Moving

[baymule]

And you are off on your garden adventure. Looking good!

 

[digitS']

Wow.

Should we be surprised at how good this looks?

Nah. This is Ridgerunner, up and running

Steve

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

Fabulous! What are the colored stakes about?
Funny you say about the greens. I went to our local Farmer's market yesterday for the first time. I was able to buy some amazing beets and turnips. The beets still had their greens on them and the fella asked if I'd like him to cut them off. NO, I practically screamed! Infact, if you have any trash greens, I'll take them. He wouldn't give them to me. Bah hum bug

 

[Ridgerunner]

I use the colored stakes to identify the different plants. The colors don't really mean anything, just makes them easy to find. I used to use plain stakes but they were sometimes hard to find when things grew up so i started painting them. I've learned not to use red or orange with tomatoes or yellow with certain things. You can get all excited when you see the color then realize it's just the stake.

I use an outdoor spray paint to lay down a base, write whatever I want on them with a Sharpie, then cover that with an outdoor marine polyurethane so it doesn't fade. Just putting the polyurethane over the writing on a plain stake would last until the end of the season. Sometimes just the Sharpie can fade if it is in the sun.

If I sow seeds it tells me where the seeds are. Or maybe the variety of tomato or pepper. Some kind of marking is really helpful when I grow those different varieties of beans for seed for the bean network. When other people pick certain things when I'm gone in a trip I can direct them to certain things and away from others. I would not want them to pick my dried beans for green beans, for example. And part of it is just me having fun with it.

 

[seedcorn]

I am impressed. Great job.

 

[digitS']

the Sharpie can fade if it is in the sun.

There are pens sold through the greenhouse supply outfits with ink that won't fade in a season. Sometimes, you can find them in the garden centers. The ink smells of alcohol which must be what carries the pigment.

Still, I could use a better system. If I plant out of 4-packs, I have 1 plastic stake to 4 plants. If the plants are tomatoes and even if there is 1 stake/1 plant, I would need to be very conscientious through the season keeping track of that little stake. Early, I may hit it with the tiller. Having it close to the plants means I have to move it further away or it becomes hidden through the growing season.

I used to map the gardens but then, began losing the map before I could get it in a safe place. Of course, the safe place would be miles from the garden ... Losing track of varieties can be terribly frustrating to me. One of the most enjoyable parts of my gardening is having both the old and the new. It's especially fun if there are several old and several new.

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

Steve, I've made maps, mainly for the beans I plant for the network, but that map is back in the shed when I'm in the garden. Sometimes the seeds don't come up and I replant with something else. It's easier for me to edit the stakes than a map. I grab a new stake with the updated info and spray paint over the old so it can be reused after it dries. If the map is ink you need white-out and let it dry. That can be a pain. If it is in pencil it usually smudges more than erases if I try, especially with dirty hands. I like the stakes better.

 

[seedcorn]

I use sharpies on plots. Most office supply sell them. They are differentiated on the label from regular sharpies that fade.