raised bed #1: dwarf gray pea, sugar daddy pea, sugar snap pea, imperator 56 carrot, Parisian carrot, red cord chanty carrot, long imperator 58 carrot.
raised bed #2: Oregon sugar pod 2 pea, gurneys sugar Anne pea, top-notch pea, green magic broccoli
raised bed #3: melting sugar snow pea, Cascadia sugar snap pea, sugar daddy pea, black seeded simpson lettuce, mandarin spinach, french dressing radish, cherry bell radish, purple top white globe turnip
raised bed #4: snowball cauliflower, long island brussels sprouts, Catskills brussels sprouts
raised bed #5: Waltham 29 broccoli, calabrese broccoli
9 four foot rows of peas planted. Bed one has dwarf gray sugar daddy and sugar snap. Bed 2 has Oregon sugar pod 2 gurnee’s sugar Anne and top notch sugar. Bed three has melting sugar snow pea cascadia sugar snap and snap sugar daddy.In between the peas in bed number one I planted imperator 56 carrot Parisian carrot red cord chanty carrot and long imperator 58 carrotIn bed number five I have broccoli. eight plants of Waltham 29 and eight plants of celebrese.I planted 12 plants of broccoli green magic variety in bed number two in between the peas.In bed number three in between the rows of peas I planted black seeded Simpson lettuce, Mandarin spinach, French dressing radish, cherry bell radish, purple top white globe turnips.In bed number four I’ve got eight plants of snowball cauliflower for Long Island brussels sprouts and four catskills Brussels sprouts.4 foot high fence around raised beds to keep chickens and other critters out
dumped old chicken litter, leaves, and compost on top of garden soilused lawn vacuum to collect a lot of organic material from the yard (mostly leaves)after I tilled it all in, the chickens were very interested to inspect my work
We had a cold snap that killed the 3 tomato plants that I had already planted in the front raised bed area. Amber thought we needed more tomato plants, so we planted 7 more in the row garden area. I also planted a lot of watermelon and muskmelon. The cucumber, squash, and bean that I seeded several weeks ago have still not sprouted. My fig tree rootings are all alive and growing.
We finished deconstructing the hugelkulture beds. Now I’m using the area for a traditional raised row garden. I ran the tiller through the area several times, then used my new hiller/bedder/hipper attachment to create the rows. I wound up with 3 rows, about 50 foot long. Next, I’ll move wood chips into the walkways (low spots) and then plant in the raised areas.
hiller / bedder / hipper 3 point implement3 raised rows for in-ground vegetable garden
After 2 years of ho-hum results, I’ve decided to tear apart 3/4 of my huglekulture bed. I expected poor results the first year, but everything I planted in it the second year didn’t do that great. Other problems I had with it are that it is really hard to plant things in it due to the awkward position you have to put your body in to reach the soil surface, it was hard to mulch because any mulch you place on it just slides to the bottom. It is hard to water because if you water it too fast, it melts. (makes seeds especially hard to deal with) Fire ants seem particularly attracted to the bed, making it gardening in it a painful experience. I think having the soil so high off the ground made it too hard to retain moisture. It seems like the plants always needed water, and many of the plants I would expect to last though the winter dried up and died.
Maybe I should give it one more year, but I want to use the area in a different way, so deconstructing most of the bed was the path I choose. If I were to build another one in the future, I’d dig down into the existing soil and add my wood below-grade instead of stacking it all above grade. I think this would help steer the soil moisture in the right direction. I really wanted this permaculture method of planting to be awesome, everything I grew in the hugelkulture bed did much worse than plants in my raised beds.
I’m keeping a small section of the bed and I’ll continue to compare the results I get to the other types of grow beds I use. I’m going to use the area where this bed currently is for a traditional in-ground row garden.
I ordered some fig cuttings from figbid.com. I potted and set them outside next to a south-facing wall. I have 3 Italian 258, 2 Smith, and 2 JH Adriatic.
We’ve had a stead stream of melons this season. Amber picked up several cantaloupes tonight. (don’t pay attention to the weeds and dead strawberries in the background!)
