Tell us about your garden!

[ChickenBuzzards]

If I hit up a local gravel pit with my trailer and self load sand is so cheap it's not worth looking elsewhere... My containers this year were 12" tall, with about 10" of soil, that was a little shy of what the carrots I grew required, there are of course shorter varieties but I like growing the multicolored mixes and they easily exceed 10" in length...

Cheap is definitely the way to go! I need to find somewhere that I can get potting soil for a decent price before any of my carrot dreams can come true... Have you ever tried Burpee's Kaleidoscope mixed carrots?

 

[MeepBeep]

Cheap is definitely the way to go! I need to find somewhere that I can get potting soil for a decent price before any of my carrot dreams can come true...

Around me there is no real 'bulk' potting soil companies, most of the companies just mix torpedo sand and cow manure into normal top soil and sell that as a raised bed/potting soil at a premium... It's better than nothing but it's far from a decent potting soil and you can mix your own cheaper...

I have plenty of my own llama, goat and even chicken manure so I'm not going to pay a premium for a cow manure/sand mix, especially when there is no shortage of free cow manure offerings on Craigslist if I wanted some...

Not the cheapest but at least by me right now everyone is clearing out their bagged potting soils, you can get some decent deals on it especially at places that only carry plant supplies seasonally...

Have you ever tried Burpee's Kaleidoscope mixed carrots?

That is what I used this year, and even though it's advertised as an 8" carrot mix, most of mine were about 10" long and bottoming out in the containers...

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Water walls or kozy kotes, fill the tubes with water, which keeps the plants warmer and allows for you to plant earlier.

 

[lazy gardener]

What a beautiful garden! What is a water wall? Sounds interesting. we don't have raised beds yet, so I guess I'm stuck with tilling for a while...

Wonderful gardens, guys!

You don't need raised beds to give up tilling. Start using a deep mulch, park the tiller, and your soil will thank you. You also might want to check out Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza. You can also make a cold frame to get a head start on the season. I've made cold frames out of bales of mulch hay that have extended my zone 4 gardening into late November, then I'll be picking fresh salads again in early March.

Cheap is definitely the way to go! I need to find somewhere that I can get potting soil for a decent price before any of my carrot dreams can come true... Have you ever tried Burpee's Kaleidoscope mixed carrots?

If you want cheap potting soil, check out Pro Mix. But... I'd choose to have a load of good loam delivered, and amend that to add even more humus if the existing soil could not be worked with.

 

[rides2far]

Water walls or kozy kotes, fill the tubes with water, which keeps the plants warmer and allows for you to plant earlier.

Where do you purchase the water walls, or can we Diy them?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I bought them at a local garden center, Jung's, I've seen them in other garden catalogs, they come in threes, and cost about 13 dollars, mine lasted about 5 years before starting to leak, there's a small learning curve as far as filling and moving them around, but I will never be without out them.

 

[lazy gardener]

They look like they would be very helpful, but again... I'm a penny pincher. So, I use gallon milk jugs cut off, or make a poly tunnel, or snug some milk jugs full of water around the plants under a poly tunnel.

 

[rides2far]

All right, then, thank you to to both of you!

 

[Stephanie R]

My garden as it looked in late May. Green beans, cucumbers, 6 kinds of peppers, 3 kinds of eggplant, radish, parsley, lettuce, onion, tomatillo, 2 cherry tomato, three heirloom tomato. All the radishes and lettuce are now gone and I've pulled the onions. But everything else is going strong. Just out of the picture are 3 apple trees, 2 cherry trees, 2 Italian plum trees, raspberries, blueberries, and grapes (and an Italian honey fig in the pot behind the red cone).

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's adorable, so neat and tidy. I'm jealous.