Progress

Hi everyone, Thanks for a great forum. So much useful information here. My bed frames are made. I used the HD frames to save time on construction and got them on sale for $29. The bottoms are lined with weed block fabric and the four corners have 3/4" PVC pipes to anchor a canopy. I have my Vermiculite, SPM and my 5 Composts - Cow Manure, Chicken Manure, Rabbit Manure, Cotton Burr and Mushroom. Next step is to create a level area to place the beds on my slopping backyard. Then mix my MM, fill the beds and plant. My goal is to make my 2 - 4 X 4 beds pay for themselves this year. One bed will be exclusively strawberries, so I will take a slight loss there. The second will be vegetables, with lots of Bell Peppers, some Kale, Swiss Chard and a few others. With Colored Bells averaging $2 a piece, and Kale at $1 a bunch, I should achieve my goal. Wishing you all a bountiful harvest this year!

R.C.

RC, you found the right place to compliment Mel's book if you have questions. There are so many experienced SFGers on board here that we can help you maximize the return on your investment.

Pictures help while you post and ask questions, and your regional forum likely contains localized information regarding specific issues gardeners are having, as well as, localized weather discussions.

Great to have you here. Welcome aboard. Keep us up to date on your progress.

Thanks BackyardBirdGardener. I will be taking and posting some pics soon. I'm reading an early edition of Mel's Book. Interesting to see how SFG has evolved over the years. I'm excited, and enjoy participating in this forum.

R.C.

Welcome!

i joined not to long ago my self....i had been reading here since last summer

im so glad to have found a wonderful forum for gardening....hubby is getting a little cranky with me talking his ear off and dragging him out to the garden to show him veggies growing .....here....i can talk all i want and everyone is so sweet and loves to see pics of my babies growing

hugs
rose.....happy to find veggie happy friends

Hey Rev,
If it is organic you will more than make your money back.

Thanks shannon1 and FamilyGardening for your input and support. After borrowing a rototiller from a friend, and spending about 6 hours over three days leveling an 10' X 5' spot on my sloping backyard , my beds are in place. By Wednesday they should be filled with Mel's Mix and plant's. I'm excited. Pix coming soon!

I can't wait to see the pics.

I don't know if you have time to do the costings but I'd be very surprised if you didn't easily recover the cost by the end of season one. I think many people would nearly fall over in shock at how much cheaper it is to grow your own.

My garden is on a slope and we just finished levelling an 8x5 area by hand and constructing the first bed yesterday. I'm on a coffee break from filling it with MM

Barkie wrote:I don't know if you have time to do the costings but I'd be very surprised if you didn't easily recover the cost by the end of season one. I think many people would nearly fall over in shock at how much cheaper it is to grow your own.

My garden is on a slope and we just finished levelling an 8x5 area by hand and constructing the first bed yesterday. I'm on a coffee break from filling it with MM

Ouch! and Bless you Barkie for doing it by hand! I tried for about 15 mins. but our soil is very hard. It would have taken forever for me to do it by hand. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get my beds filled.

Beds Filled and Square Foot Grids Constructed. Tomorrow I'll trim the PVC Pipes for the Canopies - and maybe transplant a few things! I have 1cf of Vermiculite left (some will be used for seed germination), 1.5 cf of mixed compost left, about 2cf of Peat left and .75 cf of MM left. I'll probably put in a separate pot for my Zuchini plant (grown from seed). Life is good! Thanks everyone for your encouragement and advice.

RC

You go Rev!!!!!!

awesome Rev!!!

hugs
rose

Ok, yesterday I filled my 2 - 4 X 4 beds. The first bed is all strawberries. I had purchased 18 strawberry plants to put 1 in each square. After re-reading the recommendations, I planted 4 per square and purchased 50 roots to fill the rest of the bed. In the second bed I planted 3 Red Bell Peppers (3 squares), 3 Yellow Bell Peppers (3 squares), 4 Lemon Basil Seedlings (1 square), 4 Swiss Chard seedlings (1 square), 2 Kale seedlings (2 squares), 2 Okra Seeds (2 squares), 13 Soy Bean Seeds (1 square), 8 Snow Pea Seeds (1 square), 2 Thai Basil Seedlings & 2 Thyme Seeds (1 square), and 23 carrot seeds planted around the perimeter of the Kale Squares. I have 1 Square left and am considering using that for 1 Cherry Tomato plant. Pictures soon.

