Getting Garden Started Thread

[swamp snorkler]

Yesterday I tilled up a 25'x6' wide patch of grass. I intend to surround it with cinder blocks buried halfway down and create a "raised box" garden. I will work it with the tiller every day after work with the tiller till this weekend when I set my cinder blocks in place.
I intend on growing;

-Zucchini Squash- (Enterprise) I've been very successful in the past with this, I'll also probably just dig a couple holes and plant 2 or 3 plants about 3 weeks apart
-Cucumbers- (Dasher 2 variety), using a 16' length of cattle fence as a trellis
-Cucumbers- (Calypso variety) for pickling
-Tomatoes- (Talladega's) for slicing
-Tomatoes- (Golden Cherry) for salads


In the holes of the cinder blocks I plan on doing
-Strawberries- for the kids to eat off the vine
Herbs will be
-Mint-
-Rosemary-
-Basil-
-Thyme-
-Shallots-
-Cilantro-
-Parsley-
-Marigolds- to deter insects
-Nasturtium- to deter insects

In the voids I will try some lettuce growing and I'm looking for tips and suggestions on that.

Here's a Link to LSU's Vegetable Growing Guide
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/46F14CF6-CA36-44E4-95B9-6856552C94EC/85493/Pub1980VegetablePlantingGuide2012HIGHRES.pdf

So, other than tilling it every day for a week should I do anything else to have the soil ready for when I'm ready to plant?

[Cappy]

Just a sugestion dude. Unless ya got arms 3 ft long like Shaq, ya should never build a raised bed box wider than 4 ft. or you cant reach the middle from the side. If you look on line you will see tehy come in any length but never wide. at 6 ft wide you will have to leave a row in the middle and that kinda defeats the purpose.

[Cappy]

As far as the soil it depends on how rich it is. Get an ole geezer to look at it and maybe offer some sugestions. You can take a soil sample and send it to LSU and they will tell ya what it needs. If ya geeky enough they sell test kits at lowes. When ya plant stuff close together like in squarefoot garden boxes the soil needs to be rich to suport all teh plants. It aint that hard though and plants are pretty forgiving so ya can fertilize, with most anything organic or store bought.

[swamp snorkler]

Just a sugestion dude. Unless ya got arms 3 ft long like Shaq, ya should never build a raised bed box wider than 4 ft. or you cant reach the middle from the side. If you look on line you will see tehy come in any length but never wide. at 6 ft wide you will have to leave a row in the middle and that kinda defeats the purpose.


Sorry for the misunderstanding. I went 6' wide so I would have a good base to set my blocks. I was thinking that the inside measurement will be 4', you think I should bring it in more than that? 3'-4"

[BuckingFastard]

if its on the ground, youll be able to walk between the rows. i believe he misunderstood the raised bed idea.

[Cappy]

The beauty of a raised b ed square foot style garden is you dont need rows. So no wasted space. you plant across like a grid. if you notice in our garden post we even tie string in a 1 ft by 1 ft grid to help with planting evenly.

Snork, that should be fine, but I sugest a field test. lay out ya bricks anywhere neel down by them and see if ya can reach the middle. also ya should be able to put a knee on the bricks tween the holes to help you reach. The 4 ft planting surface is perfect. Honestly thats why I used 2x12s to frame mine me and Peg are short.

[swamp snorkler]

I tilled up more area than necessary to be able to set my blocks, I'm going to make it nice and level and use the soil where the blocks are going to be to help fill the inside. I had a garden here previously that did well but it wasn't a box garden. I just need to downsize.



Cap what side the river you from, my moms peeps are from Back Vacherie.

[Cappy]

sent ya a private message, I am way too paranoid to post where I'm at. :-P

[Cappy]

64100
You can see here we use trot line string to grid the box off in 1 ft squares. We have even made square templates with holes in them to help guide planting. It may seem anal I know but if planted thick and managed a lil there is lil to no weeding and it will produce more than ya can imagine. All ya gotta do is look back through the bowels of our blog and you will find many a dish pan of veggies that come from that lil box.

[Cappy]

Someone asked a while back why the wire?? It's to kee[p da kitties from using the garden as a litter box. I don't mind the "fertilizer" but they dig up lil plants when they make a deposit.