Our 2014 Backyard Produce Garden

In early May, I decided to change our garden a bit by switching to a raised-bed, square-foot garden, even though we have little knowledge on the subject. We need to study more about the compatibility of plants, watering, planting times, etc. Based upon what grows this season, we'll make better plans and learn more during the winter.

Maybe this fall or next spring, we can try adding plastic over the garden to extend the growing season for some plants. Maybe we should stagger the planting time for each bed. Anyway, that's thoughts for the off-season.

On Sat, May 24, 2014, we shopped for plants at Bench's farm/greenhouse, located along Route 2, a little west of Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area. On Sun, May 25, we bought more plants and seeds at The Andersons on Talmadge Rd. On Mon, May 26, we planted everything in our raised-bed, square-foot garden.

• I built three framed beds. Each bed measures 9-feet by 4-feet.
• The boards that I used to build the frame are 1-inch by 8-inch untreated pine.
• I bought 6-foot boards from Home Depot. I connected the boards with straight and right-angle brackets and screws.The brackets are thin and small. It's not exactly sturdy construction, but I wanted to go cheap this first time out. This setup should last a few seasons.
• The soil within the framed beds consists of our own yard soil, along with bags of Holy Cow manure compost, mushroom compost, and peat moss. I bought these items from The Andersons and Titgemeier's. Maybe next year, I'll add a mix of equal parts peat moss, compost, and vermiculite.
• I did not bury in the beds the landscape cloth that prevents weed growth. We'll see how it goes this year without the cloth.
• I used twine to define the grids.
• I removed soil between the frames and added it to the beds. This caused the aisles to get muddy after a rain. I bought straw from Titgemeier's and placed it on the aisles. This helped a lot.

Plan

Frame Layout

Original plan to be replicated across all three beds.

northwest
	A	B	C	D
1	Peas (8)	Tomato (1)	Tomato (1)	Tomato (1)
2	Carrots (16)	Bush Beans (9)	Spinach (9)	Beets (16)
3	Radishes (16)	Cucumbers (2)	Egg Plant (1)	Broccoli (1)
4	Pepper (1)	Carrots (16)	Peas (8)	Bush Beans (9)
5	Pepper (1)	Cucumber (2)	Bush Beans (9)	Peas (8)
6	Pepper (1)	Celery (1)	Celery (1)	Celery (1)
7	Okra (1)	Egg Plant (1)	Okra (1)	Egg Plant (1)
8	Cucumber (2)	Lettuce (4)	Lettuce (4)	Pepper (1)
9	Tomato (1)	Carrots (16)	Red Onions (16)	Green Onions (32)
southeast

Plant Counts

Plant	Sqrs Per Frame	Plants per Sqr	Total Plants Per Frame	Grand Total Sqrs	Grand Total Num Plants
Tomato	4	1	4	12	12
Egg Plant	3	1	3	9	9
Pepper	4	1	4	12	12
Radish	1	16	16	3	48
Cucumber	3	2	6	9	18
Celery	3	1	3	9	9
Okra	2	1	2	6	6
Spinach	1	9	9	3	27
Beets	1	16	16	3	48
Lettuce	2	4	8	6	24
Beans	3	9	27	9	81
Peas	3	8	24	9	72
Carrot	3	16	48	9	144
Green Onion	1	32	32	3	96
Red Onion	1	16	16	3	48
Broccoli	1	1	1	3	3
Grand Total	36	-	219	108	657

Actual Layout

S = seed P = plant B = from Bench's A = from The Andersons

Since Bench's is greenhouse, the selection was bigger and the plants were healthier than at The Andersons. But The Anderons is located in West Toledo.

It's either white or yellow onions or both.

In my opinion, the carrot seeds were too small to use properly, so I don't expect much. I scattered way more than 16 seeds in the each of the three squares. In two of the carrot seed squares, I added 4 to 6 bush bean seeds that were leftovers seeds.

Two of the squares contain only a single bush bean plant. I should have added the leftover seeds to these squares.

We bought the plants at Bench's before we had a plan finalized. Oops.

