irrigation, cedar, construction, and a cat

Many apologies on the radio silence over the past month. Life and loss reared their ugly heads and blogging fell way down the priority list. We still managed to make a bit of headway in the garden… I say a bit, but really we’re down to preparing the last buckets and plantings for the spring.

First, my hubby finished the watering system for the peas and beans. We’d watched the aforementioned ldsprepper’s take on a bucket system on YouTube and then adapted it for our balcony. Mr. ldsprepper used a regulator bucket with a float valve in it connected to his water supply on one side, and his line of buckets on the other. Where his regulator bucket connects to his water supply, ours connects to a 5-gallon water reservoir bucket. The regulator bucket then feeds to the first crop bucket, which has hose connecting it to the next crop bucket, and so on. We’ve set up two of the three systems we’ll have on our deck and will be building the final one this week.

Each system services 8 buckets. Everything in self-watering buckets, with the exception of the strawberries and potatoes, will be hooked to one of the systems, simplifying watering for the bulk of the garden (less dragging the hose around and such…). It also means not having to run out in the middle of hot afternoons to make sure the beans haven’t dried out nearly as often as in years past – they drink a lot in the summer! We’ll just need to make sure the reservoir is full in the morning, mid-afternoon, and once more in the evening. If the level has dropped enough, we’ll just fill it back up. If not, we won’t have to do anything until the next check. Either way, it will be a matter of monitoring three reservoirs instead of 24 buckets…

Snipping the ends of the tube helped fit them through the snug neoprene grommets. The result? No leaks!

 

 

 

 

Among the many benefits: This system loses almost no water. The float valve is adjusted to cut off the water level just barely below the overflow holes in the buckets. When the plants are big enough, we’ll add some mulch to the top to lessen evaporation through the top as well.

So far, we have our peas, carrots, and beans connected to the systems, and we haven’t had to water much at all! Having said that, I must confess that we’ve had a fair bit of rain. Today starts a significant warming trend, so I’d expect to have to fill up the reservoirs at least once over the next several days…

Until things sprouted, I did lightly water from the top, but almost everything has made an appearance now, so I’ve been watching to see if the water being wicked up from the bottom is sufficient – so far, so good. Once a week, everything will be watered from the top when it gets a weekly fertilizer.

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While we were working on the buckets, nature made headway, too! We’ve seen flowers on our strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries in the past week.

 

 

 

And it’s not just the berries: We had to bury the potatoes for the first time last week. They’re growing so fast, we had to do it again yesterday… I hope it’s a good sign, but can’t say for sure.  I don’t remember them growing so fast last year. The pic is of the German Butterball Potatoes we planted several weeks ago. We’re also growing Yukon Golds – This is the third year we’ve grown these particular varieties. The Yukons are harvestable much earlier than the Butterballs, which makes for a nice long season. They both have a wonderful flavor and texture, and the Butterballs winter over pretty well. When the weather started to warm up the ones we had left went to seed, so we planted the best looking ones and bought a few seed potatoes from our local nursery just in case ours didn’t sprout. Encouragingly, they’ve all come up!

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By far, the most exciting progress has been made was this week, when Hubby completed the structure for the center of the deck. With space limitations, the trend is to go vertical wherever possible, as evidenced by the sheer number of Pinterest pins referencing the concept. In years past, we had a maze of containers with individual trellises… challenging to navigate with the hose. But inspired by the Vertical Gardening book referenced in an earlier post, a plan began to form in our minds, which was revised and adapted as we went along.  We settled on a pair of footed “T’s” to be joined at the top by rails, and a rail system on the bottom, that would not only provide stability, but the feet for the buckets to sit upon.  Two pipes would span the length, one on each side, with one more spanning the center posts nearer the bottom. The pipes would form the frame for trellis netting. The pictures tell the story much better than I can:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’re really excited: It looks streamlined, and with the netting angling away from the center, there should be improved airflow for all of the plants using it, which will be our tomatoes, peppers, and squash.  Fingers crossed!

