Back to Eden Gardening

[journey11]

Some tomatoes are blooming and some beans came up but they look poorly, maybe from being planted into this composted manure? Never had beans look so piddly before.

Beans are light feeders and actually prefer a poorer soil. They'll fix some of their own nitrogen from the air. They like well-draining soil and really don't like to have wet feet. I figure you've had a lot of rain like we've had. They may even do better if you pull their mulch back off of them a little ways so they can dry out.

 

[Beekissed]

Sometimes after you've tried everything else, you just have to pi$$ on it.

Yes!!!!

Could be just time and God's grace, as I've been praying for the garden all along, but I'm definitely seeing more and deeper green on all things day by day.

Whatever it is, I'm starting to relax a bit over the growth and progress of it all and give God the glory for any growth I see there.

The cilantro is up and growing...about 2 in. tall in some places! The beans are looking better and growing like weeds. The newly planted corn is up to 3 in. now and deeply green. The tomatoes are all green and lush looking, even that sickly looking volunteer is growing and greener...and they are starting to set bloom. The cukes are getting blooms too and growing like crazy. I can see some carrots up and the radishes are growing well. The bell peppers are looking good. The squash are finally taking off and looking good. The wildflowers are growing green and thick and a few sunflowers are making a showing. The potatoes look green and lush, though flea beetles are eating them a good bit. The chives are lovely and I've had my first clipping of those for eating...YUM! The pumpkins are looking good, but still growing slower than I'm used to seeing them grow.

On the slower or no show side, the hot peppers are showing more green and growth, but I doubt they will produce much for us...still stunted and sickly in appearance, even with the new greener looking leaves. I've been pinching off any bloom I see there. I've had no lettuce or spinach make any kind of showing at all...nothing. The nasturtiums~which we've never been able to grow here~are still not growing. The sugar snap peas look stunted and sickly and only a few germinated at all, so planted half runner beans amongst them so that trellis space won't be wasted. The sweet onions are small and few, very few survived and those that did are not growing properly. The rhubarb is growing rather slowly and the strawberries are still adapting to being transplanted...will remain to be seen how they do as we've never had strawberries in this soil before. The watermelons are not growing at all...still on their two first leaves after being planted for 3 wks now...I doubt if they progress. Melons and such love sandy soil and we've not got that here.

All of this rain and hot weather has been a blessing from God, pure and simple! This is exactly the kind of weather for growing a good garden, so I'm thankful for it all. It's keeping the soil loose underneath these chips and easy for the roots to move into this clay.

 

[Beekissed]

Beans are light feeders and actually prefer a poorer soil. They'll fix some of their own nitrogen from the air. They like well-draining soil and really don't like to have wet feet. I figure you've had a lot of rain like we've had. They may even do better if you pull their mulch back off of them a little ways so they can dry out.

They don't have mulch around them just yet, but they are planted right into composted horse manure, so until their roots clear that and get into the poor soil underneath, I'm betting they will continue to look piddly. That good info, so thank you very much! I'm not much into beans, so haven't planted them often in my own garden all these years, though we planted many while I was growing up.

We've been getting tons of rain each day, so everything has wet feet...including me!!! All my work shoes are soaked and stay soaked, as there has been no chance to dry. I'll be getting jungle rot if I'm not careful!

 

[Beekissed]

Got a huge sign out by the road now, asking for wood chips to be dumped at our property. We'll see if we get any takers.

 

[jasonvivier]

If you like Paul's work you should look at the books by Martin Crawford and Sepp Holtzer. The forest garden is where it is at - agricultural gardens are the way of the past and require too much work.

Some other forest gardeners on youtube are;
your's truly http://www.youtube.com/c/Autonomousgardener
James Prigioni (like Paul from back to Eden James also has casual conversations with god about his plants I think. ) https://www.youtube.com/user/ThePermaculturGarden
And edible acres (might not have casual conversations with god) https://www.youtube.com/user/EdibleAcres/videos
And Dan from Plant Abundance https://www.youtube.com/user/plantabundance

 

[jasonvivier]

Got a huge sign out by the road now, asking for wood chips to be dumped at our property. We'll see if we get any takers.

If you like Paul's work you should look at the books by Martin Crawford and Sepp Holtzer. The forest garden is where it is at - agricultural gardens are the way of the past and require too much work.

Some other forest gardeners on youtube are;
your's truly http://www.youtube.com/c/Autonomousgardener
James Prigioni (like Paul from back to Eden James also has casual conversations with god about his plants I think. )https://www.youtube.com/user/ThePermaculturGarden
And edible acres (might not have casual conversations with god) https://www.youtube.com/user/EdibleAcres/videos
And Dan from Plant Abundance https://www.youtube.com/user/plantabundance

 

[Beekissed]

Thanks! I'll check those out!

Not being able hill things up with this method has led to some problems...corn falls over in the least hard rain or wind. Am having some success at propping it up with the addition of more chips but don't look for that to work when it really gets tall...will probably have to run some lines then to keep it standing upright.

Not hilling the squash, I believe, has led to more poor growth there as well...usually we can grow squash like a dream but this year it has struggled and continues to do so. Will add more chips there in hopes of helping it thrive.

Will tie up tomatoes today and am seeing some bloom there and no blossom end rot which is great considering how much rain we've gotten and how much moisture is held in by these chips.

Cukes are blooming. We are having some Japanese beetles showing up on the cukes...never had those in the garden much before but will buy a trap for them tomorrow...those work wonderfully.

The squirrels have stripped two of the smaller trees~Early Transparent variety~of all their apples. Gone. No more apples there.

I bought a bottle of citronella essential oil and have doused rags to tie around the trunks of the other trees in hopes of warding off the squirrels there. May or may not work but most animals HATE citronella oil and will avoid it like the plague.

Lettuce is up, finally. Cilantro is slowly making an appearance. I don't have high hopes for the garden this year as far as total produce to be harvested, so hanging hopes on next year if we are all here.

 

[Nyboy]

Sorry about your apples, maybe squirrels need dinner invite !

 

[Beekissed]

Yep...bought new .22 shells for that meal prep.

 

[Nyboy]

I was in Dicks sporting goods yesterday asking for 22 magnum salesman said good luck !! What pisses me off is they sold me the rifle !!