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Spring

Ahhh…spring! I eagerly await this time of year when new life bursts forth and I can spend more time outside. This is the time to plant your garden here in the Piedmont of NC. My grandfather always said to wait until May 1 to plant but I do believe our weather patterns have changed and that, for the first time ever, I am going to plant earlier this year. We shall see how it goes…stay tuned!

Planting Potatoes on Top of the Ground

Planting Potatoes on Top of the Ground

March 30, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Well…finally!  A beautiful spring-like day and I was chomping at the bit to get outside and get started doing something…anything in my little garden on the front lawn!crazygoodcreations.comIt really was the perfect day for planting my Yukon Gold and Red Pontiac potatoes – weather-wise AND Mr. Almanac-wise.   Yep, Mr. Almanac said it was a good day to plant root crops!  It also seemed like the perfect time to try a ‘crazy good creation’…a DIY potato tower.  There are lots of ways/opinions on how to do it – yep, read quite a few and then decided what made sense to me, rolled up my sleeves and…

IMG_3430You gotta know that I am going to use a till-less method…don’t own a tiller and am just not that fond of digging so I LOVE planting on top of the ground!

I used some wire we had stashed to build a couple of rectangular cages – no exact measurements here, I just built them in the corners on the side of my garden.  I used the Mister’s tie wraps (have I told you lately that he LOVES those things???) to secure my newly formed cage to the garden’s rabbit fence.  Sounds simple enough, right? Sure was – well, everything except ME cutting and bending that stinking wire…geeeezzzeee~  Anyhow….

Once I got my cage/tower (whatever you choose to call it) formed, I put down a thick layer of newspaper or cardboard and SOAKED it thoroughly!!!

Next, I added hay and pushed it to the sides of the cage to keep the peat moss from falling out of the sides.

IMG_3431I added a layer of peat moss next…I am guessing about three inches and wet it.  Next I added my potatoes.  As you can see, mine are fairly close together.  If you have been following my posts you know that I garden on my front lawn in a very small space so I ‘overpopulate’ what I plant to get greater yields.  Hey, it works for me~

IMG_3432 - Version 2Finally, I covered the potatoes with peat moss, watered them and moved on to build my second cage/tower.  So exciting!

I will keep you updated on their progress so you can see, along with me, whether this method works or not!  Based on my research ( and ya gotta know I researched the heck out of it) it does, in fact, work for most folks.  I certainly hope it works for me ’cause this Southern girl LOVES her taters…especially when she has grown them herself!

Well y’all, the sun is shining and times a’wastin’…I have got to get outside and ‘play’ some more today.  I hope you all are able to do the same!  Happy Saturday and happy planting!!!

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Piedmont’s Gardening To-Do List for March

Piedmont’s Gardening To-Do List for March

March 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment

OK, Piedmont gardeners, you Zone 7’ers!!!  Whether you are a container gardener or full blown farmer, it is time to get your ducks in a row and get started!!!  WHAT???  You aren’t growing at least one edible???  Well then, roll up those sleeves and get started! (See other entries about Till-less gardening in the ‘Gardening’ tab)  It isn’t hard at all and there is such pleasure in putting food on the table that you grow, knowing that it is organic and fresh…there is nothing like it.  Who wouldn’t want to dig into freshly sauteed squash, zucchini, red pepper and onions???photo[47]  This is what Organic Gardening advises us to do during the month of March:

  • In the middle of the month, plant a row of Swiss chard. Tender stalks will be ready to harvest in mid-May—and the plants will keep producing all summer.
  • Also in midmonth, sow other hardy vegetables, such as carrots, beets, kohlrabi, radishes, leaf lettuces, and turnips.
  • Transplant onions, shallots, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, white potatoes and asparagus crowns to the garden.
  • Set out herbs, such as rosemary, chives, and thyme—but not tender basil!

I also have a book, Month-By-Month Gardening in the Carolinas, by Bob Polomski that I refer to as well.  He reminds us that we should:

  • Sow warm season vegetables in flats or trays such as eggplant, New Zealand spinach (heat tolerant), pepper and tomatoes.
  • Vegetables that resent root disturbance, cucumbers and summer squash for example, should be sown in individual pots or peat pellets.
  • Avoid sowing seeds too early or they may be ready for transplanting before outdoor conditions permit.  I use this tool to plan when to sow my veggies.
  • Put a sweet potato in a glass half filled with water and place it in bright light.  Detach the plants from the mother root when they are 6 – 8 inches long, pot them up and then plant them in the garden about three weeks after the last freeze, which for us should be somewhere around the last week of April.
  • Buy seed potatoes and cut them into egg-sized pieces containing one or two eyes.  Allow the cuts to dry and callous for a day or two before planting.  Plant them when the soil temperature remains above 50 degrees F.
  • Continue watering trays or pots of seedlings indoors.