All of that called for a bit of lounging for in the two chairs we’ve managed to fit out there (as one of our cats looked on longingly from the living room. Of course, she turned her gaze to the camera while I was trying to capture her envious posture.  Oh well…)

 

 

infinite strawberry power… itty bitty living space

A couple of years ago we’d tried growing some strawberry plants in hanging baskets and were disappointed with the production. Prior to that we’d tried the good old strawberry pot, but didn’t have much success with that either. We decided that strawberries didn’t meet  their space vs. production and we reluctantly turned our attention to trying blueberries and raspberries.  One of the things I loved best last year was wandering out onto the deck and plucking whatever berries were ready to have with yogurt or cereal and both types were much more productive, even as they were getting established.

Several weeks ago, while looking for information on the Back to Eden method of gardening (which has about zero application to our balc-o-farm, but we’re dreaming of “someday,” in which winning the lottery [even though we don’t buy tickets] factors rather prominently) we stumbled onto the YouTube channel of a gentleman who goes by the handle “ldsprepper.” Among his video series is one all about the good ole self-watering bucket. This being our third year gardening this way, we consider ourselves neither novice nor expert, so I settled in with a morning cup of tea to watch some of the videos.  I saw one called “Off-Grid Self-Watering System: The Ultimate Container.”  Well, you’d better believe I wanted to see that!  He started talking about using his system to grow strawberries, and my ears perked up. A way to grow lots of strawberry plants in a small amount of space? By adapting the system we were already using for our veggies?? Yes, please!

Essentially, ldsprepper drilled holes in the sides of his buckets for the strawberry plants to poke through, and cut down a second bucket to be his reservoir. Brilliant! In fact, he had worked out a way to stack two buckets and grow double the plants in the same footprint.  In a later video, though, he admitted that the double-stack didn’t work as he’d hoped (I’ve since watched several of this gentleman’s other videos, and this is one of the things I appreciate about him – he is more than willing to share what didn’t work for him as well as what did/does).

We decided that we’d like to try making a couple of the “Ultimate Containers” for strawberries, but without stacking them.

First, my hubby cut down a couple of containers, and caulked some lengths of PVC pipe in the bottom to hold up the planting container, giving them ample time to dry in the sun.

 

 

 

 

Then we mixed up our soil & perlite (to help keep the weight down on the deck & retain water) and planted the strawberries.  They came in groups of 25 from our local nursery, so we planted the extras in the tops of our containers instead of putting the lid on, as ldsprepper did in his.  To help compensate, we a layer of mulch on top of ours, though, which will help hold moisture. It might not do so as well as a lid, but at least it’s something…

We were concerned about losing soil through the holes so we’d purchased some landscape fabric, cutting a length to fit the circumference.  The plan was to hold it in place and cut “Xs” where the holes were in the bucket.Unfortunately, the fabric wouldn’t stay put as hubby was working it for the first bucket, so we abandoned the idea.  Problem was, our concerns were valid.  As soon as I started watering the newly-planted container, the potting mix started pouring out the sides.  Eek!

How did we solve the problem? Abandoned landscape fabric to the rescue! We cut squares large enough to fit through the holes, cutting a slit long enough to go around each plant. Then, my ever-patient husband poked and prodded them through each hole with a plant stake.  It made a big difference!  A little soil still escapes, but not nearly as much, and we’re hoping that as the plants get established even less will wash through the holes.

Fortunately, we’d only planted the first container when we discovered the problem, so we cut more fabric squares and inserted them as we planted the second container, layer by layer. These were much easier to install than those we “retrofitted,” and much less soil washes out of the second container than the first.

 

 

 

 

So, in a couple of square feet we’ve got nearly 50 ever-bearing strawberry plants. It’s been a few days, and they seem to be adjusting nicely; leaves turning up toward the sun, new leaves popping out, etc. Fingers crossed!

Note: A couple more things we did differently than the video: the buckets we had were converted from some we already had, and they already had the watering tubes in them, so we just left them in.  We’ll still water through the mulch for the most part to get nutrients to the plants.  Also, we put the buckets up on plant stands, so we don’t accidentally decapitate any of the plants when we’re dragging the hose around on the deck.  To that end, we’re also going to move them out of harm’s way once we get the center structure for the deck built.  More on that later…

Here’s the Ultimate Container video by ldsprepper, with all due credit!

