dadadadio | Entries tagged with garden

I took Friday off to work on my garden project. I dug a 40" x 40" hole about a foot deep in the hard caliche. I picked up some 4x4x8 lumber to constuct a foundation around my hole. Once my 4x4 was level I mounted the raised bed kit on top. The metal stakes that hold the corners in place go through the foundation into the ground. It's a solidly built bed, just over 20" deep.
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I used 1x1 stakes to build a frame above my little garden. The stakes are secured to the sides of the bed. I ran three 1/4" water lines up the frame for automatic misters. I also have two sprinkler lines at earth level. Water will not be a problem. The frame will also be used to hold a sun screen. I will not bake another plant.

Today I filled the bed with 8 bags of organic garden soil, 2 bags of steer manure, and a bag of peet moss. I tossed in a bag of organic shit mix, bat guano, chicken manure, worm casing, oysters and all kinds of yummy composted materials. It's official, Michelangelo is a shit eater. He can't keep his face out of the soil. He licks manure! And I thought the cat shit was bad.

Six little tomato plants have a new home, two Romas, plum, cherry and Sunfires which are supposed to be heat tolerant. The sprinkler test was a success. We potted Jalepeno, Habanero and Anaheim chile peppers. Some of those will be repotted when we get some larger vessels.

I have invested far more time and money into this project than previous attempts to grow tomatos in our urban desert. A friend wished me good luck. I replied, "I don't need luck, it's a matter of commitment." I will not fail this time.

The next step is to level the earth around the bed to build a small garden patio.

There were three lantana here last week. They took over the whole section of yard and what do I get out it? Yard work. That's all lawns, flowers and shrubs give you. If I'm going to put the sweat and $$ into a yard project, I want fruits for my labor, tomatos, veggies, herbs .... food for our table.
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This is the start of the patio/garden project . All the soil must be imported. We have shit soil in the city, hard caliche. Tomatos are going in the 4x4 raised bed. I'll build a wood frame above that bed for shade cloth and misters.

That's Mikey's butt. It's always in the way.

That pile of landscape rocks was a pain in my back to move. I'll be putting down flat patio stones. There will be several large and medium pots with hot peppers, herbs. I'll tap into the water system main line to run misters and sprinklers. We have a wall to build and a trellis to assemble.
Those two small pots represent where the wall will be.

We picked up several bags of organic garden soil, manure, and compost to fill the bed. Some plants are ready for their new home. That pile of landscape rocks was a pain in my back to move.