Cool as a cucumber, this one measures in at just over 18 inches. Not bad for the first time!

Hello all! Just a quick update to let you all know what is going on with the garden this week!

Tomatoes are producing like mad. It looks like I will finally have my first set of Brandywines come this weekend, I can almost taste them right now.

Strawberries: I think these may taste really good. The reason I do not know is that my dog is eating them. They must be at least passable.

Peppers: Whatever.

Cucumbers: See the picture? I found her in the garden as I was looking through! It is huge! Stay tuned for what I do to it.

Beans: Didn’t grow.

Thyme: Is lovely in the late summer. The smell is just great. Time to make up a nice lemon thyme chicken.

I am considering getting the course material for the Square Foot Gardening so I can teach it. You know what they say, “Those who do not how to do it… Teach!”

Finally Ripe

Hello all! Just a quick update to let you all know what is going on with the garden this week!

Tomatoes are doing fine. The cherry tomatoes are kicking buttg, and they taste so good right off the vine. Go ahead, grow them yourselves!

Strawberries: I have seen on TV strawberries grown with plastic on the humps. Does anyone know about this? It seems like a good idea about that. I cannot get to the strawberries in time for the bugs.

Peppers: I give up! SWC for this plant next year. They go mouldy before I can even get to them in time. Mind you, who has time?

Cucumbers: I HAVE to get this on a trellis! They are overtaking the SFG!

Beans: MIA, none to be found!

Thyme: Is overtaking the planter. LOL. I love thyme though, so it is all good.

photo courtesy of richarddefreeman of Flickr

Hello all! Just a quick update to let you all know what is going on with the garden this week!

Tomatoes are having a tough time with a slug invasion. Seriously, I thought the SWC would protect against that, but I was wrong. I also discovered that I planted grape tomatoes instead of roma tomatoes. Oops. I have some nice grape tomatoes coming in though.

Strawberries: It has been very wet this summer, so there is a little issue about that. Good news though, the basket that I replanted in the mound of manure is finally flowering. Joy! Looking forward to tasting one. I had one strawberry, but I gave it to the wife to try.

Peppers: I lost one, it went mouldy. Damn, looks like I am going to have to be more vigilant.

Cucumbers: Joy! Two of the plants have FINALLY taken. Now I am going to have to start think trellis, because I have 1000 blossoms. A few here and there.

Beans: I have given up on these.

Thyme: Is overtaking the planter. LOL. I love thyme though, so it is all good.

Dude! Where's My Beans?

Hello all! Just a quick update to let you all know what is going on with the garden this week!

Tomatoes are just killin it! They are seriously shooting out everywhere, and it is all I can do to get the suckers off of it on time. Seriously, the SWC are a godsend here.

Strawberries: The old hanger plant is shooting out a lot of runners. I am considering fencing that bad boy in. The potted plant has formed a few strawberries, and I now have close to a pint! Joy!

Peppers: The peppers are getting bigger daily. I wonder how they would have done in a SWC? More on that later!

Cucumbers: Joy! Two of the plants have FINALLY taken. Now I am going to have to start think trellis, because I have 6 blossoms.

Beans: Dude, where’s my beans? I guess they just did not like me. SWCs all the way next year!

Thyme: Well, it is growing like, a weed. I have it in its own planter, so I am not worried it will overtake. I am considering planting it in the front to take over the nonexistant grass though!

Flower Box by Jason Sandeman

How my garden grows! Well, the wife’s section, anyway! She does not seem to have to try! You should see her Echinacha! It is growing like a weed. So much so, I threatened to pull it out.

The tomatoes are doing well in the cages. I pulled off all the suckers, and tied them to the trellis. There are small little tomatoes forming up on the vines. It is exciting to see the fruits of my labour budding up there.

Strawberries: I took down the hanging basket, after I almost lost all of the plant to the heat. I made a mound of compost, and set it inside. Time will see if the plant provides me any fruit. The small plant that I planted is doing well. I never knew that strawberries had suck nice flowers.

Peppers: There are 4 little tiny peppers growing on the plant now. How exciting!

Cucumbers: Have yet to come up with anything. I think that I need to water them a little better.

Beans: This is probaby the most dissapointing part here. I am not seeing anything yet, aside from a few sprouts. I have been busy, so maybe they dried out. I may have some time to look at replanting into a SWC.

Thyme: Well, it is growing like, a weed. I never have a problem growing that one. I will dry the leaves this year for sure though.

I think that next year I will be planting some more things in a SWC. I was thinking of the peppers, cucumbers and such. I suck at watering, so they would benefit from a SWC. (That is, if the tomatoes are any indication.)

So, here I will leave you with a nice picture of the strawberry bloom. Hopefully I will have a lot of these later on!

Oh how pretty the Strawberry Bloom

When we last left our gardening hero, he had started a Square Foot Garden! Read on to find out what happened!

Yesterday was a lot of hard work. I got a hexagon gazebo up, fixed the pool, planted clover in the front lawn, and I even managed to do some gardening!

I filled my 4 x 4 block with Mel’s mix, slapped down a nice grid, and even started to plant!

The block is filled with Mel's Mix

You can imagine the amount of work that goes into planting this block. It is not that bad, all in all, but a bit of work. I hope that it pays off in the end. I did not have enough soil, so a run to the Crappy Tire was in order!
Here it is with a grid
This is a great demonstration of using up what is available. I could have gone out and bought up some markers, cut them up, etc. Instead, I went the frugal route and used what I had on hand, an old trellis that had rotted away.

So ambitious! I have green beans, yellow beans, cucumbers x2, and a pepper plant. I am planning on tossing in chives, then spinach, romaine, thyme, Thai basil, regular basil, carrots, potatoes (russets)x2, and whatever else I can get in there.

I also planted strawberries, but I forgot the picture. Maybe in the next update.

Wait! That’s not all! I decided to try a Self Watering Container as well.

First, I bought all the necessary parts, and assembled it right in the back yard.

Looks lovely, no? An ingenious invention, it looks like the pond basket with filter out all the water, and you fill it up at the PVC pipe. (It is a little hard to see that here, bear with me!)

That’s a better angle, no? The cool part is that the PVC pipe is accessible, even for when the tomatoes get really, really large. I can even shove the garden hose in that baby, and wait for the small little hose to spout water. (That is the overflow line you can barely see in the middle of the container!

This one is a little blurry, as I was so excited when I took it. So, I have a Brandy wine, and a Roma tomato there. The garbage bag keeps in the moisture! Ingenious, and not too hard to build.

Well, I will leave you all with the best phot yet, the obligatory close-up of the pepper plant. I am so excited to see what the harvest will bring! Funny how they say it will be a red bell pepper! It gets like that when you let it ripen. Heh.

The First Plant In The Well Done Square Foot Garden!