 

where credit is due

Our garden as it currently stands is the product of several influences, all embraced because they solved problems we experienced on our particular deck. We’d like to tip our hats to the following:

Mother Earth News: It was from M.E.N. that we first learned of the self-watering five-gallon bucket system, so even if they didn’t invent the concept we have to give them props! (M.E.N. credits Josh Mandel, so big props to him, too!) Attractive? Not exactly, but I don’t really notice the buckets anymore. Once the plants get going, that’s where the eye is drawn. Anyway, the loss of esthetics is more than made up for by the savings in water. (For which our poor, dripped-on vehicles would express thanks if they could…)

The Bountiful Container by Rose Marie Nichols McGee & Maggie Stuckey: This was the first book we bought completely dedicated to container gardening & have had it for a couple of years. It’s still the one I reach for most often (as evidenced by all the sticky note markers!).  The authors communicate great information and the tone betrays their own passion for container gardening.  Types of containers, supports, plants, techniques… it’s all in here!  Before finding this book, we’d purchased several others that were about container gardening in general – most included one chapter or maybe two about growing edibles in containers and generally confined themselves to tomatoes and herbs, so finding The Bountiful Container seemed like manna from heaven in print. (This is the book, by the way, that influenced us to grow potatoes!)

One of the things I love in The Bountiful Container (and would do in a heartbeat if our homeowner’s association would juuuust let us put an addition on our deck) are themed gardens. Have kiddos? See “A Kid’s Garden.”  Want to have all the greens for a salad at hand?  “The Salad Basket” has you covered. There’s even a themed garden for foodies who enjoy ethnic food cooking. Great stuff, and a wonderful springboard for your own ideas!

But what I appreciate most about this book is that it’s readable and personal, like good friends chatting about gardening over a good cup of tea. The authors cover technical things, but do so in a way that isn’t intimidating, which was just what we needed.

Vertical Gardening by Derek Fell: First, a confession: I judged this book by its cover. There was just something about seeing spaghetti squash growing up netting next to gorgeous tomatoes that sold me. The good news is that it’s not just a pretty cover – there’s a wealth of great info. While it’s largely written with standard, in-ground gardening in mind, it doesn’t ignore container gardeners and many of the structures can be adapted to containers. Again, the tone is cordial even as the author imparts technical information.

Wherever you find The Bountiful Container in my house, you’ll find Vertical Gardening (also laden with sticky notes, no less!).  It’s opened up new possibilities for maximizing the space on our deck, and improving the health of our plants. Example: Over the past couple of years we’ve grown Sugar Snap peas up both sides of a freestanding trellis, two buckets per side. They started out great and were productive but about halfway through the season, the leaves started getting spotty. It wasn’t until I was looking at this book, that I realized that by planting both sides of the same structure, I’d only been considering the amount of root space the plants needed – not the amount of airflow they’d require. While I hadn’t crowded the roots, the plants were scrunched together, like too many people in a stuffy elevator bumping elbows. Nowhere to go…

In Vertical Gardening, we saw a maypole, which inspired my husband.  He built four freestanding maypoles, with wooden disks on top. Into each are several eye-screws. Four buckets will surround each pole, each with holes drilled into the top rims. Strung between the holes and the screws will be twine for the peas to climb. Two of the poles will be surrounded by buckets containing Sugar Snap peas and carrots.  When the SS pea season is over, they’ll be replaced by cucumbers, which will also climb.

The Vegetable Gardener’s Container Bible by Edward C. Smith: I looked at Mr. Smith’s The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible several times online and always thought, “Maybe someday…”  When I saw he’d published a version for container gardeners, I knew it would eventually be part of our gardening library, and in fact, I ordered it at the same time I ordered Vertical Gardening. This book could easily go on our coffee table. It’s beautifully photographed, and as expected, it contains pearls of wisdom and experience. He also includes themed containers, supports for climbers, and self-watering options.  If I’m honest, I haven’t yet done more than leaf through this book casually, but what’s jumped out at me already from doing so is the way he organizes his information. Each of the types of veggies is organized under the following headings:

• Pick Your Pot: Optimal  containers for the particular plant
• Grow It: Tips on spacing, succession plantings, weather preferences, etc.
• Eat It: When to harvest!
• Bug Off: Which wily wascals want your crops and how to foil their dratted dastardly dining.
• Pick Your Plant: Information on varieties.