RC

PS. - Did I mention I need to make more beds? Ha Ha!

Reverend Curlee wrote:
PS. - Did I mention I need to make more beds? Ha Ha!

Don't we all!

Never seem to be enough beds. By the way, that's alot of soybean seeds in 1 square ! I usually do just 4 per square. Can't wait to see how yours turn out. Maybe I won't need that extra bed after all!

Denese wrote:Never seem to be enough beds. By the way, that's alot of soybean seeds in 1 square ! I usually do just 4 per square. Can't wait to see how yours turn out. Maybe I won't need that extra bed after all!

I planted 12 bean seeds per square because I was counting on some seedling failure. Sure enough, I had to replant a few more to get 9 per square... It was new seed this year and I'm sort of surprised about how many of them met their demise, so I have to chalk it up to weather, or something.... :scratch:

I suppose I should rephrase... I usually plant 2 seeds per hole with 4 sets of 2 in a square. Then I cut out any extras. I have found that soybeans are notorious for problems germinating. Not sure why I only do 4 plants per square, but they seem to thrive that way, for me. I'll have to try 9 next time, and see how it goes.

I planted 9 per square, like bush beans because of the the thin to spacing on seed pack.

Denese wrote:Never seem to be enough beds. By the way, that's alot of soybean seeds in 1 square ! I usually do just 4 per square. Can't wait to see how yours turn out. Maybe I won't need that extra bed after all!

Yup, seemed like a lot to me too. However, in one of the threads I found, somebody had posted that they had success with 13 a square. And since I've also read you need to plant a lot of soybean plants to get much of a crop - I thought I'd go for it. I will certainly let you know how they turn out. I'll pick them to be eaten as Edamame. They're great in Red Thai Curry. And thanks to all for your thoughts.

RC

Goosegirl wrote:

Reverend Curlee wrote:
PS. - Did I mention I need to make more beds? Ha Ha!

Don't we all!

Thank You! Thank You very much! I'll be here all week!

Seven Soy Beans have sprouted and my Snow Peas are starting to peak through the MM. One of my Okra plants has sprouted as well. The Strawberry plants I planted are doing fine but the roots I bought to fill in the box are doing nothing. So I think tomorrow I'll go get more plants where I bought the first ones. They're half price now, so it will be pretty cheap.

RC

Reverend Curlee wrote:
PS. - Did I mention I need to make more beds? Ha Ha!

Over the weekend I was given 10 boards of 1" X 10" X 4' Pine. Any Ideas on what I could do with those?

Reverend Curlee wrote:

Reverend Curlee wrote:
PS. - Did I mention I need to make more beds? Ha Ha!

Over the weekend I was given 10 boards of 1" X 10" X 4' Pine. Any Ideas on what I could do with those?

My crystal ball sees a run on peat moss, vermiculite and compost in the near future.

Kay

walshevak wrote:

Reverend Curlee wrote:

Reverend Curlee wrote:
PS. - Did I mention I need to make more beds? Ha Ha!

Over the weekend I was given 10 boards of 1" X 10" X 4' Pine. Any Ideas on what I could do with those?

My crystal ball sees a run on peat moss, vermiculite and compost in the near future.

Kay

Today my neighbor went up to Columbia, MO. Before she left I asked her if she could go to the Menards there and get me two bags of Vermiculite. She said she was planing on going to Menards and would get them for me. $26 for 2 - 3cf Bags as opposed to paying $48 for 2 - 4cf Bags. Now I need more compost and time to build those beds. I picked up 48 beautiful Strawberry Plants yesterday to fill out my Strawberry Bed (the roots I planted are doing nothing) and there are some nice runners on some of them. I could have 2 strawberry Beds by the end of summer. Hmm....decisions, decisions......

RC