Mr Bill's Dirt Garden

iammr.bill · **Posted:** Sat Mar 24, 2012 6:50 am

Raked up some dirt from one side of the dirt raised bed to cover the potato plants, then went around and did the other side. Serves two purposes. One: to cover the stalk of the plant (but let the leaves still show to gather sunlight) and two: to keep the weeds from taking hold on the side of the dirt bed.

Its been dry here so I watered what i have planted over the last few weeks. Its been cloudy with thunder in the distance but no rain has fallen where we live. Watering the garden is sure enough to bring the rain.

So far, potatoes, cucumbers; green pickling and yellow rounds, coriander, thyme, oregano, a couple of types of flowers to bring in the bees, asparagus, and rhubarb.

Have more seeds planted in peat pots over a heat pad, under the indoor "greenhouse" (a small upside down rubbermaid tote)

And last years old sweet potatoes have sprouted and shooting roots like mad in their jelly jars. Sweet! No buying sprouts this year!

Attachment:

3-22-2012 raking dirt to hill potatoes.jpg [ 69.19 KiB | Viewed 13126 times ]

Attachment:

3-22-2012 raking dirt up to the edge of the potato plants.jpg [ 77.98 KiB | Viewed 13126 times ]

Attachment:

3-22-2012 New use for a crutch.jpg [ 60.67 KiB | Viewed 13126 times ]

iammr.bill · **Posted:** Sat Mar 24, 2012 6:56 am

Attachment:

3-22-2012 sweet potato slips growing great.jpg [ 32.12 KiB | Viewed 13126 times ]

And a pic of my boy learning to plant. Pulls weeds to "plant" but if he doesn't get the roots, he throws them down and grabs another plant. "Look, Papa, I got the roots!"

No way am I going to discourage him from planting. I'll just have to allocate a section of the garden for him and his sister.

Faye · **Posted:** Sat Mar 24, 2012 12:10 pm

Wow, those beds look soo good. There is no stopping you Mr Bill :thumb:

iammr.bill · **Posted:** Thu Apr 05, 2012 9:08 am

Video taken with old phone, not good quality, but its still funny.

iammr.bill · **Posted:** Fri May 18, 2012 12:23 pm

Have a mole that keeps making holes in one of the beds right under my yellow squash plant. There are about 8 small squash as long as your index finger at any one time on the plant. But they keep getting blossom end rot. Figured they weren't getting enough water so I placed the hose down on the dirt and went to turn the water on. When I got back, there was a hole that the water was running into. Well, fine. I just stuck the hose down in the hole and waited, and waited, and waited. Pulled the hose out to check if the water was still coming out, stuck it back in and waited, and waited. 4 minutes later the water started coming out another hole. Damn moles.

The next day I did it again, the next day again, and again. Damn moles. We have a cat that kills them but doesn't eat them, just leaves the carcass on the front porch. Thanks cat. Hope she gets this one soon.

iammr.bill · **Posted:** Fri May 18, 2012 12:31 pm

Working on putting in some poles to run some strings down to the tomato plants. These are indeterminant type plants so they'll keep growing until they die from frost, or someone pinches off the ends of the plants.

One pole per week or so. Only get a Saturday or Sunday to do things around here, and am limited on energy and stamina. Sometimes my ambition runs away with me and I try to do too much... but I digress.
Pictures in progress, but the dates are incorrect. Close enough

Attachment:

4-14-2012 Ooops hit the old cable tv line.jpg [ 67.93 KiB | Viewed 12959 times ]

Gotta love a post hole digger. And it's a good thing the cable TV line was not operational.

Attachment:

4-14-2012 Putting in the 4X4 posts to string up the tomatoes.jpg [ 56.74 KiB | Viewed 12959 times ]

This dirt bed will be made rectangular (as seen by the pole line) instead of the curved bed that the dirt is now. When I get around to it. Someday. The tomatoes don't care.

iammr.bill · **Posted:** Fri May 18, 2012 12:33 pm

Attachment:

4-21-2012 Making loops using an aluminum crimp and aircraft wire.jpg [ 44.32 KiB | Viewed 12959 times ]

Attachment:

4-21-2012 Final loop made.jpg [ 39.17 KiB | Viewed 12959 times ]

Attachment:

4-21-2012 Reacher Grabber putting the loop on the hook.jpg [ 47.1 KiB | Viewed 12959 times ]

iammr.bill · **Posted:** Fri May 18, 2012 12:35 pm

Attachment:

4-21-2012 Stringing up the tomato plant.jpg [ 57.12 KiB | Viewed 12959 times ]

Attachment:

4-21-2012 Ten tomatoes started and strung up.jpg [ 61.21 KiB | Viewed 12959 times ]

iammr.bill · **Posted:** Fri May 18, 2012 12:47 pm

And I've had trenches dug for water and power to the new greenhouse area. Had the guy put in a trench for water pipe to each of the dirt raised beds as well. That way I can just connect up the irrigation hose to the end of each bed instead of dragging hoses around.