I would add to these lists to continue making notations in your gardening journal about this year’s planning stages.  WHAT?*!? You don’t have a gardening journal/notebook???  Well, get one!Notebook - Picture with KeyTrust me, you will not remember specifics from year to year unless you draw diagrams, take pics and make notations!   Take a look at last year’s diagram and make your plans for rotating your crops to avoid pests and diseases as much as possible.

Yep, things are cranking up around here and I could not be more excited!  My mister is excited, too!  He loves coming home to fresh, organic home-cooked meals…even if his wife does have a little dirt under her nails and on her face every now and again. 😉  Hey…it washes off~

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Tess’ Till-less Technique

Tess’ Till-less Technique

June 1, 2012 By 9 Comments

There has been quite a bit of interest regarding my ‘Till-less’ garden method.  Since I was creating a new space this morning for several tomato plants I decided to document and share with you step-by-step.

As you can tell it was EARLY this morning – thanks to our Southern heat and humidity, I have to get out there before it gets too hot!

I am using newspaper this morning but you can use cardboard if you choose.  Newspaper takes less time as you can soak the newspaper in a large container all at one time while you are doing something else.  As you would expect, soaking cardboard takes a bit longer.  I have an old cooler that I use for my newspaper that works like a charm.

  • Fill the cooler with water.
  • Separate newspaper by sections, as this has proven to be about the right thickness, and put in water.  Do not use the comics or ads as the intense color and glossiness do not work well with edibles.
  •  Once the paper has been soaked through and through, cover the intended planting area, overlapping the paper to prevent weeds coming through.
  • Once I have it laid out, I soak it once more with the hose.

For the next layer I use homemade compost.  (Will add a post on composting next.)  If you do not have compost, this layer could be fall leaves, mulch, hay, straw or sawdust.  For me, compost has worked the best but, due to the time factor involved in the breakdown of homemade compost, I have been known to use leaves or mulch.  I am guessing that I use about 2 – 3 inches for this layer.  Once this layer completely covers the soaked newspaper, you will need to soak it thoroughly as well.

Now for the top layer.  See how easy this is???

 

Peat moss!!!

This seems to be the magic that holds it all together so that you do not need a siding like wood, bricks, etc.  This is the kind of peat moss I use.  It is available at Lowe’s in our area.  I am sure there are other brands out there but notice this is 100% organic which is important to me as I am trying to be 100% organic in my gardening methods.

 

Once again, I put down 2 – 3 inches of peat moss and soak it through and through with a mist spray.  If you notice runoff, stop and go do something else and come back in a few to wet again.  Before it is ‘set’ there can be runoff and you do not want to loose any of this precious commodity.

 

 

 

Once your peat moss has been soaked, you are ready to plant!!!  For this particular bed, which is beside our driveway, I am planting three volunteer tomato plants, two basil plants and one petunia just for looks. 🙂

I cannot tell you how many volunteer tomato plants came up this year.  I once heard that volunteers will not produce.  Not true!  I did an experiment last year with one of the volunteers that turned out to be my best-producing Roma tomato plant of the season.   I am excited to see what the three of these will have in store for us.

And there you have it…it is just that simple and the rewards are many…

I planted these green beans the first weekend in May using this same method and this is what they look like now.  Notice there are no containers whatsoever and everything stays right where it is supposed to be.

Because I am gardening on my front lawn with limited space, I overpopulate everything I plant for greater yields.  Based on my experience you really don’t need that much space between plants.  Doing it this way also helps eliminate some of the weeds and who doesn’t like that?

Here is a view of ‘most’ of my garden…I say most because I plant around my lamppost (asparagus, rosemary, tomatoes) and mailbox (Scarlet runners, chocolate mint, asparagus).  I am still waiting on my sweet potato slips which will fill the void you see in the front row.  As you can see I like to add in some ornamental plants just to dress things up a bit.  After all, it is on my front lawn.  🙂

That’s all there is to Tess’ Till-less Garden which  is a combination of several methods I have  implemented; otherwise known as ‘Lasagna Gardening’ and ‘Square Foot Gardening’.  You just have to get out there and get started and, before you know it, you will have 5 rows and be putting edibles in every nook and cranny…because YOU CAN!  Enjoy y’all!!!  Time for me to get outside~

 

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