All my transplants in the old bed were looking a bit pale, and some of the carrot sprouts were badly burned. Probably due to a few days of very hot, sunny weather, and I know I did not harden off the transplants long enough before putting them in. But I thought the weed-block fabric might be contributing by heating the soil, so I removed it. I'll deal with any weeds the old-fashioned way.
I'm leaving it on the tomatoes for now, as they love warm soil.
May 23, Sunday
On this very hot afternoon I placed garden cloth in both beds and installed the poles for tomato trellises.
Measured for holes in the cloth for the new bed. Made fairly large holes to accomodate the in-place tomatoes and dropped the cloth right over them. Easy, but the holes are quite large. For the old bed I just pinned the cloth in place right over the plants, then cut small holes and eased the plants thru. Much more satisfactory. Cut out long sections over the carrots.
Not sure how I feel about having all the water for my vegetables filtered thru plastic mesh. In the end, I may decide to replace it with some sort of organic mulch.
Attached the trellis poles a couple inches behind each pair of tomato plants. Drilled holes at 12-inch spacing up the poles to stretch cord across as the plants grow. I'm using cotton cording salvaged from a much-loved but now defunct hammock.
Measured for holes in the cloth for the new bed. Made fairly large holes to accomodate the in-place tomatoes and dropped the cloth right over them. Easy, but the holes are quite large. For the old bed I just pinned the cloth in place right over the plants, then cut small holes and eased the plants thru. Much more satisfactory. Cut out long sections over the carrots.
Not sure how I feel about having all the water for my vegetables filtered thru plastic mesh. In the end, I may decide to replace it with some sort of organic mulch.
Attached the trellis poles a couple inches behind each pair of tomato plants. Drilled holes at 12-inch spacing up the poles to stretch cord across as the plants grow. I'm using cotton cording salvaged from a much-loved but now defunct hammock.
May 21, Friday
The garden is all in. In the old bed, at the back, 3 eggplants 18 inches apart. In the center, 12 inches from the eggplants, 3 bell pepper plants 12 inches apart. At the front my row of carrots, 12 inches from the peppers.
I left the grass beneath the new bed; it should die beneath the topsoil. I filled the bed with:
I put in 6 tomato plants. They're about 9 inches from each side, so they're separated by roughly 30 inches left to right and 37 inches top to bottom.
Because the plants were large and the bed not full of compost etc, the rootballs of the tomatoes are sitting right on the grass I left beneath it all. I hope that's not a problem. I'm more concerned that I forgot to loosen the existing soil and sod with a garden rake before I filled the bed. In other words, I broke most of the rules. Let's hope plenty of TLC with compensate.
I left the grass beneath the new bed; it should die beneath the topsoil. I filled the bed with:
- 2/3 garbage can sod, now decomposed, dug up from the old bed when I planted it last year
- 2/3 garbage can mulched leaves from last fall
- 9-1/2 bags (1 cu ft each) mushroom compost
- 3 bags (40 lb each) manure compost
- 1 bag organic potting soil
I put in 6 tomato plants. They're about 9 inches from each side, so they're separated by roughly 30 inches left to right and 37 inches top to bottom.
Because the plants were large and the bed not full of compost etc, the rootballs of the tomatoes are sitting right on the grass I left beneath it all. I hope that's not a problem. I'm more concerned that I forgot to loosen the existing soil and sod with a garden rake before I filled the bed. In other words, I broke most of the rules. Let's hope plenty of TLC with compensate.
May 19, Wednesday
Had a long silly interior dialog about whether I could fit 6 tomato plants into a new 3'x6' bed. My epiphany was, why not make it a 4'x8' bed? After much to-ing and fro-ing about where to position the new bed where it might get plenty of sun, I put my legendary carpentry skills to work and attached it to the western end of my existing bed.
My very hearty tomato plants are positioned in the new bed, waiting for some soil. They've been in my living room window for several weeks, and outdoors on days when it's been warm. In the existing bed there's a barely visible row of 2 dozen carrot sprouts (click photo for larger version). Above them will go a pair of eggplants and a pair of bell peppers.
My very hearty tomato plants are positioned in the new bed, waiting for some soil. They've been in my living room window for several weeks, and outdoors on days when it's been warm. In the existing bed there's a barely visible row of 2 dozen carrot sprouts (click photo for larger version). Above them will go a pair of eggplants and a pair of bell peppers.
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