Its called working smart not hard.

Attachment:

4-17-2012 Trench for water to dirt garden beds.jpg [ 86.35 KiB | Viewed 12959 times ]

Attachment:

4-17-2012 Trenching for water for dirt garden beds.jpg [ 80.09 KiB | Viewed 12959 times ]

Jaymie · **Posted:** Fri May 18, 2012 6:43 pm

looking good there

iammr.bill · **Posted:** Fri May 18, 2012 11:19 pm

Dunno if this idea will work or not but I put hardware washers on the lines to run the strings through to help with support. Tied off to another hook about 3 feet from the ground so I can reach them easier. Eventually I'll put poles on the other side of the raised bed and put shade cloth over the top. Maybe even plastic over the top in the autumn to extend the growing season.

Now if I can just keep up with myself...

Attachment:

5-18-2012 Washers on the line.jpg [ 38.83 KiB | Viewed 12956 times ]

Attachment:

5-18-2012 Washers on the line for tomato support.jpg [ 65.45 KiB | Viewed 12956 times ]

Attachment:

5-18-2012 Soaker hose for tomato plants.jpg [ 66.74 KiB | Viewed 12956 times ]

iammr.bill · **Posted:** Wed May 30, 2012 9:51 am

Finally got the water pipe connected to the main line under the house. Takes me a long time to do stuff. Had an old greenhouse that was destroyed by the wind one night during a bad storm. Tried to save most of the pipe and fittings for later use. Dug out a water cut-off from the pile of parts and connected it to the end of the line. Capped off the rest of the "stubs" for when I get more money for proper hose fittings. Cut the water on from the main line and checked the water line for leaks. No leaks until I got to the end of the line. The recycled cutoff was split on the mold line where they molded the two pieces together to create the fitting. Bummer.

Attachment:

5-26-2012 water pipes to each raisede bed area.jpg [ 58.69 KiB | Viewed 12928 times ]

Attachment:

5-26-2012 Just testing the water pipe.jpg [ 74.17 KiB | Viewed 12928 times ]

Attachment:

5-26-2012 Recycled cutoff was split.jpg [ 60.14 KiB | Viewed 12928 times ]

iammr.bill · **Posted:** Wed May 30, 2012 10:29 am

Pretty soon I won't have to do this:

Attachment:

5-26-2012 hoses and splitters.jpg [ 70.86 KiB | Viewed 12925 times ]

Cleaned up the edge of the tomato bed with the tractor bucket:

Attachment:

5-26-2012 cleaned up the edge of the tomato bed with bucket tractor.jpg [ 78.15 KiB | Viewed 12925 times ]

iammr.bill · **Posted:** Wed May 30, 2012 10:46 am

And some of the veggies:

Attachment:

5-26-2012 cucumber plants growing up the trellis.jpg [ 65.1 KiB | Viewed 12925 times ]

Attachment:

5-26-2012 rhubarb after 4th harvest.jpg [ 63.28 KiB | Viewed 12925 times ]

Attachment:

5-26-2012 volunteer sunflower plant.jpg [ 65 KiB | Viewed 12925 times ]

Seems as if I did not let my compost pile get hot enough to kill off all the seeds; weeds and veggies both. Used last years compost on the dirt raised beds and had a few volunteers from last years harvest. Cucumbers and a couple of sunflowers. The base of the sunflowers are growing out of the bottom of the raised bed area right next to where I mow the aisles. Yeah, well, why not. Just letting them go to see how they do. Not like they are in the way or anything.

iammr.bill · **Posted:** Wed May 30, 2012 10:53 am

Find it amusing that I was out in the garden this morning, drinking coffee, watering the garden, ... and checking email on my smartphone.

Backyard Farming Forum
Bringing food production home