Along the alleyways...

     A delightful day for a road trip and so we do what we usually do and that is keep an eye out for veggies! We wandered around town and then slipped up the alleys looking closely for gardens.   

     Our first hit came almost immediately.  These are big beds.  I'll get better at this blogging thing and I'll remember to measure or get more perspective.  I hope the folks tending these are tall, I find more than 4 foot across is too much without stepping in the beds.  Looks like they've cleaned up for the winter..wish I could tell them to sow some nitrogen fixing cover crops like crimson clover or Austrian peas that will provide some green, keep down weeds and add wonderfully to their soil's fertility for next season.   Maybe they'll read this, pass it around!

     They had a very large tree taken down recently as you can see here... wonder if it was before the gardens were put in or if the gardens weren't doing well in the shade?   Perhaps the storm hit it and the safest thing to do was take the rest of it down.

     Next up is a nice size garden that probably has really good soil!  There's everything growing in there, flowers for attracting good bugs, herbs, okra even!  They may be mixing in some permaculture style gardening.  The small tree on the left wasn't fruit bearing that we could tell.  We didn't have time to get out and poke around too much.  The annuals will die down soon and it will be easier to clean up. 

     These folks have a lot of yard left to grow their garden, but they did well this year.  Still producing on October 14th!  I do hope they enjoyed it and intend to grow more next year.

     This is the only front yard garden we spied this time, of course, we were mostly keeping to the alleys.  They kept this one pretty weed free and now tis time to say goodbye to the summer.  Still a few producing plants and some stalks to make fall decorations!  It's so hard to take plants out at the end of summer before that first hard freeze.  Just a feeeew more tomatoes and peppers please?

    We voted this best October garden as it is still productive with very healthy plants for the end of the season.  Here's hoping they are starting some fall/winter crops somewhere, it's hard to see from the car in the alley, so they can keep eating fresh veggies later on!

   We're always eager to showcase local gardens, so let us know of any hiding in your neighborhood!

Easy as 1 2 3 4

          Building a framed raised bed of most any dimension is easy. The one we are using today is 4' x 8'. We used three 8' L x 10” H x 2”W boards, cutting 1 in half for the end pieces. Notice we screwed the boards together “end on”. This made the exterior dimension of the frame 48” versus placing both end pieces inside the long rails, which would have created a 48” interior space. Truly personal preference.

This unit is being used as a "jello mold" for soil at the CASA garden off of Bob Wallace. The soil in this area is only 2" – 3" deep with limestone gravel underneath. When you can't dig down, grow up.

Removing the top layer of weeds isn't absolutely necessary, but it was a glorious morning and it took about 3 minutes to using a broad hoe.

        Leveling the frame and removing the top layer of weeds was quickly done. It isn't perfectly level; there is a piece of concrete under the middle of the back rail that could not be removed without compromising the fence.
The key to weed control is an underlayment. We prefer cardboard in this situation but there was none on site today just newspaper, so we placed newspaper in the bottom, at least 8 sheets of paper thick to smother new weeds and to help keep Bermuda and vines from running under the frame.

On top of the paper we placed leaf mold from the City's leaf pile. We have no extra soil to use on this property; in fact we make soil to keep the gravel covered. We used three 8 cubic ft wheelbarrow loads to fill the frame. That is just shy of 1 cubic yard. ( 27 cubic feet) Then we added one 8 cubic foot wheel barrow load of compost on top. The bed is over filled now, but with a good soaking this mix should settle quickly and be ready for planting soon.

Total time for this project (with materials on site) and while also helping direct volunteer gardeners was a little over 2 hours.

     If lack of soil or adequate space is an issue, consider this form of container gardening. This soil- less mix is essentially composting in place. You can use other mixes or topsoil to fill your framed bed. This is a low cost way to start gardening on a small scale yet grow an amazing amount of food over the course of a year.

The best time to start a vegetable garden is right now.

Time for a Coooool Chaaannge

Like the lyrics of the song, it is time for a coooool change, the mornings now hold the first hints of fall, relief is just a few weeks away. It is time to fill those empty spaces in the garden with veggies that like cool weather. If you preserve food you may want to plant the entire crop at one time to avoid repeated setups of the canning equipment.

Plant now, enjoy sooner!

However, to be in the spirit of 4 season gardening and eating, don't plant all your vegetables at one time. Consider succession planting. Plant just part of your expected fall produce needs now and then keep planting new seeds and transplants every two weeks. Plant at least as much as you think you'll eat, you can always freeze some for later.  Five separate plantings, two weeks apart over a 10 week period can extend your harvest over a 10 week period. This is the one big technique that sustainable farmers use to provide produce through such a large window of time.

Remember your rotation plan, don't plant in a helter skelter fashion, stay somewhat disciplined and try to group plants by family as well by moisture, and nutritional requirements. Of course, group plants by temperature range or frost and freeze tolerances as well. Four season food production is our goal and that is easier to do when you can protect whole rows or beds at one time instead of an isolated plant among hardy plants.

If you haven't already done so, start your Cabbages, Broccoli and perhaps Kale and Collards now. Direct seed Carrots and Beets. Remember Carrots really want consistent moisture for a week or more before they germinate. Try planting Radishes with your Mustards and other leafy crops this fall. The Radishes may help keep flea beetles and other pests away long enough for your plants to have a great start this fall. Start Black Seeded Simpson lettuce now, as the weather cools other varieties (including the wonderful Buttercrunch!) will follow.
The fall garden is my favorite gardening period. Weed pressures are much lower. Cooler drier air really brings the joy back into some of the chores. Don't forget to turn the compost pile, or go ahead and install some of that compost now on the beds where you will be planting fall and winter crops. Make plans to shred and keep those leaves this fall. If you don't have trees on your property you may have to resort to becoming a leaf thief. Leaves are a wonderful component for future composts, run over the leaves with your lawnmower and create a topical mulch for your onions and the beds you aren't using this fall and winter.  Avoid bare soil if at all possible. Uncovered, bare soil is the fastest way to lose soil to erosion, and you lose the opportunity to build soil or add microbial life to your garden. Next year's garden will thank you for the mulches you create this fall.

Lee McBride

Compost Time!!

     It's amazing what a few days of warm weather can do for the compost piles...you can almost see them begin to shrink!  All the happy warmer worms, the frigid microbes and the sluggish other bugs can now work faster.  Just like in the fall, the compost piles will be steaming in the chillier mornings, I can't wait!

     As your compost pile warms up, or you start one, here's a great list of all the things you can compost!  163 things to compost is inspiring and thought provoking.  What can you add that you use in your life? 

     Another compost trick that I use is to throw all the food scraps (especially from a day of canning or freezing or just a heavy cooking session) into the blender and let it rip.  You can pour it onto your compost pile, or dig a trench in the garden and pour it in there.  The soil critters will appreciate the work you've saved them breaking the big bits into smaller, bite size pieces.

First chip, then shred....

Lovely weekend weather led to lovely shredded leaf mulch. Yes, we still have bags from the leaf thief ...

but a few minutes with the chipper/shredder... and we have a pile of soon-to-be nutrition for the garden plants!

Here's hoping your garden is off to a warming, microbe teeming start!

*Sorry about that window, that's the neighbor's garage!  He's been fixing up, just hasn't gotten to everything!

Leaf Thief

Did you bag your leaves and put them out on the street?  Are they still there?  Are you sure?  We sure have accumulated a lot of leaves this ... 10 minutes.  A trailer and pickup truck load in less than 4 blocks.  More than we can use actually.  But any extra is compost.

Just want to say "Thanks!"

And... next time, put them in your own compost pile.  Your garden will love you for it :)