Vegetable Garden

I've wanted to plant a vegetable garden since about 5 minutes after we moved into our house 3 years ago, but until now I've only managed a container garden on our back patio. One can only have so many containers before friends and family start considering intervention, so for Christmas Jef built me beautiful raised planter bed. The weather has been getting warmer and warmer, and Saturday it was painfully clear it was time to start planting! Here's how it all went down: We removed a section of lawn where the planter would go and reused that sod elsewhere in the yard.



We moved the bed into the prepared section and lined the bottom w/ weed cloth (it's important to get the the kind that will allow water to drain through, not the plastic). Jef stapled the cloth to the inside of the bed so it wouldn't shift when we laid in the soil. The soil we added was a mix of several types recommended by our local nursery, It's About Thyme on S. Manchaca. They were very helpful and even had a sample vegetable garden the same size as ours. We had a few questions for the staff, but we were mostly able to see how much soil we'd need, what types of plants (and how many) right from the example. Great idea. Our bed is a 4x4 so we bought:

2 bags - Hill Country Garden Soil (1 cubic foot each)

1 bag - Back to Nature Cotton Burr Compost (2 cubic feet)

1 bag - Sun Gro Metro Mix 702 (2.8 cubic feet)

Peat Moss - I laid this in the bottom to hold moisture (no exact measurement)

After the soil was in, Jef helped me prep the bed by making grids. It's not essential, but it helped me break the bed into sections, and that was easier to figure out what to plant where. I will probably end up removing the string after a month or so, but I may leave the nails in case I want to do that again next season.



I laid the vegetables out in the sections before planting them to make sure it all made sense. That was a good idea because it turns out we had too many tomatoes, so some of the extras will go into hanging baskets on the patio later this week. Here are the squash and zucchini plants and the scallion seeds:



We also decided to plant some corn, which I know isn't the greatest idea in a small garden, but we want to give it a shot. It's on an edge where it shouldn't shade the rest of the garden when it gets tall, and I also planted some beans next to it hoping they might end up using the corn as a bit of a trellis. We'll see what
happens!



When all the plants were in, we installed a soaker hose (by 'we' I mean Jef). I was a little intimated by this, but it was ridiculously easy. It goes like this: buy an appropriate length of hose and some landscape stakes so the hose doesn't go all willy nilly, coil it into the bed (or lay it how you like), attach it to your faucet, turn it on. THAT'S IT.



And here's the completed vegetable garden! I hope we did this right and that the vegetables make it. I'm going to keep a close eye on everything. If all goes well, we should harvesting veggies in a few months!

Comments

[indiana]

Are you doing square foot gardening? Oh, dang. Me + the husband just started our first garden, too! It's so exciting to eat stuff that you grow yourself. It's also so sad when your precious beans die (that just happened to me).

It was delightful to meet you today. I am twitter stalking you back.

[Kristin]

Hey girl! I saw a raised bed at our local nursery that had their bed broken into squares and I thought it was a great concept. When we got home w/ all our soil and veggies we dropped in a few nails and ran the twine and viola! Square foot garden. It helped us 'portion' how many seeds / seedlings per section and also helps me remember what plants are where. To be honest, this year is kind of a learning experience, I already see things I'd do different next year (plant less squash!!). I am so sorry about your beans! That is sucky, you should try to plant more because those SHOULD do well even if you start them now. I'm having trouble w/ my peppers, they look kind of squirrely.

It was great meeting you today! Hope to see you at another shoot. Also, I just went over to your blog and it's aawwwesome. Pretty sure I have a crush on your blog. Can't wait to read more.

[pressure washer hose]

i like your vegetable garden! I also want to make something like that this weekend. Anyway, Like you, I also use soaker hose for watering my plants.

-seff-