Somehow May has passed me by with great haste and wild abandon. Many things have happened in May. Usually, May is the busiest garden month of the Spring but with ongoing family responsibilities my garden time is cut down to only having enough time to tend three beds out of 12 at Terra Nova Gardens. The rest are covered with tarps to control weeds until such time that I can properly bring them to harvest. I don’t see that happening this year. I do have a bucket garden on the back patio with tomatoes and bell peppers. I’m hopeful to get some cucumbers planted as well.
The perimeter of my beds at Terra Nova Gardens are lined with rocks from retaining walls and I’m always on the look out for more rocks. My neighbor just across the road had a load of rocks delivered for his driveway and this is what they delivered. He was thinking gravel and the delivery service was thinking big rocks. So for a few hours of effort I acquired enough rocks to put a second layer on some of the beds. Nice!!
The potatoes are liking the new raised bed and are growing leaps and bounds. They are already on the verge of blooming. The onions are liking the new bed as well. This bed has been planted with half potatoes and half onions. I haven’t really had to deal with watering so far this year. We have had rain quite frequently. Some would say too frequently. Flooding has been a major problem this year for many folks. Fortunately, my properties have escaped the water destruction. Others that I know have not been so fortunate.
The dirt to build the potato raised bed came from this bed which left a 12 inch pit. I’m building a hügelkultur bed here. First I put chemical free grass clippings in the bed.
The power company came by last year and trimmed trees around the power lines. They left piles of wood along the tree line which has dried out nicely. I thought it would be perfect for making a hügelkultur bed. The wood is in place for about one third of the bed. Now another layer of chemical free grass clippings will be dumped on top of the wood. The last layer will be about 12 to 18 inches of dirt, The newly acquired rocks will layer up the perimeter to keep the bed contents confined.
Mean while back at the Urban Ranch where I live, life goes on in the back yard.
The patio bucket garden is growing quite well. It took a bit to get started because of the cold weather up until the end of May but now that the temps are up in the 80s every day the tomatoes are really taking off. They are blooming and well on the way to producing a harvest. The empty buckets in the front are for the cucumbers. The seeds have been sprouted and now they need to be planted in the cell trays to grow into strong plants. Then they will be planted in the buckets. On the backside behind the tomatoes are the bell peppers that also have buds and are close to blooming.
These are the cucumber seeds sprouting. I like to sprout my seeds to know if they are viable are not. These are old seeds so many have not sprouted but quite a few have. Looks like I’ll be having some cucumbers before long. Seeds are placed on a damp paper towel and placed inside a Ziploc bag to keep them moist. The bag is then placed on the regulated heat mat at 80 degrees. Five days later seeds are sprouted. It’s a great way to be sure about germination.
I’m hoping that every one is having a prosperous garden year. Have a great day in the garden.
Nebraska Dave
Urban Farmer
