard composts well, AND worms love cardboard.


Darn critters, they sure do like to take the wind out of our sails   I hope you can deter the culprits. The poppies are Gorgeous! Mrs. TD does such beautiful work!

BlackjackWidow wrote:

trolleydriver wrote:

BlackjackWidow wrote:

trolleydriver wrote:

BlackjackWidow wrote:TD, I love love love your garden. So beautiful.

Also, great idea to use cardboard for the top hat boxes for your potatoes! I don't know why I didn't think of that. I wrapped landscape fabric around some pvc uprights for one of mine. I don't have a lot of lumber around to build them, but I have plenty of cardboard boxes!

Thank you.

It will be interesting to see how the cardboard holds up. I also use it in the Fall to put around my garlic squares which allows me to add a thick layer of straw mulch on top of the squares. It holds up very well over the winter.

Spectacular! This is a game changer for me - thanks so much for the idea.

Just got back home from our road trip and I notice that some of the cardboard is already falling apart. There are parts of it that have delaminated. I'll just replace as needed and try to keep it going.

Sounds like a plan - actually, another reason that I like this idea, because the cardboard composts well, AND worms love cardboard.


Darn critters, they sure do like to take the wind out of our sails   I hope you can deter the culprits. The poppies are Gorgeous! Mrs. TD does such beautiful work!

Thanks BJW

The SFG offered up a couple of strawberries. The plants are loaded. Hopefully they will ripen and we will get to pick them before the slugs get them.

Also picked a tiny jalapeno pepper from another part of the garden. Couldn't resist.

And the SoilSaver compost bin is cooking away at around  130F before I used the garden fork to move the contents around.
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And the winner is ...

In both of these photos there is Golden Zucchini plant and a White Scallop Squash plant.  One photo shows what is happening in my Square Foot Garden and the other shows what is happening to the same types of plants in my Straw Bale Garden. The tape measure is stretched to about two feet in both photos.

I think we have a clear winner.  

The plants in the straw bale seem to go through a lot of stress each day especially when it is warm.

WOW! SFG! SFG!