I'm making progress and gardens

Well, I guess we will all learn this summer. I plan to trellis pole beans, cukes, tomatos, cantaloupe and sugar baby watermelons as well as try to corral some squash onto some trellis. I have a much smaller temporary trellis for my snap peas in one of the beds and the chair top peas have an old footboard behind them to grow on. I will replace that temp trellis when I replace the peas with beans.

Kay

Thought I'd post pics of my garden before I pull out all the plants. Will eat and freeze from garden until the day before I leave. Then I will harvest what is left and take to my daughter. Her garden is about a month and 1/2 behind mine. She is in zone 6a.

Here are the pics from april https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t6610-i-was-only-gone-for-2-weeks-honest#58630

And today.
Bed 1 - collards, kale, spinach and last buttercrunch lettuce at very back of the box. Tomatos were planted in the same squares as the lettuce until I dug them up and transported to my son's house. There were some peppers in this box too.


Bed 2 and the collard that is taking over. I'll harvest and freeze him this week.


Bed 2 carrots and spinach that is about to finish up. Also dug the tomatos and peppers out of this box.


Bed 3 and the last sowing of sugar snap peas. They are just starting to bloom.


Bed 3 collards, 2nd sowing of turnip greens and onions on the grid crosses


Bed 4 Bok choy about to bolt. These were from the 2nd sowing. Also Swiss chard 1st and second sowings.


Bed 4 Red sails lettuce. I'll be enjoying this until I leave.


Bed 6. The peas are about finished. I don't think the sprinkler got enough water to them while I was gone. They were dry, but the lettuce just inside the net is from my original planting and has had 4 harvests.


Bed 6 Finally getting a small broccoli. I'll let him grow for the next 2 weeks. This may be my last meal before leaving town.


bed 5. Kale, lemon basil and cukes I forgot to dig up and take to my son.


bed 5 onions and kale. Just visable is cilantro in a herb pot. I'll take all my herb pots to my daughter in Northern Va as I'm leaving from Dulles Airport. Empty spots were where I dug up tomatos and peppers and from some mustard/spinach that was finished.


The chairtop garden started when I was so frustrated in Feb because I couldn't get my beds made. Took a long time to get started, but I've had more peas from this planting than from any of my others. Mesculun is looking good and check out the russian red kale in the mix. This was going to be my summer lettuce box as I could move it under the tree for shade.


Over all view of the garden from my deck.


I have had a phenomenal spring garden and had been looking forward to summer crops. I just can't believe what the MM produced. I have eaten, frozen and given away so much. I'm anticipating getting back and starting a fall garden. I am going to take a bin of MM to my daughter and see if she can get me 2 tomatos started in mid aug for a possible late crop. I have a 5x5 plastic hobby greenhouse I can use to extend my season a little.

Kay

That's a good amount you grew. I still can't get over how much can be crammed in and it still grow, although I've done the same as you with chair top but using bakers trays for salad things. That's an attractive kale btw.

Kay, everything is looking so good. At least you will eat well before you leave for Europe and your kids will benefit from your garden too.

Make sure to wave to my older son when your are at Dulles Airport, he lives about 4 miles from the terminal.

Warm weather got to me. I planted the chairtop gardens in Jan and in spite of 30* weather the last 2 nights I found a few pea noses just starting to peek out today. The reclaimed abandoned garden https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t9233-is-there-anything-as-sad-as-an-abandoned-sfg has been keeping me in greens this mild winter. I uncovered the garlic bed today and have a lot of garlic tops showing, some 4" high.

Yesterday and today I put together 4 more beds and managed to get 2 up on their rails before I ran out of energy. I have some onion seed started but decided not to start seeds for peppers and tomatos until I return from visiting my son. Will be gone for 2 1/2 weeks and didn't want to haul seedlings with me. However, I will be starting seed at his house for the "pond beds".

The good news is that my vermiculite source in in the town where he lives and by the time I return and make MM for the new bed, I will be able to direct sow most of the spring greens. The carrots, spinach and lettuce from the fall planting are stil going strong. The chard is also going strong, but the flavor is not as good as it was. Time to pull it up and start new. I'm also going to pull up the kale (held on since last spring) and start new. Lost some of the fall planted collards so will also start new there. Will eat on the 2 remaining until the new crop gets going and then plant something new in their squares.

Kay

Love the healthy looking kale and I really like the looks of your stapled grids, what is it made of?

I actually don't know what that is. It was some some sort of strappng material I found in my tool chest. It didn't last, so now I'm using mason's line.

That is winterbor kale and lasted through the neglect of the summer and is still growing. Had some for dinner last night. I plan to plant more this spring along with the red version, redbor.

Kay

Love your chairs!!! Now I know what to do with the four old chairs in the shed that are too far gone for someone to sit in!!!

Judy

Walshevak - this might be a silly question, but what is the white material you have covering your boxes, and what is it for? Do you have problems with critters?

That is wedding veil tulle to keep bugs out, and it works.

Kay

I can confirm, the tulle is great at keeping bugs out, even the dreaded cabbage worm, babies of the cute little cabbage moth or cabbage butterfly. It is especially useful on a box where the crops don't need to be pollinated, such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and kohlrabi, because you don't need to remove the tulle except to flick out the occasional weed or to harvest.

I use it over my strawberries to keep the birds out...leave the sides open and I get more than they do! Had to laugh when hubby said 'robins don't eat strawberries" Couple of days later, guess what was under the tulle in the bed?

Kay, have you replaced the trellis yet? I bought the conduit and rebar to put mine up, but I'm really worried about the winds, they get insane around here since I'm right on the coast. Have you had any wind/ hurricane problems?

I lost one trellis but it was more from the tree comining down and hitting it than the actual hurricane.
I didn't give enough support to one side of a cattle panel arch and a non hurricane wind caught it and flipped it over. I managed to save most of the tomatos though.
Here it is strapped back up


for the most part, my gardens have come through 2 hurricanes and Super Storm Sandy in good shape. I did lose all my hoop houses during the latest NorEaster. Plastic all blew down, but the pvc hoops didn't move. No big loss as I'm not even home and had already given up on my winter crops. I'm not planting a spring garden at my house this year.

Kay

Good to know We had such fierce 50 degree winds yesterday I spent awhile googling how to secure the plants and trellis hah.