Seeds:

• peas - organic - Ferry Morse - Oregon Sugar Pod
• beans - Burpee - Garden Bean - tenderette

West Bed

northwest
	A	B	C	D
1	Peas (8) S-A	Health Kick Tomato (1) P-B 6/9 replaced broken tomato	? Tomato (1) P-?	San Marzano Plum Tomato (1) P-B
2	Carrots (16) S-A plus 4-5 bean seeds	Bush Beans (9) S-A	Spinach (9) P-?	Beets (16) P-?
3	Radishes (16) P-?	Cucumbers (2) P-?	Egg Plant (1) P-?	Broccoli (1) P-?
4	Pepper (1) P-?	Carrots (16) P-?	Strawberries (2) P-A Pepper (1) P-B 6/9	Bush Beans (9) S-A
5	Pepper (1) P-?	Cucumber (2) P-?	Bush Beans (9) S-A	Broccoli (1) P-?
6	Cucumber (2) P-?	Celery (1) P-?	Celery (1) P-?	Celery (1) P-?
7	Okra (1) P-?	Egg Plant (1) P-?	Okra (1) P-?	New Egg Plant (1) P-B 6/9 replaced broken egg plant 6/9
8	Strawberries (2) P-A Pepper (1) P-B 6/9	Lettuce (4) P-?	Lettuce (3) P-?	Sorel (1) P-?
9	White Onions (32) P-?	Carrots (16) P-?	White Onions (32) P-?	White Onions ? (32) P-?
southeast

Middle Bed

northwest
	A	B	C	D
1	Peas (8) S-A	? Tomato (1) P-?	? Tomato (1) P-?	Amish Paste Plum Tomato (1) P-A
2	Carrots (16) S-A	Bush Beans (1) P-?	Spinach (9) P-?	Bush Beans (9) S-A
3	Radishes (16) P-?	Cucumbers (2) P-?	Egg Plant (1) P-?	Broccoli (1) P-?
4	Pepper (1) P-?	Carrots (16) P-?	Strawberries (2) P-A Pepper (1) P-B 6/9	Bush Beans (9) S-A
5	Pepper (1) P-?	Cucumber (2) P-?	Bush Beans (9) S-A	Broccoli (1) P-?
6	Pepper (1) P-?	Celery (1) P-?	Celery (1) P-?	Celery (1) P-?
7	Okra (1) P-?	Egg Plant (1) P-?	Okra (1) P-?	Egg Plant (1) P-?
8	Strawberries (2) P-A	Lettuce (3) P-?	Lettuce (3) P-?	Sorel (1) P-?
9	Cherry Tomato (1) P-?	Carrots (16) P-?	Onions ? (32) P-?	Onions ? (32) P-?
southeast

East Bed

northwest
	A	B	C	D
1	Peas (8) S-A	San Marzano Plum Tomato (1) P-B	Yellow Pair Health Kick Tomato(1) P-B 6/9	Amish Paste Plum Tomato (1) P-A
2	Carrots (16) S-A 4-5 bean seeds	Bush Beans (1) P-?	Spinach (9) P-?	Beets (16) P-?
3	Radishes (16) P-?	Cucumbers (2) P-?	Egg Plant (1) P-?	Broccoli Egg Plant (1) P-B 6/9
4	Pepper (1) P-?	Carrots (16) P-?	Strawberries (3) P-A Pepper (1) P-B 6/9	Bush Beans (9) S-A
5	Pepper (1) P-?	Cucumber (2) P-?	Bush Beans (9) S-A	Broccoli Egg Plant (1) P-B 6/9
6	Pepper (1) P-?	Celery (1) P-?	Celery (1) P-?	Celery (1) P-?
7	Okra (1) P-?	Egg Plant (1) P-?	Okra (1) P-?	Egg Plant (1) P-?
8	Red Onion (16) P-?	Lettuce (3) P-?	Lettuce (3) P-?	Sorel (1) P-?
9	Cherry Tomato (1) P-?	Carrots (16) P-?	Red Onions (16) P-?	Red Onion (16) P-?
southeast

Photos

After planting on Mon, May 26, 2014:

Additional Reads

• Square Foot Gardening
• Container Gardening Ideas - maybe build two "Earth Boxes"

