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Gardening

Fall garden

By September 2, 2013No Comments

I am no longer able to avoid the heat for the calendar demands seed planting. I’ve lingered inside drawing and sorting seed packets, calculating space and companion guides. I had to just bit the bullet and get out in the back yard and do the labor. I added eight bags of organic garden soil, five to the left raised bed and three to the right. I removed everything except the mid summer calliope eggplant that all expect guides warned would not “make it” due to it being mid July when I sowed the seeds. It is busting out with flowers. The left bed has been empty for two to three weeks.Left raised bedI planted beans on either ends of the trellises which are reclaimed head boards for twin beds. I planted rainbow Swiss chard in the middle, romaine (two varieties) on the left and carrots (two varieties) on the right. I learned in the spring that I over planted this bed with tomatoes and basil and the over crowding led to some pest and stress issues. I may have wished I’d planted the carrots on the left side so as to benefit from the shading the pole beans will provide once they climb the trellises, but too late now.Right raised bedThe far end of this bed is empty and I am hoping to find something at the Grow Gainesville Seed Exchange event next Saturday that will plant and grow by Thanksgiving. This morning I planted four Roma tomatoes and pampered the area around the calliope eggplant. Low rider bedThis is one of two low rider beds that I dislike so much. When I made the beds, I lined the base with cardboard on the INSIDE of the cinder block walls. Had I been wiser, I’d have laid the cardboard and THEN the blocks and then the dirt. The grass and weeds that grow up from the cells of the blocks makes me avoid these beds. I need to fill them with dirt, plant strawberries in the cells or cap the whole structure with bricks. If I can find the gumption and energy, these two beds will become onion and potato gardens. Maybe next weekend.

 

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