Gardening

We’ve had so much rain in the Deep South. Our back yard is “stepped”; the upper level does fine, as it drains well –right into the lower level! The bottom part of the back yard, the lower level, has stayed wet since January, and, it is still wet. Yep. You guessed it. More rain coming. Woo. Hoo.

I was sinking in two inches of muck every time I walked across the lower level of the back yard. It was very difficult, and very frustrating, to try to work my gardens. Guess what? The solution was FREE! Yep. Free. Sturdy wooden crates from the garden center and some given to me by the guys replacing roofs from that awful hail storm last month.  But, hey! It works. And it was free. It doesn’t get any better than that!

How To Build a DIY Pallet Compost Bin

Here’s my compost bin, made from FREE oak pallets. They’ve been in use for three (3) years now, and still going strong. Simply lashed them together, 4 to make a “box”. We always have a good assortment of “critters”, including big, juicy earth worms. We keep it moist, but not wet; we feed it with kitchen scraps (all but raw eggs, any meat, or dairy foods) and yard cuttings (chemical free), plus leaves every Fall. Yes, some of the compost material “escapes”; I just pitchfork it back in every now and then. The screens help hold it in place, and the cover on top is held in place by an old tire because the raccoons were able to lift the 3’ long 2×6 board we were using to hold the cover in place! Tires were “free” in the sense that we took them off a car when we had new ones put on. Fiberglas cover was leftover from a greenhouse build project in another part of the yard. The black plastic box above is our first compost bin; it did not hold up well ($50), especially as it filled up; we have plugged the openings from the inside with more of our window screens picked up in a yard sale for seventy cents each, and we keep twigs and starter wood in it now. EVERYTHING can be repurposed. There is rarely any reason to put anything in the land fill, y’all. But our wood pallet system? It works well; it holds tons of compost, and it was free! So then I used the contents to mulch my newly-planted raised gardens; it makes beautiful mulch. The gray grid-like things (back – hard to see) are refrigerator parts I “rescued” from the dump; my cucumbers like to grow across the tops. The DS brought home something from work the other day that will work great for our melons to climb up and then rest across the top as the melons ripen; and it was FREE! (My favorite 4-letter word!). It’s in place in the garden, though you can’t see it here – a two-story, very sturdy powder-coated metal “cage” display thing that, otherwise, would be in the landfill now.

Planting and Growing Potatoes in Buckets

And then there’s my potato bucket. I bought this container at Lowe’s last year for $5.00; DH drilled holes in the bottom; I put in a layer of stones for drainage, and I can’t keep a fresh layer of growing soil on these ‘taters fast enough! They are popping up like crazy. I bought SMALL red seed potatoes, because I did not have time to cut and cure the seed potatoes for two weeks, so I planted them whole. Man, are they growing! And, another one of my seventy cent yard sale screens at work here. So, this is my garden, such as it is. Cucumbers, squash, tomatoes (4 varieties!), and concord grapes (out front). The lower level contains brassicas and beans, but, not showing them off just yet. I will be filling in all those “holes” in cinder blocks and growing companion plants; I have done this before and it worked out very well; so, these small raised gardens CAN produce a tremendous amount, if we utilize every available space for growing in them. I am so very happy when gardening! After a few days of sun, I’m finally able to walk in my lower yard without walking across the sturdy oak pallets, my “free wooden walkway”. The sun warmed us to over 90 deg. F yesterday, and the skies were blue, but with it comes the heavy humidity that is the bane of the Deep South. Container plants and young seedlings are in need of watering twice a day, very carefully, of course. I have dozens of “volunteer” tomato plants that popped up after using my compost for mulch; normally, I wouldn’t try to grow from compost volunteers, but, I know a family much in need of food supply who likes tomatoes, so, we will be growing them. I originally had about 50 green bean babies; the slugs and snails devoured all but about 20, some of them down to nothing but stalks. By setting the beer traps AND covering them at dusk with glass or plastic jars, they’ve grown new leaves and they are going to make it! I also added a tiny bit of veggie fertilizer, which helped them recover, I do believe. I save every glass jar and plastic jar I can; I love to recycle things and keep things out of the landfill; I’m grateful that I had plenty of glass/plastic jars from peanuts, fruits, pickles, etc. I have plenty of canning jars I could use, but, I save those for canning – they’re precious to me. But I just cover my green bean babies in the evening with a jar, gently twisting it into the soil a bit to hold it in place, and remove them early the next morning; as hot as it is getting now, leaving these on for long would result in a cooked green bean baby, so, do keep that in mind. The potatoes in a container are beautiful! This is the first time I’ve tried this method, and I could not be happier. Here are two pics of my potato bin on day 1 and another pic on day 25:

Last year I raided a dumpster when I saw a bunch of stiff waterline thrown into it. I used them to create hoops in my raised beds to help extend the season by covering them with plastic last year. I didn’t scavenge enough to complete the project, so I purchased some 1 inch PVC to complete the project.