2014 Notes

• Mon, Jun 2: I saw carrots had sprouted in all the squares that seeds were planted.
• Tue, Jun 3: I saw the beans and peas had sprouted.
• Wed, Jun 4: 0.40 inches of light rain fell, during the afternoon. First real rainfall since the garden was planted. I've been watering at least every other day.
• Thu, Jun 5: Last weekend, I spotted a small rabbit, hanging out among the tall coreopsis stalks, near the backdoor. Yesterday evening, we watched the little rabbit eat a large leaf from a weedy-type of plant, near the coreopsis. This morning, I saw that two broccoli plants and some of the newly-sprouted beans had been scalped. These three squares of plants grew along the east side of the east bed, next to the Oak Openings natives flower bed. So it's time to erect some kind of barrier or fence.
• Thu, Jun 5 cont - I built a fence around the garden, using: * 1-inch mesh poultry wire netting, 20 gauge galvanized steel, 2-foot tall. I bought two 25-foot rolls and one 10-foot roll from Home Depot. $12.98 per 25-foot roll. 4 u-posts and 6 two-foot long rebar posts * wire to attach fencing to posts
• Thu, Jun 5, cont - I saw a male Eastern Black Swallowtail land in the garden.
• Fri, Jun 6 - I saw a female Widow Skimmer dragonfly land on one side of the middle bed in the garden.
• Sun, Jun 8 - 0.20 in of rain fell in the morning.
• Mon, Jun 9 - squares with "6/9" indicate new plants from Bench's that were planted to replace broken plants, struggling plants, or plants that were munched by the rabbit. I also added four more 'Health Kick' tomato plants that were planted in medium-sized, black, planter-type of buckets, filled with potting soil purchased at Bench's. These four additional tomato plants will grow on the driveway. I'll add a wooden stake within the cone-shaped tomato cage to support the bucket tomato plants. On June 9, I added the stake and cage setup to two tomato plants, growing in the front rows of the east and middle beds. I need more tomato cages.
• Wed, Jun 11 - 0.40 inches of rain fell, mostly before daybreak.
• Sat, Jun 14 - DD picked a radish from the west bed. Just one. Apparently, it peaked above ground a little, so she was curious. It was two inches long, and it tasted fine, so we'll have good radishes soon. The lettuce greens, the spinach, and the sorel are ready to be picked. We could have begun picking greens a few days ago.
• Sun, Jun 15 - We snipped some greens from two or three raised beds for an afternoon salad: a little lettuce, sorel, and spinach. And we plucked another small radish. From the middle oval flower bed, we cut tarragon and chives. We grilled chicken from Zavotsky's. And we're drinking some of our homemade beer: Belgian blonde and the grapefruit honey ale. Nice afternoon. Salad tasted fantastic. Garden to sink to be washed then salad spinner to dry then eaten. Fresh. Temps reached the upper 80s in the late afternoon/early evening.
• Mon, Jun 16 - temps reached 90 degrees in West Toledo today. First 90-degree of the year, I believe. It was a little cooler at the airport. Temps are forecast to be around 90 degrees the next two days with thunderstorms possible both days. Added three more tomato cages to the plants in thin, black containers.
• Tue morning, Jun 17 - I noticed flowers blooming in the garden: several cucumber plants with yellow flowers, at least one egg plant with a light purple flower, and some pepper plants with white flowers. Two of the pepper plants contain very small peppers. The other yellow pair tomato plant is failing too, so I will replace it. All six okra plants have not grown at all since planting three weeks ago. I may replace some of the okra plants with bean seeds and/or radishes. Today, I bought seven more tomato cages and installed them. I decided not to replace the failed yellow pair tomato plant, so we currently have 14 tomato plants, all caged. Today's Noon-time lunch included lettuce, sorel, and spinach from our garden, along with our home-brewed summer wheat beer, which at 5.5% ABV was a good drink for a no-AC house with outdoor temps already at 90 degrees at Noon. The fresh greens taste amazing.
• Wed, Jun 18 - 0.32 inches of rain fell between 3:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.

tags: #home - #garden - #food - #blog_jr

#todo : list plant variety for each square