I’m looking forward to spending more time with this book.  Hmm – it’s raining. No time like the present!

spring just threw down a gauntlet…

So the antsy feeling I mentioned yesterday stuck with me, prompting me to move some of our herbs from their individual 6″ pots into a couple of shared larger square containers today.  It had been raining sporadically and I was putting it off. But as evening approached, it was time to cowboy up.

I moved our two parsley plants into one of the containers, and the sage into the other. So far, so good.

I got to our poor thyme, root-bound and not looking so great.  If it doesn’t make it, that’s okay, but I figure giving it a chance first is better than just throwing it out.  After all, the sage and mint are bouncing back, so why not? There’s still time (no pun intended!) to get a new one if this one doesn’t respond well to the move.

The tiny bit of sun moved behind the clouds. I zipped up my sweatshirt and dug the planting hole.

Click.    Click.   Tink-tink click.  You know the sound… the light, unmistakable sound of hail. I kept going, since it just bounces off. No harm done…

It tapered off. I pulled the thyme out of its former home.

Click-click. Tinkity-tink click-click-click.  It returned again, a bit harder. I put the hood of my sweatshirt up, then tugged the roots apart and dug out the drainage rocks that were tangled in the root mass.   Halfway there.

Clicky-tinkity tink-click-tick-tick-tinky-click! Hail everywhere, collecting in the containers (eep! the baby lettuce!) and on the deck. I replanted the thyme as quickly as I could, thinking all the while of Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump, up in the rigging… “You call this a storm?”

I put away my spade and got the heck inside, soaked.

Okay, Spring, you win this round – but I’ll be back!

 

 

spring waits for no one

We spent time last week cleaning out what I like to call the “bucket brigade,” but we haven’t had the chance to put our self-watering buckets back together, much less get anything planted in them. They’re just sitting… waiting…

Patiently, I hope.

Between busy schedules and the weather, there hasn’t been any real time this week to get back out there, and I’m getting antsy.  It’s been raining a bit in the last few days, and I’m wishing it was falling into readied containers.

But Spring isn’t waiting for us, and things are starting to happen elsewhere on the balcony.  Two weeks ago I scattered some leaf lettuce seed in a trough container and a couple of days ago was delighted to see that they’ve sprouted.  The shallots I planted on the same day have made an appearance, too (well, five of the six anyway).  Our Moroccan Mint (which I’d given up for dead) is leafing as well. Several of the blueberry buds look positively ready to pop, and the raspberry is starting to leaf out.

I’m grateful that the seasons don’t wait for us, but I sure hope we’re able to catch up soon!

a conversation and the fun that ensues

I don’t usually say things purely to watch reactions.  Having said that, I’ll confess it’s kind of fun to watch friends faces when conversations turn to the goings-on on our deck.  It often goes something like this:

“What’s new?”

“Well, we’re a little behind on the garden this year.”

“Isn’t it a little early for tomatoes?”

“Yes, but we haven’t planted our peas or carrots yet, and it’ll be time to get the beans in in a week or two.  At least the lettuce is in.”

“You grow peas and carrots on your deck?”  (blink, blink)

“Yep.”

“And green beans.”

“Sure.”

“How…?”  (furrowed brow)

In self-watering 5-gallon buckets.  The peas and beans climb up trellises.”

“Really! That’s cool…and a tomato, too?”  (cue raised eyebrows)

“Last year we had eight tomatoes.  I think this year we’ll only have 6.”

 “Wow! There must not be room for you out there.”

“Well, we had to take out the loveseat, but we kept the two chairs.  They’re in a corner flanking the olive tree.”

“You have an olive tree…” (blink, blink, blink)

“Yeah. It only produced two olives last year but we still like it.”

“What all do you grow out there???”  (eyes wide)

“Um, let’s see, there’s a bay tree, thyme, sage, Italian parsley…”

“Rosemary?”

