digitS'
Garden Master
Having plant starts is a great advantage in that it allows me to populate the garden very quickly - once some magic bell goes off in my head that it is now time to do that. Those plant starts are coming out of my 180 ft greenhouse.
The plastic tunnel beside the greenhouse is the same size: 180 ft.
Full, the greenhouse benches & shelves hold right at 100 flats. The tunnel could hold as many (100 flats); right now I'm only setting flats across the center path since the beds are growing veggies. However, I could use wide benches on either side of that center aisle. (The greenhouse has 2 aisles since I have to contend with a bearing wall of supports for the roof.)
Out on the grass in the backyard, I have 2 hoopies. They hold 18 flats in each because they are only 8' long this year. That has to do with the boards I had available to lift the flats up off the grass - they were 8'. Usually, I've used 10' boards. Anyway, it is easy for me to have as many as 50 flats just sitting around on the backyard lawn. (I have to move them about frequently to protect the grass from damage but it takes only a few minutes to pull down a hoopie and move it somewhere else. More time to move the flats
.)
You see where I'm going with this? Okay, let me introduce another concept: plant populations per acre. I'll use tomatoes as an example: 15,000 plants per acre is a reasonable number.
My heirloom babies (nearly blooming at this stage) are all in 4" pots but I've got some 6 to 8 week-old Early Girls every year that go out 48 plants per flat (4-packs). They are fine like that. If I was to plant an acre of tomatoes
, I'd need 312 flats. Just in the normal course of events -- I can have 250 flats in my backyard! Yep, it would be totally NUTS but I could plant out a 1 acre tomato garden! - 43,560 square foot garden - In a single morning, of course .
Steve
The plastic tunnel beside the greenhouse is the same size: 180 ft.
Full, the greenhouse benches & shelves hold right at 100 flats. The tunnel could hold as many (100 flats); right now I'm only setting flats across the center path since the beds are growing veggies. However, I could use wide benches on either side of that center aisle. (The greenhouse has 2 aisles since I have to contend with a bearing wall of supports for the roof.)
Out on the grass in the backyard, I have 2 hoopies. They hold 18 flats in each because they are only 8' long this year. That has to do with the boards I had available to lift the flats up off the grass - they were 8'. Usually, I've used 10' boards. Anyway, it is easy for me to have as many as 50 flats just sitting around on the backyard lawn. (I have to move them about frequently to protect the grass from damage but it takes only a few minutes to pull down a hoopie and move it somewhere else. More time to move the flats
.)You see where I'm going with this? Okay, let me introduce another concept: plant populations per acre. I'll use tomatoes as an example: 15,000 plants per acre is a reasonable number.
My heirloom babies (nearly blooming at this stage) are all in 4" pots but I've got some 6 to 8 week-old Early Girls every year that go out 48 plants per flat (4-packs). They are fine like that. If I was to plant an acre of tomatoes
, I'd need 312 flats. Just in the normal course of events -- I can have 250 flats in my backyard! Yep, it would be totally NUTS but I could plant out a 1 acre tomato garden! - 43,560 square foot garden - In a single morning, of course .Steve
When I was a kid I used to eat rhubarb straight off the plant ( the edible part). I would carry a bowl of sugar around and dip it in my sugar bowl and eat it that way.
So yummy!!!!! I used to climb our fig tree when I was a kid and have myself a snack. Yes, I did get in alot of trouble when I was a kid! My mom and grandma couldn't keep me out of the trees or the garden when I was growing up. I would get my legs switched for eating tomatoes because I am allergic to them. I was raised an only child. When I would be outside by myself and I was hungry I would just find somewhere to sit depending on what I was in the mood for and have myself a meal. If I got caught I got in trouble. I still go out to the garden now and have a snack. My husband shakes his head at me. I have always thought it was a good thing. I encourage our kids to do it too. I don't know, call me crazy but I think food tastes better straight out of the ground or off of the plant. I do wash what I eat first now. The only difference from when I was a kid. We have our first baby zuchs this week! So exciting!
