These are my raised beds, part II

Travelling south...no bed YET (in this shot.)

I KNEW that there was a slab of cement here. Originally a wooden corner post was here, but we straightened out our fencelines when we re-did the property in 2008. I didn't know that it was nearly 3 foot deep!! =0
HOPEFULLY, this will be moved in the next few weeks. I'll put in a row of tomatoes, then rotate tomatoes out for a few years. I've found that vounteer tomatoes don't have a good root system, and potting them will encourage them to fill the pots and transplant better anyway. (This is a 5 x 12 area and will NOT be a raised bed in 2011--probably will be in 2012.)

In 2010 I had 2 rows of tomatoes growing here

--3 x 12 NEW raised bed
20 cucumbers are planted. It looks like a cucumber desert, but not after this weekend. The top layer of dirt came from horse turnout that I tilled Sunday and carried in with my wheelbarrow--16 loads!! I dug/tilled one spade deep and removed the dirt. Then I dug/tilled one MORE spade deep and left it. I dug 2 1/2 feet down, 3 1/2 wide, and 12 foot long. Therefore I removed 105 cubic foot of dirt from all 4 of my new raised beds. I threw in some burnable thorny brush, used egg shells (from my first batch of "egg-chicks"), more used egg shells (breakfast) and started to fill this morning. I tilled the older adult chicken enclosure and filled the bottom layer with this. Dimensions are 3 1/2 ft long (2 x 8's) with 2 x 8 supports, and the sides will be (2) 12 ft long (2 x 8's).

Last year I fenced in a forest of tomatoes in the spots that I now have 3 beds. THAT is why I had so many volunteers THIS year!!

The next 3 beds are ALL 3 1/2 ft wide with sides made by connecting (2) 6 ft long, 5 in. high (1/2 inch wide) privacy fencing wood.
(It's cheap. =b )
Travelling further south...
--3 1/2 x 12 NEW raised bed

This is what they looked like 3 weeks ago. They are now 15 inches wide, and I have at least 2 baby zucchinis growing!
Dug/tilled deep (like above). Connected old wooden lattice and border fencing in the center. I planted pole beans, lima beans, wax beans and peas around them. MOST are up about 4 inches. I also planted 7 store bought zucchini. I planted 2 more Jalepenos here, as well. Threw in marigold seeds here, too.
Zucchini for July 4th!! (I hope...)

--3 1/2 x 12 NEW raised bed

2011 Cabbage Bed
Dug/tilled deep. I ran around town (looking for bargains) and it took about a month to plant red and green cabbages. I surrounded them with onion starts and threw in some turnip seeds I bought by mistake. My cabbages look like out of a magazine.
Yesterday's surprise--one of them turned out to be a cauliflower.

--3 1/2 x 12 NEW raised bed, Furthest south

2011 Beet Bed
Dug/tilled deep. THIS was my first correct raised bed. I sowed beets and surrounded them with onion starts on the border of the bed. MUCH to my surprise I grew over 50 volunteer tomatoes. I've been gradually removing the best of them and replanting elsewhere. Just this morning I potted the last of them. 8 were sitting in water in two 5-gallon paint buckets and survived. 27 are potted and (hopefully) growing new roots. If they live, they can wait to be planted...even after July 4th, if necessary.
For more Great information about raised beds I recommend the following article from the University of Missouri's Extension Office:
http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=G6985
"To double dig prior to establishing a raised bed, remove all the soil from the bed one spade's depth. Dig the next layer, leaving the soil in place. Return the topsoil to the bed and thoroughly mix the layers. Double digging permits deper rooting by plants growing in the bed."

What's Bugging you?

I CANNOT handle commercial insecticides. I am highly allergic, my body tries to stop my breathing, my eyes swell up and it takes me three days to recover fully. Does THIS sound like you? I didn't have to look hard to find sites on natural insecticides. If you can stand the following around your eyes--
cloves, garlic, lemon eucalyptus, citronella, geraniums, fennel, thyme, celery, neem oil, diatomaceous earth, cedar or apple cider vinegar--you can safely try them.
Check out these sites:
http://www.consumersearch.com/insect-repellent/natural-insect-repellent
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/aznaturalremedyindex/a/mosquito.htm
http://eartheasy.com/live_natpest_control.htm
http://www.ehow.com/video_4994300_make-natural-insect-repellent.html
http://www.ehow.com/video_4400329_lemon-eucalyptus-natural-insect-repellent.html
http://www.gaiam.com/category/eco-home-outdoor/pest-control.do?SID=WG102SPRTAPEMACS&code=AFLOGO75&extcmp=ps_b_nb

Homemade Pesticide Recipes

I'm growing hot peppers PRIMARILY to kill bugs. (The weeds can always be pulled or cut, and certainly mowed and mulched.) BUT, I didn't know how to mix the concoction, so I did a web search. I found my recipes in the first 5 hits, so a LOT of gardeners must have figured it out.

