Next Season's Plans

So as things have gotten established in the garden, I have been thinking about what I should have done differently and what changes I will make next season. This is a first cut and will probably be altered throughout the season:

Overall I am pretty happy with the whole process, so I plan on growing even more veggies and fruits next year. With that in mind, the 5x5 box was too big because its too hard to get at the veggies in the center, and also because the density of the crops means that the middle veggies don't get as much light as they could. I will probably leave the center square empty next planting, regardless of what I put in the rest of the squares.

One problem is that when I planned the squares I only took into account only the final height of the crops. What I didn't account for is the staggered start times. For instance, corn gets much higher than the peas, but the peas go in earlier so they block out the corn as it grows. Next season I'll plan according to final height AND start time.

I also plan on building maybe 4 2x2 squares and putting them next to the existing bed. One of the 2x2's will be specifically for strawberries, because I am starting to see the strawberries take off now that the potatoes are out (more in a minute). I also want to take a stab at some homemade strawberry wine... (I can also use the juice of one of my lemons for it.)

Another 2x2 (maybe a long 5x2) will be strictly for corn. I'm not sure how my corn will turn out. Its been growing extremely well but I have read that corn needs to be planted densely in order to be fertilized, and I'm not sure my 4 plants per square, in 3 squares, staggered about a month apart, will be dense enough to fertilize each other. We'll wait and see.

Other 2x2's will be used for tomatoes, because by putting all of them together they will be easier to stake out.

I will also build a potato bin, maybe 18"x18." I finally gave up and pulled the potato plants a few days ago because they were just blocking out all the light for 3 or 4 squares around them. It turns out I got a good amount of potatoes:


I think this is pretty encouraging and I'm sure they would grow faster and bigger if I hadn't been cutting the foliage back for about two months (I wrote how long they had been in the ground when I pulled them so I could calculate in the future). I want to be able to disassemble the bin at the end of the season so I can get the potatoes easier.

Regarding the specific crops:

• The snow peas are tremendously prolific, putting out a good sized crop about every two weeks. I will probably plant a couple of squares of them next season.

• The carrots are also growing well:

• I also liked the spinach, but the mesclun and buttercrunch didn't really live up to my expectations. However my options for what to grow during that time period are pretty limited, so I may just end up growing a bunch of spinach.

• I think the green beans were planted too densely, 9 to a square. I followed Mel's instructions, but the way the leaves spread out (and they're big leaves) causes problems with light. I'll dial it back to four per square next planting,
  

• I'm happy with the tomatoes and peppers. The cherry tomato I've raised from seed is the biggest plant in the garden, although none of the tomatoes have set fruit yet (but they have flowered). Next year I will probably start the tomatoes and peppers about a month later than I did this year (mid-Jan), and I will start them directly in black nursery pots instead of in the peat pots.
  

Do-Over

Back in January I sketched out a plan for what I wanted to plant in which square. Of course, you know what they say about best-laid plans. Because I had a good number of seedlings die off and because some of the early/late crops either didn't work out or I figured I could do them in the same square, I had to do some rearranging. This is the new grid, followed by a picture of the actual garden (everything is planted, except the yellow corn, which will be planted in a month or so).


And, how it looks as of today:


Ive trimmed down the spinach and the mesclun greens and pulled one head of buttercrunch lettuce. I'm trying to get the strawberries enough light, and I'm also concerned that the yellow bell pepper might not get enough light. Its bracketed by the onions, the potatoes, and the peas on three sides.

I've got two closeups from the box. First, the massive cherry tomato I've raised from seed:

Next are the four snow peas:


I put a bamboo rod in the center and tied twine from the corners of the square to the notches on the bamboo to train the peas to climb.

I also have a little natural experiment going down at the bottom of the yard. Throughout this whole process I've had excess plants, seedlings mostly. First, I had the peat pots which didn't sprout, or the leftover seedlings which didn't make it into the nursery pots or the garden, or which were not as promising as the others who came out of the same hole in the box. Instead of throwing them out, I've just stuck them in the ground down at the end of the fenceline. I've also been dumping soil and throwing out peat pots down there. Its been pretty interesting. Ive got about four pea plants, a bunch of seedlings and some pretty vigorous tomato plants (I have no idea which kind), and today I planted some excess pepper plants I had. I don't water these plants or anything. I essentially want to see what will happen just by the process of nature, versus being in a tended garden with special soil.


The peach tree has set fruit also. There are probably about 30 of these little guys all over the tree:


In addition to the peach tree, the pomegranate (which I thought was perhaps dead) and the Mexican plum are both blooming.

Finally, I added two links to the section at the right. The first is the show "Central Texas Gardening" and the second, "dissertation to dirt," is by a former PhD student who now interns or something at Johnson's backyard garden (our CSA).

Fruit Part 2: Bushes

Now, the berries. Blackberries grow quite well in Texas, and the "Sustainable Central Texas" website even says that Blackberries are "the best berries for Central Texas." They need lots of sun, so I started "Ebony King" and Apache varieties down along the chain link fence they can climb up:


I also put in strawberries of the "Chandler" and Sequoia varieties, but these went into the box with the veggies, 4 plants per square foot. I went with 2 varieties of each strawberries and blackberries because I want to see which type performs well.

Finally I put in some blueberries. Like the cherry tree these are kind of a stretch for Central Texas. Blueberries are notable for two things: their preference for cold weather and their need for very acidic soil. The first problem I think I solved by carefully selecting the type of berry. In addition to the "Highbush" and "Lowbush" varieties there is a "Rabbiteye" type which is best for Central Texas. Of all the Rabbiteye types, I chose "Climax," which matches my climate at a recommended 420-700 chilling hours.

The acidity problem is more difficult. Because the blueberries need a very acidic soil, I don't think I can "cheat" and acidify the regular soil. Instead, I'm going to plant the blueberries in containers, and fill those containers with blueberry-friendly peat moss, which was left over from making "mel's mix."



The containers are placed behind the square foot bed, but they are suprisingly light, so I can move them as the sunlight dictates.

January Plantings

On January 21 I planted my first round of crops. I put in spinach, mesclun greens, buttercrunch lettuce, red onion slips, potatoes, strawberries, and carrots, laid out like this:


Everything was pretty basic, but the potatoes were somewhat difficult. As you can see below, I had to dig out the square, then put 4 potatoes at the bottom of the square, then cover them slightly with some dirt. As they sprout and send up runners, I have to keep sprinkling dirt over the new greens. At any rate this is kind of a pain in the ass. Given that potatoes are pretty inexpensive I don't know if I will be doing them next year.


We'll see how these come up, but I feel fairly confident (I don't think I'll end up with a situation quite like these guys, but soon)...

Update- I have some pictures from earlier today. These are the strawberries and the onions, both are doing great. I don't know about the strawberries because each plant has 3 stalks coming off of the main trunk or root. Mel says its 4 strawberries to a square foot, so I dont know if these count as one or each plant needs to be trimmed down to only 1 stalk.

Another picture, and the spinach has just started to come up.