I drilled through them and used cable ties to connect them.

These work like mini-greenhouses when plastic is put over them in spring and fall. In the summer, a light fiberglass screen can be used to shade the plants and keep off bugs. I also use bird netting over them to protect the strawberry beds.

In the long beds I often use a piece of cattle or hog panel in the middle to provide climbing area for peas and other plants that can go up. Those long ones aren’t nearly as sturdy as the hoops in the 4 x 4 beds!

Note: I used vinyl deck planking for my raised beds. I put screws in every foot and left the heads up so that I could tie string off them to create a square foot grid pattern for planting.

Here are the Top 5 Vegetables to Plant this Spring.

1. Lettuce

I love Black Seeded Simpson. Years ago I figured lettuce would be hard to grow but have since found it is very easy. Lettuce will grow in a large garden, a raised bed, or even a flower pot.

2. Cucumber

These things crawl all over the place but produce pounds and pounds of tasty treats. Boston Pickling and National Pickling are my favorites.

3. Zucchini

I have found zucchini to be one of the easiest vegetables to grow. Over the past 9 years no matter how the rest of my garden is doing – I have plenty of zukes!

4. Summer Squash (crookneck)

Another plentiful vegetable – Summer Squash can produce pounds and pounds of nutritious sustenance. The more you pick – the more you get.

5. Okra

I planted my first crop of these last year literally had okra TREE’s providing so much okra we were begging people to take ’em. Pick when small and the plants will continue to produce and produce.

p.s. I live in the Southeast – Zone 7b.

If you have seen the “Back to Eden” video, you might be rethinking the way in which you garden. I know it opened my eyes to the value of wood chips and mulch, especially wood chips.

For those of us who garden, you know one of our biggest problems are weeds and grass strangling the life blood out of our gardens, and the energy out of us as we try to keep them under control. Oh, I know some may be saying, “Just go get some Roundup and that will solve the weed and grass problem.”

And you would be right. However, the problems it solves are more than offset by the problems it creates. But, that’s an article for another time.

After watching the “Back to Eden” video, I was convinced that this was the answer to our weed problem for our new enclosed, raised bed garden (future article forth-coming). However, finding the solution created an even bigger problem. Where to obtain large quantities of wood chips, without breaking the bank?

After several months of looking, I finally found the answer! It was here all the time.

We live in a rural portion of the Mid-South, and our county is served by a local Electrical Co-Op. One of their big problems is maintaining their power line right of ways. They have two crews that cut, trim, and chip trees and limbs all year. Recently I was driving home and observed one of the crews in action. I was so fascinated by what I saw. I pulled over to the side of the road and watched for a while. When they took a break, I walked over and started asking questions about their operation.

Their odd looking piece of equipment is called a Sky Trim, which has a large skill saw type blade on the end of the long poll, and will reach 75 ft. vertically, and rotate 33 degrees to either side. I saw it in action, and believe me, it can do some trimming.

As we continued our conversation, I asked them, “What do you do with all those wood chips?”

The foreman told me “We’re always looking for places to dump them. On a good day we may fill as many as 5-10 truck loads.” The light bulb came on.

I asked what did they charge for the chips, and the answer was, “Nothing, nada, free! Just show us where you want them, and if we can get our equipment where you want them dumped, we will deliver them to you for free.” He said they would even drive 3-5 mile sometimes looking for places to dump the chips.

Wow! I had been looking and looking, and the answer was there all the time.

We have since made friends with the crews, and now have wood chips delivered almost to our door steps. They have brought numerous loads to me and to my brother-in law as well. They told us when things dried up a little they would bring us all the chips we wanted. We have a 3 acre orchard already picked out.

These crews really work hard and the work is dangerous. After storms they really earn their money. They told me so many people are impatient and just plain rude; all they want is their power back on, the first thing they ask is, what took you so long? Those people didn’t realize that the crew may have been working all night, in the wind and rain, and sometimes ice and snow.

The point I am laboring with is this: Show these guys a little respect and kindness, and they will bend over backwards to help you whenever they can.

The crew you see are cutting a few extra trees near the power line that we wanted cut down.

If you don’t live in a rural area, get to know the tree trimming services in your area, they may be willing to give you the same deal. You never know, till you ask!