Raised Bed Gardening - Cement Blocks > Greenhouse!

[DrkAngel]

2021 week -2
Just getting garden ready for some planting Tuesday and more Sunday - forecast added extra cold to Fri - Sat nights

High Tunnel
Harvesting Green Onions and Radishes
All last seasons leftovers going to seed. Will pull Beets and Spinach but leave Cilantro to go to Coriander. Opening the HT Tuesday for pollinators!


Rhubarb Corner
Dug up all our wayward Rhubarb, quartered most, and replanted in their own dedicated corner.


All Family beds composted and rototilled, ready for planting.
About 30x 4' x 10' family plots & ~90' of bed along fence


Alternate angle on the Family beds. Leftover Onions in foreground, Garlic in furthest left bed, fence bed on right ... a work in progress. Onions in blocks along fence are Egyptian Walking Onions!

 

[DrkAngel]

Pantry section of garden remodel-upgrade is well under progress.
Old wooden beds are removed, footer for blocks are leveled and cement blocks are being delivered Tuesday. Laying the beds will begin as weather permits.

Garden note:
Received some nice prepped and seasoned manure as fertilizer, to be applied and worked into individuals beds.

Seedlings moved into High Tunnel to acclimatize and "harden".

Updated weather.com forecast might delay safe from frost date for another full week? (Olean, NY) Keep checking their 10 day forecast!

 

[tomjasz]

Sweet! It's been fun watching your garden grow.

I read where you used vitamin C. I use vitamin C (ascorbic acid) to neutralize high chlorine levels in tap water.

 

[DrkAngel]

Week -1 2021

Harvesting out Beets, Radishes, Green Onions but letting the Cilantro-Coriander go to seed.


Basil, Parsley and Nasturtiums to greet visitors.


Seedlings everywhere!




Hot Peppers and Bell Peppers


Harvested out the Radishes, now thinning Beets, started by thinning nearest block holes to single Beet each.


Pantry garden prepped for block beds. Wood removed, soil piled in from sides leaving path for straight level block rows. Beds will continue to right, laying cardboard over any grassed area.


Garlic beds will be prepped next season.


Family beds mostly ready for planting. just applied properly prepped manure mix, still needs to be turned in with a coarse fork. I no longer "turn in" with a shovel, hurt too many worms.


Family Beds, from the NE.


Main entrance pathway


Planted the biggest Beefsteak


Lettuce seedlings near 100% started ... when started under plastic cover.


Part of 4th harvest

 

[aroundqube]

Tandem and single rain barrels noted. I have a well, so during a power failure my rain barrel does double - duti ( pun intended ).

 

[DrkAngel]

Tandem and single rain barrels noted. I have a well, so during a power failure my rain barrel does double - duti ( pun intended ).

Did you miss the 250 gallon rain cube?
Painted black to inhibit algae growth.
Use goldfish in rain barrels for algae control, they eat mosquito larvae also.
Replacing 2 more rain barrels with 250 gallon also. Instead of painting, will cover with black landscape fabric.

 

[nicobie]

Great start! I love Springtime.

 

[DrkAngel]

Block Bed Builds - Day 2
Assembly begins!
Weather dependent, block laying completed, partial topsoil delivery Saturday. Will need to cut a few block, borrowed a brick chisel.

Boy Scouts and relatives seemed organized and hard working ... no whiners!








"The Crew"


Great progress for 1 evening!
Cardboard under newly claimed growing space, don't want any weeds growing into beds.

 

[DrkAngel]

Block Bed Builds - Day 3
Assembly complete ... mostly.

Large pictures! Right click,"Open image in new tab", click on picture and "scroll" with bottom and right sliders.
Block laying completed, except for some creative adjustments between gate and the farthest bed.


From the North


Waiting on topsoil.





Yeah, topsoil.


The Crew - Job well done!


Yes, old man rototilled all the raised beds. 28" rototiller is near perfect for 31.5" interior beds. Filling with additional 6yd³ topsoil, subsequent rototiller pass should overflow substantial soil into block holes. Yes, willtry for 100% use of block holes to set blocks securely into subsoil


The Crew ... take 2
View attachment 1

Might want to get fancy later:
Level pathways with durable grass, will need to do alternate paths (between beds) to allow full access to beds while new grass takes hold.

 

[DrkAngel]

Beds completed ... almost. Closest bed would interfere with gate.


Not so pretty, but gate opens fully and have path for irrigation. Ran low on clean blocks but rain will clean them up.
Might go a basic L in the corner? Easy to change.


Rhubarb!


Oregano and Chives with Lavender coming up behind.


Onions, Radishes and Peas cohabitation.
Onions and Radishes scheduled for harvest and bed prepped for Eggplants.


Beets!
Scheduled for transplant this weekend.



Or might try something creative?

 

[DrkAngel]

Week 0 2021 Growing Season

Mostly planted ...
Will probably be demanded to make a map of the plantings ... before I forget ...
Tomato supports ready, cut ~6" of rotten off bottom of each pole, then settled a brick under each leg.
Raised beds should make weeding and tending more of a pleasure and less of a chore. Will make a dedicated effort to religiously prune a comparative section of Tomatoes for quality and quantity.


