How Does Your Garden Grow?

I know, I know, you're reading that title thinking this is going to be a post about Better Than Ezra. While I do enjoy their music, and I think that particular album was very good (although not many people have ever heard of it), this post is actually about my garden.

I say "my" garden, but of course it's the garden that Kalewa, Kaleo and I have started and are currently working on. Although I've already talked on the phone with most of the people who will actually care about this, I figure this is a good way to add some photos to the discussion, as well as keep track of things that work for us, and things that don't. Also, I hope that through comments, and other blogs (namely Jo's and the one Jen's going to start up about her garden *hint hint*) we can create an ongoing conversation that will benefit us all.

That's what I hope for. In reality, I figure this is going to be the "before" post of the garden, followed sometime this fall with the "after" post.

Let me start off by saying that I'm a novice gardener at best. I planted some flower last year at the house in Ft. Collins, and they did pretty well, for the most part. I also tilled and amended the soil for a portion of the yard that Liz used as a garden last summer, but as we both got busy, the garden may have been a little neglected. So with this process, I'm learning. I feel I know the basics, but as the devil is in the details, I realize that I have a lot to learn.

I know there are a nearly infinite number of resources out there, either through books or the internet or neighbors or friends, that are full of advice for general or specific issues. I've read some stuff, and talked with some people, and I figure I'm just going to throw out what we're doing here for people to see.

To begin, we decided to go with supported raised beds.

We built 5'x12'x8" boxes out of Hardy siding boards. While this material is evil to cut, it will be safe for the plants, and it'll last for decades. We tilled the soil under the beds, added the boxes, and then filled the beds with more loose soil, some black cinder, and some leaf mulch. As you can see from the photos, we built four of these beds to start with. For now, we're only using one of them as a vegetable/herb garden. The other three are for when we're feeling more confident that we'll be able to manage more beds. For the bed we planted veggies and herbs in, we also added a bit of chicken manure to help kick-start the beds with a little fertilizer. We mixed everything together, and then let the beds sit for a few days.

Prior to this, I'd started some herbs up in trays with a cinder and promix mixture.

This was a mistake. Next time I'll start them in separate pots, or in trays that have the separate cells for each plant. When planting time came, it was very difficult to separate the individual plants out. I was very worried about transplant shock. Also, I think for some of the herbs, I may have transplanted them too early. But, as the other plants were ready, the soil they were in was disturbed, and I felt I had to transplant them too. Other than the thyme (which I'm faithful will come along soon enough), everything seems to be doing ok now. Still....lesson learned.

So what we started with was two kinds of basil, thyme, parsley, dill, pole beans, some green onions we grew from some some we had cut to use in the kitchen, a couple of carrots (salvaged the same way as the onions),and a couple of sunflowers. We also planted some flower seeds along the edges of the bed. After everything was planted, we put a straw mulch down on the beds to help preserve the moisture in the soil, and hopefully keep the birds and such from eating any seeds.

The same day we planted in the bed, I started some tomatoes, hot peppers, bell peppers, squash, and eggplant in some starter pots. They've sprouted (mostly) and I think I'll be putting them into the garden in the next two to three weeks.

Two days ago, I direct planted some broccoli, chard, collards, spinach, and lettuce seeds. Those should be starting to come up this week. I also started some other flowers in some starter pots, as well as a tray of salad mix lettuce. I'm hoping to plant all of them in the garden at about the same time as the tomatoes and peppers.

So what about the other three beds? Well, we put down "green manures", or plants that are quick to grow and will aerate the soil, and we're going to chop them down before they seed and simply work the whole plant back into the soil, where it will add nutrients and organic material for future plants.

Lessons I've learned so far:

• Plant in separate cells (already discussed)
  
• When you buy straw, it's not just straw. It's also got straw seeds in there. Had to pull all of that out by hand. On the upside, we're thinking that now maybe we can grow our own straw instead of having to buy it.
  
• Some seeds can be left in an oven that's preheating to 350 degrees in order to bake a rhubarb crunch, and most of those seeds will still be (amazingly enough) viable.
  
• A potato rake is a super handy tool for mixing in leaf mulch.
  
• You don't need a sprinkler system in Hilo. (I'm guessing I'll learn later that it's more important to find a way to keep some of the rain off of some of the plants)
  
• Those beach balls hanging in the air around the garden? They do a GREAT job of scaring away the birds......for about three days (cardinals, especially). Then they're just gaudy decorations.
  
• Jen needs to start a blog about her garden.

That's all for now. More to come later.