Beginning the Gardens

[MountainGirl]

It's time to begin some food production and gardens at Ten Oaks. :)

We'll be putting in fruit trees and berry bushes in the spring - but for the garden proper - our soil is sandy crap - so it looks like containers/raised beds/etc will be the way to go. We'd like to do pumpkins, squash, potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes... and somewhere I'm going to establish a permanent asparagus bed...probably in a stock tank. :D

Slippy - I searched and searched for your thread a few years back about the stock tanks you set up, and the closest I found was your reply (below) to Pastor Dwight in Inor's thread. In one of your other posts in that thread you'd posted the pics of them - but those pics are no longer available.

Do you still like the tanks? Is there anything you'd do different? Does it get really hot where they are? Our spot for them would be in full Texas sun all day - temps in the 90s & 100s - and I'm wondering if the roots would stress from the heated up soil. Thoughts on that?


Pastor Dwight;

For our specific situation Raised Beds make a lot of sense. The Stock Tanks are easy to maintain, no bending and we can easily change the soil conditions from year to year. Most critters don't bother to mess with them and since we have no immediate neighbors or a home-owners association to contend with, we put them right out in the yard off the kitchen/front door. Mowing around them is very easy and they look good if I have to say so myself.

The raised beds made out of 6x6's are a little more difficult to maintain and require some bending or sitting on the edge but very easy to grow some heat tolerant plants as this area faces southwest.

When we excavated the area of Slippy Lodge where we built the house, we found out it was Shale Rock. The house is on the very top of the ridge so when we scraped all the good earth away it was all rock underneath. The slopes/ravines are much better soil but you would never be able to put a garden in without a lot of time energy and cost. So Raised Beds made sense. They also act as their own self contained compost pile in the winter.

We do have a larger plot a couple of hundred yards from the house by our creek but it is not an easy walk and became inconvenient to ride the 4 wheeler just to do basic gardening chores.

We love our raised beds!


Inor - did you ever make any of those beds? If you did, how are they working? I doubt we'd do any concrete things but that was a great thread. Lots of others' good ideas, too... https://theoutdoortradingpost.com/showthread.php?13654-GREAT-Raised-Bed-Garden-Idea

Anybody - any thoughts or advice y'all might have for us would be very appreciated. PO says he'll "help me get everything set up but there's no way in hell he's gonna weed", LOL. And that's okay. I can do that. :thumb:

[Chiefster23]

MG. Home Depot, OLDCASTLE wall planter blocks. These are stacked and staked into the ground with steel rebar. Then use 2 x 6 boards to form the sides. These raised beds assemble very quickly and using treated lumber mine are 5 years old and showing near zero wear and tear. I fill mine with 100% mushroom compost but that may not be available where you live. As far as too much harsh sunlight, put up some permanent slotted wood sun shades. If you are concerned with metal stock tanks getting too hot, bury them! If you got any hillbillies around you may be able to scrounge an old claw foot bathtub out of a junk pile as a big container.

[Slippy]

MG;

The Stock Tanks have been a huge hit and overall there is little that we would do different EXCEPT; BUY more of them when the price was cheap!

6 of them are full SUN. The soil never gets hotter than the soil in any of our 6x6 Wood Raised Beds. The production per plant in the stock tank raised beds is phenomenal!

2 of them are in partial morning sun and again, they are easy to tend to and you don't break your back bending over.




It's time to begin some food production and gardens at Ten Oaks. :)

We'll be putting in fruit trees and berry bushes in the spring - but for the garden proper - our soil is sandy crap - so it looks like containers/raised beds/etc will be the way to go. We'd like to do pumpkins, squash, potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes... and somewhere I'm going to establish a permanent asparagus bed...probably in a stock tank. :D

Slippy - I searched and searched for your thread a few years back about the stock tanks you set up, and the closest I found was your reply (below) to Pastor Dwight in Inor's thread. In one of your other posts in that thread you'd posted the pics of them - but those pics are no longer available.

Do you still like the tanks? Is there anything you'd do different? Does it get really hot where they are? Our spot for them would be in full Texas sun all day - temps in the 90s & 100s - and I'm wondering if the roots would stress from the heated up soil. Thoughts on that?




Inor - did you ever make any of those beds? If you did, how are they working? I doubt we'd do any concrete things but that was a great thread. Lots of others' good ideas, too... https://theoutdoortradingpost.com/showthread.php?13654-GREAT-Raised-Bed-Garden-Idea

Anybody - any thoughts or advice y'all might have for us would be very appreciated. PO says he'll "help me get everything set up but there's no way in hell he's gonna weed", LOL. And that's okay. I can do that. :thumb:

[MountainGirl]

MG;

The Stock Tanks have been a huge hit and overall there is little that we would do different EXCEPT; BUY more of them when the price was cheap!

6 of them are full SUN. The soil never gets hotter than the soil in any of our 6x6 Wood Raised Beds. The production per plant in the stock tank raised beds is phenomenal!