6, of 7, rows filed:
Farthest
#7 2 types of cucumber
#6 empty
#5 Zucchini and Crookneck Squash
#4 Variety Tomatoes
#3 Bell Peppers, Green, Red, Orange, Yellow + Jalapeno & Hungarian Hot Wax
#2 Beefsteak Tomatoes w/bonus!
#1 Garlic!
Nearest
and block rows of:
Beets, ButterCrunch Lettuce, Radishes, Carrots,, Onions, with multiple Snap Peas and Pole Beans along fences


Family Bed, getting planted.


Family Beds, from the NE.


Family Beds, from the SE.


High Tunnel
Clearing beds for prep and plant. Harvested a small, but much appreciated7lb of Radishes and Green Onions.

Got raided! Fellow volunteers found out there was a batch of potted Sweet Basil.

I hope the Bees show up before the Coriander bushes turn into Coriander trees.

 

[nicobie]

Beautiful, can't wait to see it at harvest time!

 

[DrkAngel]

Week 1 2021
Surprisingly speedy growth in 1st week since planting! Lack of rain forced manual watering, but resulted in quick germination.

Bed #1
Nasturtiums flowering, transplanted Beets recovered, Dill looking good, Cucumbers most all popped up, Lettuce and Onions ... all looking good!


All beds with some noticeable green.


Hubbard and giant Nasturtium transplanted to fence bed. Waiting before next fence plantings of Peas or Beans.


Plantings proceeding with noticeable results.





One, of several, Monarch havens. Milkweed will sport similar colored blossoms, to the Chive


Clearing beds for planting, pulled near 20lb of Radishes and Green Onions.
Prepping 4½ beds with manure, before replanting.


Some good soaking rain in the forecast, so expecting even better growth for next week!

 

[DrkAngel]

Week 2
1 saved hanging flower recovered from last year.
2 upside down hanging Cherry Tomatoes, SuperSweet 100 and SunGlo





Left to right:
Radishes, Beets, Onions, Nasturtiums, Cucumbers and Dill up top.


Nasturtium and Squash with Lettuce and Onions in block holes.


Peppers and Onions with sides of Lettuce and more Onions.


Much improved green, since last week!


Squash, Nasturtiums and Dill transplanted along fence


Keep on keepin' on.


Decided to prep a couple more unclaimed beds.

 

[DrkAngel]

Week 3
Better late than never ... ?

Notice! New ES default allows full HD picture upload.
I will begin reducing picture upload size to compensate.
To view HD:
Right click on picture;
"open image in new tab"
click on picture if + appears in cursor.
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Clear the Coriander and can plant the last bed


Pantry bed all planted, except for some rows of block holes, reserved for subsequent plantings of Lettuce, Radishes, green Onions etc.


Growin' Green!


Majority of Family beds have planting in progress.





Planted a couple more neglected-abandoned beds.


The infamous Egyptian Walking Onion.
Where you would expect a flower, this variety grows a mass of new Onion bulbs.
Picture will zoom for detail.





Stalks grow tall, fall over and "babies" root and grow, etc, etc, etc.


HT, view from the West, 2nd bed on left is the mass of Coriander.

 

[DrkAngel]

Week 4
Harvested Beets, Green Onions, Radish, Garlic Scapes, Basil and Parsley.


I like green!
Time to tie up and prune the Tomatoes.


Squash is surging.
Diatomaceous Earth seems reasonably effective, sprinkling on and around Squash and Cucumbers depletes Cucumber Beetle infestation. Reapply after rain. I take care to keep flowers uncoated, don't want to hurt any Bees.
Will prune all flowers till infestation is mostly eradicated.


Harvested near a pound of Garlic Scapes!


Reallocating unclaimed beds!
1A being prepped for planting.


Fill 'er up!


Still need to weed North fence bed, on right.

 

[DrkAngel]

Week 5
Got plenty of good warm rain.

Squash exploding,, Covering Lettuce, will need to harvest.
Thinning Beets to clear way for Cucumbers.


Finally pruned the Tomatoes and getting them tied up.
Harvesting lots of Garlic Scapes. Missed breaking apart some Garlic clumps from last year, they produced tight masses of small tender scapes!


Hubbard Squash, Dill and Nasturtiums, along left fence, doing great.


Beautiful green, but I guess could use more flowers!


Final beds getting planted.

 

[DrkAngel]

Week 6
Another Squash explosion! Large healthy plants with a multitude of all female flowers. No male flowers for pollination, a tragedy with such healthy plants ... girls mature earlier than boys?
Cucumbers showing 1st flowers, males 1st.


Tomatoes all pruned and tied up.


Planted the last few dozen Tomato plants, 8 weeks after the 1st couple dozen in the HT. Hoping that the staggered planting will spread out the massive August harvest.


Glad to say that all Family beds have been planted and beginning to flourish!


Ashamed to show weeds in right fence bed but will contrast well after next weeks clearing.


Neglected to picture the stand up beds. Designed for those who don.t like bending over.


Right bed finally planted, and doing well.

