The Beginning....Tale of TWO Wisconsin Gardens

As of May 1st, I will have two quarter acres to transform into beautiful and productive gardens, Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!   I have visions of a vegetable raised bed garden in the northeast corner of the 'side-yard' bordered in front and in back by two rain gardens where I have seen water collecting early this spring.

Then somewhere in the real 'backyard' an orchard - raspberries, cherries, peaches, blueberries, and Italian Plums.   Apples seem unneccesary since either Garden is within 15-35 miles from apple orchards, so we will continue to go to them each fall and get apples, apple cider and cider apple donuts (OMG) yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

The  new house already has a name 'The Big Coophouse", the garden is yet to be named.

To Transplant or Direct Seed

Black Krim Tomato Twins

July 6th, 2012 - Yup those be tomatoes

Well, I did both.  Transplanting apparently is not my forte.  Despite having great success at creating plants from seeds indoors this year, transplanting from the egg cartons to my newspaper pots had me experiencing about a 75% success rate.  OK, at first, then some things didn't get watered, so the more delicate perished.  Then I took a few outside, however since I am not around to baby them, it was do or die, and well they died.  Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...................................  The two plants are the two black krim tomato plants still growing inside in the newspaper pots.  I ended up buying three organic tomato starts and those are flourishing in the garden in a 4ft long livestock water tank.

Mini-Greenhouses - Cheap and Easy

My ahhhh-hahhhhhhhhhhhhhh moment this year led to me reusing my plastic egg cartons from my cage-free organic eggs, reborn as mini-greenhouses for seed starting.  I used vermiculite as the growing medium, and low and behold it worked.  After two weeks, I then transplanted my seedlings into my homemade newspaper pots.  I had about a 98% success ratio with this method.  A few of my tomato plants, and pepper plants have died off after being transplanted, however most are still growing.  I am calling this a successful experiment, and I love the nil-to-nothing cost.

Purple Rocks

Yup those really are purple rocks.  Nature made them that color by putting Iron in them.  It is Baraboo Quartzite which is a micro-crystalline quartz which means that water won't be getting into any pores in the rock and it will be around long after I am gone from this earth.  Other rocks, granite especially will break up over time due to water/ice breaking them up.

I have begun bordering my garden boxes with the 1 1/2 inch pieces seen on the far side of the pile, and the smaller bits are being placed in the paths themselves between the boxes.  I promise to take several pictures once I have it done later this summer.

Rock On!

Playing in the Dirt & Making Newspaper Pots

Yup, that really was all the supplies I needed to make my pots.  Thanks to Ben and Sheri who gifted me with the wooden pot maker shown above.  I made 30 pots today in two hours.  Tomorrow, I begin mixing up my version of "Mel's Mix" from the New Square Foot Garden book.  I have to say, I add a few more ingredients, and I kind of wing it, but so far that has worked.

 The main thing is to start with organic compost, and in my case the main compost I get is from the local Organic Mushroom farm.  They appear to use Spaghum Moss/Peat, chalk, cow manure and of course there are still mushrooms and the fungal mycelia.  I also mix in Sphagnum moss, leaf mold compost, vermicompost, vermiculite (no asbestos), perlite, blood meal, greensand.

The only downside to using the fresh spent mushroom medium is that it decomposes quite a bit each year, and so right now I am having to add new mix each spring.  Eventually though, the beds should be full and I will just need to mix in some compost as I harvest and put in the next batch of seeds.

Annual Organic Mushroom Farm Run - 2x in 2012

So the last few years, I have set out on an adventure with Truck & Chicken.  Chicken is my wingman.   Near Jim is a certified organic mushroom farm, and they graciously sell their spent mushroom growing medium to gardeners, cities, and landscape companies. This year I went the Monday of holy week, and the Monday after Easter, because last year I purchased three livestock water tanks and I did not have enough "Mel's Mix" soil to fill them.

This year, I will be growing tomatoes, bell peppers and sweet peas in the tanks. I also added another raised planting bed for lettuces, spinach, mustard greens, and carrots, and around memorial weekend I plan on placing an A-frame over this bed, so that I can grow Zucchini and Cucumbers over them in order to provide shade during summer and maximize my growing space.

I would like to be able to start an asparagus bed closer to the house later this year, otherwise next spring for sure.  I love asparagus, and the boyz like it too!

In the beginning....

In the beginning all that was there was a woodchip path I had created, my beautiful arbor made by engineer turned artist (Hortonville, WI) to my specifications, and the boxes (made by my man ;-)).

Then I added created soil (an adventure for a later post).

2010 Harvest Pictures

July 12, 2010 "Feed Me" Heirloom Scalloped Yellow Squash

July 12, 2010 Sweet Peppers, Marjoram, Kohlrabi, Lime Basil (oh my goodness is that good)

A month later...

August 5, 2012  Cucumbers and very happy Nasturtiums

August 5, 2012 "Feed Me" Heirloom Scallop Squash plant

Did I mention this is the "Feed Me" plant?  LOL. We kept warning Tobes (my Dachsund) to stay away for fear he would disappear.  He did not listen.  He had great fun sticking his nose in.  And yes, that really is the size of the leaves on this thing, hence the nickname "Feed Me".  Looks like a fig leaf doesn't it?