My pitiful veggie garden..

[Kittikity]

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm73/Kittikity/goats/veggarden3.jpg
Warning: image is large to give good view of garden

I've got some summer squash and another kind of squash (can't remember the name at the moment), some corn, some beans, some peas, some cauliflower that aren't doing very well, one broccoli plant that isn't doing well either, and one cucumber plant that is only doing ok.. Oh, and some spinach in the front that isn't doing nearly as well as I'd hoped.. I was looking forward to a baby spinach leaf salad.. Also planted some tomato seeds but don't think those came up at all.. Oh, and some bell peppers that I don't think came up.. Yes, I need to weed the whole thing badly.. But at this point I'm a little discouraged at how poorly most of it is going.. The squash and corn is doing the best..

[HomesteadBaker]

Did you direct seed everything? The squash does look like it is doing pretty well.

Still love the T-shirt!

[Kittikity]

Yeah, direct sowed everything.. Don't have proper seed starting supplies.. This was mostly just a test garden to see how they would do in my soil.. But I still thought they'd at least do better than this.. A lot of the seeds didn't even come up..

[Sinfonian]

Um, where are you located? Can't tell by your info. I ask because you planted a diverse mix of cool weather and summer crops. All at a time when the N America is suffering from an arctic freeze. My cool weater crops were doing fime until the temps hit 14 degrees for several days. Then not even my hoop covers could protect them. /shiver

Could that be the problem with your garden? Just a thought.

[Kittikity]

Central Florida.. It was actually 40 degrees this morning.. But most days are in the 60's or 70's.. Even in the 80's.. Christmas day I had to turn the a/c on..

[Kittikity]

Oh, the reason I picked most of those is because I thought those would be the most likely ones that we'd eat.. = )

[shebear]

Your soil looks sandy so a stirrup hoe will make the weeding very easy.

I've never had much luck with starting peppers in the garden. You just need a little seed starting mix and a plastic cup or empty plastic bottle or something you can put holes in and plant some seeds. As nice as it is there you can just put the cup outside near the house until they get some size to them and then plant them out. To discourage cutworms, insert a toothpick next to the stem so that it appears the stem is too big to the worm. Maybe put an old shingle or something to block the wind and hope for the best.

[Kittikity]

Actually, the soil is pretty thick.. Not quite clay, but definitely some clay in it.. We live in an area with many lakes and I'm sure this thick soil is part of what makes that possible.. I think the soil is my main problem.. The spot gets plenty of sun, watered daily (ok, almost daily), and the weather has been fair to warm.. I think that's why the bigger seeds like the corn, beans, and peas came up better.. The smaller seeds like the spinach, tomatos, and bell peppers either didn't sprout or only sprouted a little.. I planted that whole space but as you can see, most of it is pretty bare.. There also isn't much organic matter in it.. If I can't get a raised bed built by the time I plant again, I think I'm going to take the hay that the goats waste and use it as organic matter.. It will also half goat berries in it which should help fertilize it..

[Kittikity]

As for weeding, what is coming up is grass from when I dug up this spot.. With the thick soil, I have to almost till a spot with my spade before I can pull it out.. It took me about 3 hours just to do the half on the left..

[shebear]

Wow it doesn't look anything like our clay. They call it Blackland Prairie for a reason here. If it's summer it's hard and cracked like the bottom of those lakes in drought areas. When it rains, it turns to clay and looks just like a clump of black clay on a clay wheel. It's fertile but you have to add lots of compost and keep it mulched.

We also have bermuda grass.......I don't want to talk about that nightmare.

Yeah the hay will probably keep the weeds down if it's deep enough. You'll just have to do like I do and start the little seeds in cups. You get good at it after a while and it let's you try different varieties.

Looking forward to seeing your progress. Someday I'll post some pics. Hubby takes them and they disappear into the great computer file system.

[PJJ]

Kittikity,

I don't have a place to start seeds indoors either.:( We only have ONE window on the south side of our house and it is very small.

Check out this link I got off the Need4Seed yahoo group today. A wonderful lady named Iris posted it. You'll probably have to copy and paste to get it to work. It's a great seed starting shelf system that we can build ourselves.

http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/how-to/articles/nurture-seedlings-tiered-growing-stand.aspx?nterms=74878

I'm going to watch freecycle for 2X2's to make one. I think this system could be made rather cheaply if one uses recycled items.

Here's another link posted by Iris today.

http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/print.aspx?id=80518

Hope this helps.

By the way.....I love your goats!! I want goats again!

Penny

[gardengirl72]

First of all, it is negative something degrees here. It has destroyed most of my garden, so I am totally jealous of your garden as is.

Having said that, if it was up to me, I would mound my garden rows after this harvest adding in lots of organic material. And I mean lots. I would space my rows two feet apart and make them two feet wide. I would make the rows at least 18inches tall as well.

Lay straw between the rows for paths, and then never step on the mounded rows. Set up half the rows with verticle supports and the other half with mini row covers.

This will turn your garden into an old school French Biointensive garden which I PROMISE will be the envy of Florida with little money and work invested.

I figure with your climate three to four harvests is easily doable without starting anything indoors.

Really nice T-shirt by the way!

[Kittikity]

Thanks Patti.. Can't wait to try this method the next time around.. The next month will be hard because January, February, and March are our coldest months.. Will need to give everything some extra protection..