Left bed has Garlic, then a mixed bed of Radishes and Carrots. Radishes were harvested out as Carrots started needing the room. Onion bed in the foreground.


1st Tomato plantings about 4' tall and rich with small Tomatoes.
Eggplants flowering again, I pruned 1st set to allow bigger healthier plants.
Hanging Cherry plants each have 3 strings of fruit.
Hungarian Wax hot peppers are ripening yellow and have a wonderful sweet hotness.

 

[DrkAngel]

Week 9 of traditional growing season
Welcome to the Jungle! Tomatoes in the rafters and all beds overflowing.

Squash suffered from high winds and heavy rains. Strangely, not a single Zucchini this harvest.

Tomatoes shot up and expecting a substantial Cucumber harvest Friday.

Some Tomatoes showing a bit of infection. No rain forecasted so sprayed with a biological anti-fungus\mold\mildew, Squash and Cucumbers also.

If infection looks to spread will harvest some as Green Tomatoes and pull plants.

Family beds doing great.
Been harvesting Dill Seed to accompany the anticipated bonanza of small pickling Cukes.
Sampled some of the 1st Green Beans.

Pulled half a dozen Cukes from near bed.
Sunflower on track for 14'+

Harvested several pounds of Onions from nearest bed.

Raised beds are overflowing!

 

[DrkAngel]

Week 10
Harvested 1st full size ripe Tomatoes, harvest is expected to example a geometric progression.
EG 1lb > 4lb > 16lb > 64lb etc.


Rain, wind, insects, mildew and hail conspiring to destroy the glorious Squash plants.

Cucumbers and Tomatoes are producing gangbusters.


Would like a few dry days before harvesting Garlic.


Potential record size Sunflower took a bad hail hit on stalk and top 4 feet of it folded over and dying, heart broken gardener!.


Cucumbers are in season, hard to keep up, have to really hunt to find all, or they get too big fast.


Woodchuck digging under fence and being a real nuisance, gonna catch him!,

 

[DrkAngel]

.
... 2022 gardening season!

Google finally updated the satellite map.
Garden overview shows beds for families to the top.
Pantry produce near center and High Tunnel, also for Pantry distribution, at the bottom.

Just getting prepped for this season, cleaned up the high tunnel beds, planted half of 1 bed with 1st Radish crop. 2 inside beds contain Fall planted Garlic and a Cilantro & Parsley bed.

No official planting party yet, just started a tray of Basils, Cilantro, Parsley and Hot Peppers. just prepped 2 more trays for sweet peppers and Lettuce (half Iceburg and half Buttercrunch).

Family beds upgraded from rotting wood to concrete blocks -2018

Rebuilt Pantry beds
Local Boy Scout group, and their families, rebuilt the Pantry beds with concrete blocks. - 2021

High Tunnel early prep
Employs rain water collection, solar powered (timed) drip irrigation, solar powered vent fans (adding thermostatic relays), and LED lighting.

 

[tomjasz]

As always I’m totally impressed. (Retired horticulture director)

 

[CONSIDERABLE SHOUTING]

.
... 2022 gardening season!

Yayyy new DrkAngel post!

I'll be following along, because this year I need to take all my ancient planter boxes down from the prior owner and move them to a region of actual sun 8) The trees have been too happy in my backyard, and they're sucking it all up! The planter boxes I've got are made from Trex boards, but if I need thermal mass I have some ideas.

Also, I found and snagged Square Foot Gardening by Bartholomew and i've been devouring it; I think I'm gonna start with only two plots and scale up from there to keep from getting ahead of myself. I've already learned from last year, that I overwatered like hell out of everything so hopefully I'm on the right track already :lol:

 

[DrkAngel]

High Tunnel - maintenance
Must, finally, add thermostats to vent fans.

Drip irrigation system is suffering clogged "pores". Various pollen, algea and ? seem to have reduced water drippage. Pump, now reaches cut off pressure, will 1st try to backflush through but fear will be largely ineffective.
Best I can come up with involves coiling drip section deep in hot soapy water, attaching solid run section to pump and back suck the soapy water and clogging materials out of hoses.

Finally got exterior grade 2" plastic tape to transition rain water into J channel, kept having to retape boxing tape twice yearly.

Add composted matter to beds. Fall of 2020 leaves are deteriorating nicely, would like to run the rototiller through the piles another time or 2 to crumble to fine powder.

Pantry beds - maintenance
Lucked out, planted Nasturtiums with Squash and Cucumber beds, vegetables died and Nasturtiums totally took over, covered everything. Just have to pull the dead vines and have beautiful weed free beds, will wait till May to remove.
Will keep Tomatoes in same 2 beds, beautiful fresh soil last year.
Turn in compost into each bed.
Will block last years Garlic beds, left with wood last Spring when the the rest of the beds were "blocked" (concrete blocks).

Family beds - maintenance
Compost and rototill!
Should reinforce - repair a couple of the stand up beds.
Eastern fence and gate need replacement! (Local Home Depot may provide?)

 

[nicobie]

I also always enjoy your garden posts. They help motivate me to work more on my feeble attempt at one.