rfeiller's-outdoor garden construction

[davidstcldfl]

Wow, look at those 'mater plants !

[rfeiller]

sorry for the angle it is tight in between the bucket garden and the GB's. this is one of the 2'x8'x1' GB's shown how it is divided between the asparagus bed, which is just beginning to sprout and the Yukon Gold Potatoes. I had started the Yukon Gold potatoes in a tray waiting for the GB to get finished. Another weekend project that took 3 weeks.

[rfeiller]

this is the way I garden in raised beds, i mix and cram everything together, believe it or not they become very productive and a minimum amount of pest problems. in this 4x4x1 GB, with red lava and a bell siphon, there is basil sage snow peas, red flowered beans, celery (when i finish the stalks i plant the heart and start over), strawberries, marigolds, swiss chard spinach, rose bush cuttings, green beans and i've probably left something out.

a couple of succelent cuttings, and it looks like a weed down in the left hand corner. gotta trelles the vines.

[rfeiller]

asparagus is starting to break through in the new grow bed. tried them in a lava grow bed with bell siphon. no growth in a month roots started to rot. in coir for a week with nutrients added GrowCal they have started sprouting.
Biopond parameters, 65degrees, pH6.8, conductivity 370ppm
drip system set up on buckets finally. three 12"x41"x4" connected up.
106-2" net pots were seeded.

[rfeiller]

a view of some of the buckets and the tomato plants and one rose bush is visible. notice how long the spaces between the internodes are. all of the aquaponic tomato plants show that. evidence of the more then needed nitrogen that they are receiving. in the dirt the nodes are much shorter and the width of the leaves is much wider. have had a problem with end rot outside, but not in the greenhouse. the attic rats in the area are getting to the tomatoes and potatoes as soon as they are ripe. they dig up the potatoes. we live in a good neighborhood but there are rats everywhere. a neighbor put out poison for them. their dog ate one of the poisoned rats and died, so we can only try to trap them. they are smart.

[rfeiller]

the squash in the aquaponics grow much slower then in the worm buckets. the second GB had a bunch of bok choy, chinese cabbage which bolted immediately they didn't even form heads. didn't get a trellis up fast enough for the green beans which are now growing up into the trees, should have bought a bush type of green bean.
marigolds swiss chard and a couple of other plants are in there. pulled up three volunteered tomatoes plants out of a bucket stuck them bare root into the lava and thought they would die, they didn't and are taking over that GB.

[rfeiller]

have harvested quite a few yellow squash, summer squash are coming on. note the horse radish how blanched and pale it is; this is the same horse radish that was very green & vibrant over two feet tall in the green house in just aquaponic water no worms. it was in a grow bed with a bell siphon.
another interesting thing is that in the ground or container in soil all of the squash would have powdery mildew every year. in these buckets there is no sign of it.

[rfeiller]

note the bag of bone meal and box of fertilizer. asparagus would not even sprout until i added the phosphates. seems that from what i have read they require more phosphates then anything. i put some in the yukon gold potatoes also which you see in the picture.

[rfeiller]

have corrected the irrigation on the buckets, found out if the water passes through the buckets constantly there is not a die out problem with the fish. i had been watering them once a day and then the concentrated and possibly anerobic run off from sitting in the drain tubes and pipes would run into the biopond and i would loose goldfish. that appears to be corrected.

i have to add about 150 gallons per week because of plant useage, evaporation, and three dogs. i would guess the dog part is somewhere between 25-30gals per week judging by what they drink in the house 50-50 inside outside dogs.

i believe this outdoor garden has been a success, it certainly has told me a lot about the limitations and needs of the garden. in september (usually the hottest month) i will start transitioning to winter crops. i will start intermingling winter crop seedlings, (winter squash, salad greens, and cabbage family crops) in with the summer crops so they will be in place when the others die out in november-december.

[rfeiller]

note to self: get compact or bush plants next time; still have 3-4months of grow time left!