[plantoneonme]

I had very similar experiences with my first garden many, many years ago. I found out the hard way that it was better to begin again then to try to fight off the grass. The squash looks good so I would leave it alone but the rest I would, personally, till under. The reason is this...the grass is very difficult at this point to try to dig out between the little seedlings. Grass is a very hungry plant and will rob your seedlings of water and nutrients. It is easier to get out all the grass if you don't have to worry about being too careful.

This year I started with a grass and weed filled area in the front of my house. It took a week to get a 6'x30' bed cleared of the grass and weeds. I am so thankful that it did! I took my time and cleaned out ALL the grass and roots. I had very little to weed after all this work and a heavy layer of mulch.

Here is what I found was easiest to get a soil ready for planting...
dig an area about 2'x3'. Rake through the soil to remove as much grass and weeds as possible. Then I comb through again with my fingers to find any I missed and as many grass roots as possible. Continue doing small areas like this until finished.

Once all this work is done, I would work in as much compost and other organic material as I could find. Maybe you could get some good stuff from the people you got the goats from. The I would mound as Patti stated and plant. In between the rows, I would put down newspaper that I wet down in a wheelbarrel. Make the layers 6-8 papers thick. Then I would top with some of the organic matter I collected. Straw works well as does grass clippings and old weeds. The newspaper will smother any weeds that try to grow and you will have a much smaller area to worry about weeding later.

The areas around the squash, I would hoe well and use the newspaper treatment. The squash will stay off the ground and you won't have to worry about weeding between the squash vines.

Due to not wanting to go through all this work in the garden area and the fact that the area needs fill dirt badly, I made my vegetable garden in raised beds. I am going to expand this year and am saving my pennies. The area between the boxes will have the newspaper treatment to keep the grass down so I don't have to worry about mowing. I found local tree trimmers that will give me a truck load of wood chips which I will use between the rows.

I hope this doesn't discourage you but, this is how I learned. Kim

[plantoneonme]

Kittikity,

I don't have a place to start seeds indoors either.:( We only have ONE window on the south side of our house and it is very small.

Check out this link I got off the Need4Seed yahoo group today. A wonderful lady named Iris posted it. You'll probably have to copy and paste to get it to work. It's a great seed starting shelf system that we can build ourselves.

http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/how-to/articles/nurture-seedlings-tiered-growing-stand.aspx?nterms=74878

I'm going to watch freecycle for 2X2's to make one. I think this system could be made rather cheaply if one uses recycled items.

Here's another link posted by Iris today.

http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/print.aspx?id=80518

Hope this helps.

By the way.....I love your goats!! I want goats again!

Penny


Check out my blog. I have lettuce growing right now under a light that I paid less than $20. I works wonderful for growing seedlings in the spring as well. You could simply purchase the plain "shop light" from a place like Lowe's for under $10 and get the same results.

Kim

[plantoneonme]

Also, don't forget about winter sowing for those in colder areas. Kim

[Backyard Permaculture]

Years ago I found an easy way to get rid of Bermuda grass.

In warm climates, Bermuda , where established, is about the worst weed in the garden there is.

In 1997, in the backyard full of Bermuda Grass, I wanted to convert about 1/3 of the yard to a garden. But how to kill out the Bermuda????

I borrowed my dad's rototiller and dug up that area. Then I took enough of my chicken pen sections (see photo

http://www.gardengirltv.com/messageboard/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=60


Between the house and the back fence, separating the tilled area from the part of the yard to remain grass.

Then I put slave labor to work.

I put about 4 hens in that area that was dug up. The hens happily scratched through the loose dirt, eating the Bermuda Grass, leaves, stems, roots and rhizomes and all. The next six years or so I lived in that house, very little bermuda ever re-emerged again.

It took about 4 or 5 months. But worked better than any other method I have tried.

Yea for slavery

well, of chickens anyway

Ron

[battythe bantam]

Hello Kitty, saw your garden pic. you mention that you had goats. collect their poop and do two things, pile about 2 inches of goat poop onto your garden and before you plant in the spring, till in the poop. if you have horses or have access to some horse manure, get it and do the same thing as you did with the goat poop. the other haft of the poop you collect, put it in you compost pile. if you don't have a compost pile and don't know where to start, here is one of my favorite garden site.
http://www.plantea.com/compost-materials.htp
hope this information will help you.
Happy gardening, and have a nice day

[PJJ]

Check out my blog. I have lettuce growing right now under a light that I paid less than $20. I works wonderful for growing seedlings in the spring as well. You could simply purchase the plain "shop light" from a place like Lowe's for under $10 and get the same results.

Kim

Thanks for that information Kim. My biggest problem is a place in my home to do it. I have two cats and they like to get into things. lol I'll have to work on it. I so want to raise lettuce for winter use!

I do plan on wintersowing. I want to plant by the signs of the moon so I'll begin planting above ground crops on the 26th. I should have done it the first week of Jan. but was busy with other things.

Happy gardening,

Penny

[PJJ]

By the way Kim,

I've been following your blog. Nice job!

Penny

[Kittikity]

Well, looks like I'm going to have to till up the whole thing anyway.. We had a freeze last nite and the squash and the corn (the ones that were doing the best) got hit bad.. They're pretty much dead.. On a lighter note, now I'll be able to work in all that wasted hay from the goats, the goat manure, and soon some rabbit manure.. I'll wait to plant again in the spring..