Veggi Garden....

[theOEGBman]

I've got my tomato plants growing, and I planted some Cosmos,lol. Im going to be planting some squash, and would love to try a cucumber. I did plant some watermelon, cantaloupe and pumpkins just to see what happens. My grandma took her pumpkin plants and tied them up to the fence and it worked really well. Too bad our fence will fall over if I try,lol. We do have the livestock panels though, maybe I can get one of those out back! But I'd rather use that for pole beans. IDK, we'll see! Everyone take pics of your stuff!

 

[Parson's Wife]

The only thing I do is plant in the corner of the garden..(we planted 15 feet from the fence when we lived in town) .and let it grow...we train the vines, turn them back from entering into the rest of the garden...but we let them grow, we only nip of some of the buds to get larger melons. That's that much less grass we have to mow, never tried the sling idea. So I'm no help there. My cucumbers climb a old fence we stuck in there, my beans climb tepee's (I like the bush variety too) and my tomato's I tie to the stakes, I use old wood stakes w/ the towers...the towers tend to give when your tomato's get heavy...and the extra support helps hold them up, with old pantyhose. You can plant in different areas of your yard...instead of just one spot if that would help....
What kind of blackberries did you plant? I'm planting thornless...

Enjoy!

 

[ams3651]

I just came across this and thought I would share it.....
Growing Veggies in a straw bale
Living not only on a hill but with a very uneven backyard I have previously had to limit my gardening activity. The overgrown tree roots had heavily damaged the yard for any sort of deep bed planting however the desire to develop a garden was so strong that I had to come up with a solution.

I researched the internet and the various garden books located in the library and chanced upon one mentioning growing vegetables in bales of straw. I discovered that it was quite feasible for a gardener to establish a raised bed garden using nothing but straw bales. The idea fit my problem perfectly. The bales hold a good supply of water for the plants plus the added 2 feet of height makes the task much easier to deal with.

The proper bales selection is of utmost importance as you would want to obtain either rice, wheat or barley since they drain very well and will not begin to develop mildew. Straw bales tend to work better then hay as they have considerably less weed seed content. In a pinch you can safely use rye grass, fescue or Bermuda grass.

One precaution to take though is to ensure that the bales you use are not treated with any sort of herbicide due to obvious reasons. Select very firm and extremely tight bales. When you place the bales in your garden put them where they receive strong sunlight. Remember you are growing vegetables in these bales and many of the veggies will need a lot of sunlight. The surfaces of the bales although accepting the water may produce runoff so take that fact into consideration when placing the bales in place.

Place a slightly larger sheet of plastic under the bales to prevent excess water from being rapidly absorbed into the ground. Position each bales in such a manner that the binding twine is parallel with the surface of the soil.

Never cut the twine as the bales will be required to hold their shape when the plants begin to mature. To start planting you should thoroughly soak the bales with water keeping in mind that a 40 to 50 pound bale will require about as much as 15 gallons of water. Add a bit of limestone at the rate of 1 pound per bale. Merely fork the limestone into the moist bale.

Now is the time to add some fertilizer. We would suggest some manure teas. Use this mixture initially and late4r in the season to fertilize the growing crop. With the proper fertilizers and water your straw bale should warm up to a temperature of about 100 degrees or more. This seems to be the perfect growing medium to keep plants happy and growing. After the 3rd day if you do not notice an increase in temperature merely add some additional fertilizer to the bales. Never let it dry out and ensure that you inspect it for the proper moisture and heat on a daily basis.

When it is planting time use 3 to 5 inches of good soil applied to the very top of your straw bale. Push a small hole into the straw bale then set5 your young plant into the hole. When using this method plant your tomato plants 2 per bale, peppers will be planted 4 to the bale, your cucumber plants are setup for 4 to each bale while lettuce plants can range from 2 to 4 in each bale.

It is possible to grow any vegetable you choose in your straw bale garden however veggies like corn and okra are not recommended. These type of vegetables tend to make the bales a bit too top heavy and they may be easily blown over by the wind. Annual flowers are readily grown in the straw bales but perennials are not recommended.

Water your straw bale garden frequently. Weeds should not present a problem as they should be very few and can readily be pulled by hand.

Your biggest concern will be the local slug population. Slugs tend to thrive within this moist environment that has been setup here. Hand picking is usually the best method of control. All other insects and diseases can be properly treated the same as you would in a conventional garden.

At the end of your first harvest you can easily poke some new holes into the straw bales and begin a second planting. Make certain you add additional fertilizer again when starting anew. Bales can last you for several seasons of planting.

As you can see you don't need a cultivator or considerable space to successfully have your home garden. Try it out and see if this method is for you.

For more information relating to gardening visit us at http://www.garden-spot.info

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joseph_Parish

 

[quadcam79]

this will save you alot of space.
http://www.squarefootgardening.com/


look in the menu on the left under "mels column" it'll tell you all you need to know to do a square foot garden. then you can do like I'm doing and plant your vining plants on the ends, then make a little trellis on the end of the rows for them to vine up on

 

[hazelton farms]

I tried the bales one year. I bombed out big time!

My g'ma used the pole at one end of the clothes line for her cukes last year. She put the plant in a pot, then trained the vines up the pole and tied them to the line.

Will probably have to use some sort of support for melons like everyone else has mentioned if you did it for those though.

I love talking garden!! We had ours tilled up the other day and my husband decided it needed to be BIGGER! so now it's about 32'x40' or so. Just a rough guess. And I have NO idea what we'll be planting yet other than some tomatoes! FUN FUN!!


Stacy

 

[Cetawin]

I have one space saving idea for you...I grew all my tomatoes in 1 gallon pots last year. They did fabulous. It even worked with my stubborn heirloom tomatoe.

Peppers and lettuce grow well in pots also. The nice thing about pots is that you can move them wherever and whenever you want to.

I have 2 small raised beds and have already started my seeds inside for those....I have dark green zucchini, carrots, spinach, lettuce, sweet salad mix, broccoli, cherokee purple tomatoes, oregon star tomatoes, russian black, heirloom tomatoe from my grandmother's stock

, yellow and red sweet peppers, snow peas and an entire tray of lettuce for the deer and the new chicks....