2 of them are in partial morning sun and again, they are easy to tend to and you don't break your back bending over.

Thanks so much, Slippy.
Great to learn about the full sun ones not overheating.
If memory serves - the tanks were also elevated off the ground a bit, yes?
For some reason I'm remembering them being up on stands of some sort.
Or maybe that's just my back's wishful thinking. :D

[Inor]

Inor - did you ever make any of those beds? If you did, how are they working? I doubt we'd do any concrete things but that was a great thread. Lots of others' good ideas, too... https://theoutdoortradingpost.com/showthread.php?13654-GREAT-Raised-Bed-Garden-Idea


I did make several of the concrete panels. I'm trying to remember the exact number I made... I think it was around 46 or 48 of them. I have 30 of them set up in the yard in 5 8-foot beds right now with some spare panels stored in case any break. So far, they are working great and no breakages after I got them installed.

Just one caveat if you do decide to make them... Make several extras. Once they are installed and filled with dirt, they are literally bulletproof and so far are holding up great. BUT... When you are making the beds, if the ground is not perfectly level and perfectly flat, they do break pretty easily during installation. Making the first bed, I broke 4 of the 6 panels just putting them together. But once they are filled with dirt, they are strong as hell.

The other thing I added to them this year was some shade cloth so Mrs Inor could put her herb gardens in them. A 16 foot hog panel staked to the ground on each end bends up to about 4 feet high in the middle of an 8 foot bed which is perfect for being able to work in the beds. Then just cover the hog panels with shade cloth or Mrs Inor wove some old hay strings through rabbit fencing to make shade cloth. It looks kind of funky being all multi-colored but it works great and it gave us a use for all of the old hay strings that we paid dearly for when we bought the hay.

Originally, I was planning to use the panels to also make our main vegetable gardens. We opted not to do that in the end and just use them for berries, herbs and some flowers. Partially, that was due to the fact that I just got sick and tired of making concrete panels and partially because of our climate. Anything above grade here does dry out VERY quickly. So for our main vegetable gardens we went with trench gardens. They capture the rain better and hold the moisture much better.

[Sarge7402]

We've used relatively small raised bed gardens for the last 10 years or so. Good for everything but root vegetables (tatters and turnips) by keeping them small it's been easier for use (we're a wee bit older now) like planting and harvesting. Do they meet all of our needs? Not hardly, but they give us a good bit of fresh veggies - this year it was about twenty pounds of peppers. Wife didn't want us to plant any green beans which usually grow pretty well. right now we're up to four beds each about 6'x12' and will probably put one more in next spring.

We're using the pre treated 4"x4" timbers and staking them in with rebar. Easy to build and easy to use. When we had the farm we had about 600 SF in various beds and got more than enough veggies including a small bed of chives. Great for omelets

[Prepared One]

In thinking on this a little my plan is to raise the stock tanks up on cement blocks. Our backs aren't what they used to be so the less bending over for maintenance the better. I am assuming holes will be drilled and a gravel layer be put down for drainage and we are going to place them along side of the house so they won't be seen. But they will get sunlight all day so shading of some sort will be employed.

I am not much in growing stuff (I have been known to kill fake plants) but I have managed to get peppers to grow. MG is doing all the research on the other plants so we may get some better yields. We also have a small farm down the way that has a small stand so we have been getting most of our veggies from them. Our garden will be supplemental in terms of quantity. If we are successful we may add on as we go.

[Box of frogs]

This is what I made for Mrs frogs
It’s metal roofing and p.t. 2x4 framed
20665

20666

Not too much bending once they were filled to the top.
BoF

[Box of frogs]

The corners are p.t. 4x4 and the long sides are 1x6.
Had to look closer. The 2x4 are the tops
BoF

[MountainGirl]

This is what I made for Mrs frogs
It’s metal roofing and p.t. 2x4 framed
20667

Not too much bending once they were filled to the top.
BoF


The corners are p.t. 4x4 and the long sides are 1x6.
Had to look closer. The 2x4 are the tops
BoF


Those look great FroggyBox... especially since I've priced some stock tanks.
When did you make those? My real question is - how are they holding up?

[Slippy]

Very nice indeed!


This is what I made for Mrs frogs
It’s metal roofing and p.t. 2x4 framed
20665

20666

Not too much bending once they were filled to the top.
BoF

[Chiefster23]

My raised beds are only 12 inches high, and I also have bad knees and the back isn’t so good either. LEEVALLEY.COM has wheeled garden seats that work great. Mine is several years old and still holding up just fine.

[Box of frogs]

Those look great FroggyBox... especially since I've priced some stock tanks.
When did you make those? My real question is - how are they holding up?

I made those in April this year.
So far they have held up well. All connections are with 2 or 2.5 inch lag screws and no nails.
The sheet metal roofing is attached with wood screws.

Since the metal roofing is inside the frame it keeps the water and garden soils off the wood frame. Should last a long time.