“Two, at the moment.”

(snicker)

“Then tarragon, chives, summer savory, oregano, basil, and cilantro. Oh, and mint.”

“Is that all?” (sarcasm/on)

“Well, no, there are the two blueberries, the raspberries…”

“Blueberries and raspberries.” (more raised eyebrows)

“Yes.”

“On your deck.” (furrowed brow + triple-blink + head tilt)

“Yes. Plus strawberries, cucumbers, peppers, garlic… oh, and this year I want to try zucchini.”

“What – no potatoes?”

“Well, two kinds, actually… We’re trying them in a different spot this year ’cause last year they kind of took over the deck.”

“I was kidding! You grow potatoes in a bucket?”

“We did the first year we tried it, but there wasn’t room for the potatoes to grow to any real size, so last year we made self-watering garbage can planters for them.”

“You’re growing potatoes in garbage cans???”  (look of alarm)

“We bought them new for the purpose… we’re not using cans that ever had any garbage in them!”

“Oh!  So everything out there is food…” (blinking furiously)

“Except for the Japanese maples.  If I could figure out somewhere else to put them, (maybe outside the back door) we’d like to get a couple of columnar apple trees… or an apple and a pear.

“And it all fits out there…?”

“Well, not everything is in season at the same time, but a lot of it overlaps, so kind of….”

“That’s not a garden.  That’s a little farm.”

“We call it our balc-o-farm…” (grin)

At that point the conversation usually turns to other things.  There’s not much more to say… until a few minutes later.

“Then last year we went to… Wait, don’t you ever worry that it will collapse?”

“Sorry?”

“The deck.”

“Oh!  Well, it’s rated to hold a full hot tub plus people, so it’s been okay so far.  We mix a fair bit of perlite into the soil, which lightens it, plus the buckets and planters are all plastic.  It’s not going to win any beauty contests, but…”

“Oh.  Anyway, last year we went to…”

Snicker, indeed.

We just kind of stumbled into all of this…

I was delighted yesterday to see that our tarragon survived the (admittedly mild) winter, has decided to take matters into its own hands, and has beaten most of the other plants off the starting line.  Of all the herbs we planted last year, it was the one I fully expected to have to replace. Not only did it survive but has spread out in its small container.  I hope the tarragon isn’t TOO comfortable… After reading yet another article about herbs with the same soil & condition needs growing well in the same container, it’s going to be moved into one of our large planters along with some thyme, oregano, chives, parsley and summer savory. This year, we’re attempting to maximize the yield in our limited space, so most of our herbs are going to have to be good neighbors…

Occasionally, I look at our balc-o-farm and wonder how on earth this happened.

Growing up, my parents had a small garden patch in the back yard.  I don’t remember everything they grew – I remember raspberries (because they’re my favorite) and carrots (because I pulled one up hoping it was ready. It wasn’t even as big around as my pinky, and I tried desperately to push it back into the ground).

My husband’s childhood memories of yard & garden had mostly to do with chores so his impression of gardening wasn’t all that favorable, either.

The first home we bought was a condo. Inexpensive and zero yard-work.  It sounded great.  It wasn’t.

Almost ten years later & still convinced that a yard wasn’t for us, we bought the row house we’re in now.  Of particular excitement was the 2nd story deck. We carefully purchased a couple small cypress trees, a bay tree, a climbing rose to weave its way up a freestanding metal trellis, assorted succulents, and a small Spanish olive tree.  We tucked small planters of herbs here and there.  Two umbrellas, some furniture, and a grill later, and we thought we were in heaven, especially considering we had no idea what we were doing. The look was kind of a Zen-Tuscan fusion, and we loved it.  We expected to spend most evenings out there enjoying the ambiance, as did our neighbors to either side.  Don’t get me wrong, we have great neighbors.  They just entertain a lot, which affected the quiet haven we’d created on our deck.  We gave up trying to converse over the din; the deck was still pretty to look at through the window, though…

Growing edibles (beyond herbs) sneaked up on us. In the end, though, it doesn’t really matter why we started growing as much of our own produce as we can; only that we love doing it and enjoy the fruits of those efforts.