A Turnip Tale

I pretend to be organized.

I have all my boxes (6 are mine and 2 for my boys) graphed out ever so nicely on grids. I don't think I could have 8 boxes without a plan. But my skills only take me so far. I have my plan; I lost my turnip seeds! They could've been planted last weekend with the peas, but I didn't know where they were hiding. Insert operation clean kitchen...lost seeds found!

It rained last night making the soil nice and moist on this not-so-chilly-day, so it was perfect for planting. I headed outside with a pencil, my popsicle sticks, my gardening book. I checked my chart and got to work. I planted six squares of turnips (four holes per square).

A few hours later I was booming about square foot gardening to a friend, and I read something from the book to her. I realized that I could've planted more turnips per square. Many more per square. After a serious serach for my seeds (yes, I lost them again!) back outside I went. This time in the rain. I planted nine per square. I'm going to have a lot of turnip trimming to do. And if you do the math, I'm going to have more than a few turnips. I thought I was going to plant 24. I planted 54. Anyone want some turnips?

Some of you are wondering about what book (the magical book) we are using. It's All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. Happy Gardening!

Sugar Snap Peas, Please!

After finishing our boxes today, I got my peas in the ground.

You just jab a pencil in your ever-so-easy-to-work-with-dirt to make the spaces for planting.

I planted nine per square foot. The book said eight, so I will keep the eight strongest plants (assuming that all nine come up). I did not follow directions exactly. I'm bad about that. I planted eight squares of peas. I'm hoping for 64 pea plants. We are going to add the trellis' to the boxes next week.

Each pea tumbled right down a hole just like Alice after that rabbit. Speaking of rabbits, I'm a wee bit nervous about how I'm going to keep them out of my garden (we have more than a few living around here). I guess I need to wait and see if I actually grow anything before I get excited about rabbits.

I really want to grow my own organic sugar snap peas. I keep having that Miracle Max conversation with myself in my head...

I say - do you think it'll work?
And I answer- it would take a miracle!

My Turn!

This story has two different settings. Lisa gets the Seattle Squares. I'm in the Hoosier Heartland. I already know who has the better setting. No need to rub it in.

This story also has two different characters.

You've already met Lisa.

I'm Ami. I'm the younger sister. Not quite as smart. Not quite as organized. And I had quite a hard time finding what I needed to get started.

Well, I guess that's only a half-truth. The peat moss was no problem.

However, I called over THIRTY places here in Central Indiana to find the Vermiculite. If you need some, try G & M Pet & Garden Center in Muncie. Call ahead to make sure they have it.

I called just as many places to locate different kinds of compost. Here is what I ended up getting from Lowes and Wal-mart (only four kinds...please don't tell Mel...he's very strict about this):

We started mixing our mix last Thursday night. Our tarp was too small (buy a VERY large tarp if you plan to mix it on a tarp), and it took us hours to get two batches done.

Before

After

So, we waited until a very-windy-today to mix up the other four batches. Let's just say that I fought the tarp (a new, improved, very large tarp that turned into a kite), and the tarp won. Good thing I have Jason.

Here are some of our beautiful boxes (with weed cloth flapping in the breeze).

Seattle Squares

After opening the book with the same doubt we always have had, hope sprung to life instead of being sad. Maybe this time we would be able to grow veggies everyone could eat. With one of us in Indiana and the other in Seattle, conventional row gardening has always ended in defeat.
Running to Home Depot, I bought 2x6' s, deck screws and strips of 1" wood lath. Making 4'x4' planting boxes was so easy, I didn't mind the math. After a couple of hours and just a little sweat, I emerged from my basement with two boxes compete. I searced my yard for an empty 32 square feet.

Front Yard Box:
I found a small spot in the front yard that gets up to 8 hours of direct sun. The plan is to plant green beans, cranberry beans, brussell sprouts, roma tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, swiss chard, potatoes, beets, carrots and radishes. All of those plants require more sun than what is being planted in the other box in the back yard. Also, tomatoes do not grow very well in Seattle. We do not have the hot, humid weather. That's why I settled for smaller tomatoes instead of the bigger varieties.














Back Yard Box:
The back yard has several raised beds already, but I wanted to stick with the square foot gardening method for veggies. I found a spot that gets sun, but some of it is indirect due to an apricot tree. I plan to plant peas, cucumbers, cabbage, leeks, spinach, romaine lettuce, green leaf lettuce, bok choy and carrots in this box. If you notice, just to the right of the box is a rosemary bush that has grown tall. When I first moved in, it was bent over and laying on the ground, I propped it it and tied it to a stake. It smells sooooooooooo good! And I love cooking with rosemary.