These are the ingredients used in many of these recipes: Alcohol, Ammonia, Salt,
Lime, Oil, Olive Oil, Orange Peel,(Castile) Soap,
Hot Pepper,

Garlic,


Horseradish,


Peppermint,


Spearmint,


EVEN Tomatoes,

Potatoes,


Yarrow


and Tobacco.


EVERY ingredient is healthy for me to handle. WhatEVER Raid puts in their bottle that attacks the insect's nerves is the same thing that makes my throat close up. I am pretty sure that RoundUp would do the same. Funny...I can wipe RepelEx, which contains Pymethrins, all over my face and I get no reaction.

I am growing hot peppers, garlic, peppermint, spearmint, AND tomatoes, potatoes, (strawberry) yarrow and I have 3 healthy tobacco plants.

Pumpkins

They are UP!! IF I get ANYthing like 2010 (below), I'll be happy.

Homegrown Baby Chicks

We hatched out 8 Welsummer/Rhode Island Red cross baby chicks one week ago. Unfortunately one didn't make it, but we set up 14 eggs.


First Hatchling

4 hatchlings

All 7 Survivors

10 were fertile, 2 stopped developing at some point, and 2 "baked" in the incubator. Of the 7 survivors, 5 are hale and hearty, and two are small, but they're hanging on. Wonder how many are roosters...?
Here are my 2010 RIR's that I bought.

Some pretty cute chicks, too...

Hot Peppers

While planting my sweet pepper bed, I decided to tuck in some hot peppers. Unbeknownst to me I bought one more 3-pack of sweet, instead of the extra pack of hot peppers that I had intended to buy. I couldn't count on remembering which was which by just labeling the rows. So...I decided that each hot pepper plant needed labeling. I don't know about you but I buy a LOT of things on clearance that I think I might use in the future. One such purchase was a 100-pack of plastic plant markers, 6 inches tall x 1/2 inch wide, white. I took some bright red spray paint and painted most of one side to mark each label. After drying I stuck them in the ground, to the north of all of my hot peppers. I have nearly 20 Jalepeno's and...some other hot pepper, marked to be "The Hottest of the Hot" peppers in the world! ...I'm not that impressed. I just know that they will make great Salsa, and superb hot pepper spray.
BTW, If you do NOT garden, I can assure you that the plants look pretty much identical. AND, if you plant the species, "Ancho Problano", the fruit LOOKS like a green or red sweet pepper! In 2010 I had some of these volunteer in my bed. I didn't know this until I was preparing stuffed peppers. I usually like to cut the tops off and snack around the stems while I'm stuffing--'cause they're so tasty. Man, I think I consumed a whole pint's worth of vanilla yogurt trying to kill the burn!!
I THINK that maybe we weren't REALLY supposed to eat these plants! =b

Sweet Corn is sprouting!

Three "mound-beds" have sweet corn up!! My last mound needs more dirt, but it should be finished and planted tonight. I also have the following coming up: watermelon, hubbard squash, acorn squash, pole beans, and maybe, cantaloupe. I WILL have some cantaloupe after I plant the two clearance plants I bought last week. Their pots are sitting in water in the shade and they look pretty good. I'll tuck them in my cucumber bed tonight.
It's almost time to cook up some hot pepper spray to kill aphids. Those rotten aphids and the bacterial wilt that they carry, took ALL of my 2010 squashes!!!!

Cucumber Bed Finished!

FINALLY, after hauling in 16 very large wheelbarrow loads, I put in 12 baby cucumber plants. This is a miniscule amount compared to a few years back--when the 55 x 65 horse training area was a garden. Back then, I must have planted nearly one hundred, and most came up. This year the "wedding" messed up my plans, so I was forced to buy cucumbers. I did get them on clearance, where you often lose a few because they're so pot-bound.
My bed is 3 1/2 x 12 ft. made from 2 x 10's on the East and West, and
12 foot 2 x 8's, so it's deeper than any of the other beds.
SOON, after I get my campaigned-for personal point-and-click camera, I'll be able to edit my posts and show you pictures. Promise!
These were my 2010 cucumbers. AWFUL! Then, it got worse--they were attacked and got bacterial wilt.

"Equus" erased!

FINALLY, a puppet play about horses to erase the sicko play, "Equus". It's called, "War Horse," and is a sweet tale about a British boy seperated from his horse during WW I.

This play just won some Tony Awards.
(Sweet Cuppin' Cakes, Moon-Eyes (("Cindy-Lou",)) and Buster Brown would surely approve, if they could stand in the aisle and watch the show.)