BoF

[MountainGirl]

My raised beds are only 12 inches high, and I also have bad knees and the back isn’t so good either. LEEVALLEY.COM has wheeled garden seats that work great. Mine is several years old and still holding up just fine.

Hey - that's a neat site!
I could tether behind PO's toy and wheeee!

20669

[Prepared One]

Hey - that's a neat site!
I could tether behind PO's toy and wheeee!

20669

Hang on baby, I'll get you there! :biglaugh:

[Mad Trapper]

MG, if your soil is sandy you'll want to add lots of organic matter/compost.

Any farms in the area? The horse stalls are a constant source of manure, as are chicken coops and cow barns. A few truck loads of shit mixed with bedding will go a long way to improving the soil once it rots.

I had a friend who had a horse farm and he would dump truckloads of manure at the edge of our garden for free. I had so much I could take the tractor in the spring and put 4-6" down over the whole garden in the spring then plow it under. He sold his farm so I lost that source of fertilizer. Before that there was a place that raised buffalo and they would put the manure roadside for free pickup. I shoveled up a lot of that.

Check CL adds, often you'll find manure for free if you transport it. Sometimes the farmer can load your truck with a loader/tractor.

I got 50 contractor bags of chicken coop poop this summer for free, from a CL "free" ad. It was so powerful I had to put the bags back out in the field away from the barns/house. Ammonia smell and attracted lots of flies. It has calmed down now and rotted inside the bags. The bags will go on the garden in the spring.

Here is a current CL ad:

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[MountainGirl]

Ya know what they say about best laid plans... (Man plans, God laughs :biglaugh: )

We only did two things this year, one permanent (my blackberry bushes), one not so much (PO's 3 pepper plants in a little square on the ground).

After an honest conversation, about what we'll actually eat, there are only a few things we're willing to plant/tend.

Onions. Garlic. Peppers.

So. I need to learn how to do this down here in the deep, hot, humid south.
In a raised bed <-That I'll figure out.

What I need to learn is how (and when!) to start (fall?), and how to propagate? for the next year.
Guessing: save pepper seeds for planting; plant garlic cloves from one year to the next; and onions I have no idea. All I recall about onions is seeing 'sets' for sale up north for planting.

I'll be hitting YouTube - but if there's anything you wise folk would like to share it would be most appreciated. Thanks.

Edit: Found this vid re growing in hot climates. Yay Vernalization!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBGsH3_Kww0

[BucketBack]

My garden is smoking hot at Grimey's place she rents. The Romas are over 3' tall grown from seed.

Alas, she gave the 1 month notice on the 1st, with a 2nd month for the garden only, but that was nixed. So whatever fruit I get by the end of July is mine. The fence comes down then, and the critters get a free meal

Fucket-Back at him

[Mad Trapper]

Try state Coop extensions. Texas is WAY different than here in Northeast USA

UMass UConn and Cornell are great websites. Texas must have many.

If you are saving seeds a good get book. Some plants like squash are insect pollinated and will screw with any other . Others not much so. Peppers keep different kinds apart and you will be OK. Also some seeds store many years, some only 1-2 (corns).

I've been doing the same garden my parents started 10 years before I was born, when JFK was still alive. Same with the orchards/berries.

I can't locate all my files/downloads.

If I can find I'll send them if You and @PerparedOne want

PITA attaching them/posting here. I have a wealth of information, for all.

https://ag.umass.edu/vegetable/newsletters

https://nevegetable.org/

https://nevegetable.org/crops

PS the the Sites listed have ignored the heirloom crops which I feel are better than new hybird shit.

i grow heirloom/open polilntedplants. I save seeds which are easy, fr0m the best piants each yeqr

[Chiefster23]

Maybe 5 years ago I started growing all heirlooms (with good success). This year I tried some hybrids just for a change-up. Well the hybrid seeds are more expensive and frankly I don’t think they did any better than my old fashioned heirlooms. So next year, back to the old traditional stuff. Specifically I’m talking tomatoes and sweet peppers.

If you’re thinking of planting sweet peppers, give the “toro” or “bulls horn “ peppers a try. “Corno de toro” is the variety. Heirloom and pretty good production. Very sweet if you let them ripen to red color. Heavy producer so you will probably have to cage them to prevent limbs breaking off. I harvest when red, stuff with loose breakfast or hot sausage, then vacuum seal and freeze. Defrost and bake and you have a quick and tasty meal. I usually freeze a couple dozen of them every year. If you don’t want to fuss with loose sausage, just stuff one UNCLE CHARLIES sausage in each pepper and you’re good to go.
Since I went with a Burpees hybrid “Carmen” this year I’ll be lucky to get 12 frozen this year. Grrrrrr!

[Mad Trapper]

+ 1

I do all heirloom. If you separate tomatoes and peppers a bit easy to save seeds, beans too.

you really need to understand how plants pollinate (wind insects) and if they cross easy