Let's Talk about Gardens

@gingerw You go girl. Where do you find all the energy. Makes me tired just thinking of it . An looking forward to pictures of your garden . If you are'nt to tired by then .

Hello Jim,
I’m a list maker also,so much to get done in a day,and yes I cross off my accomplishments.
Now I understand why you use soaker hoses. You have a well on your property. Do you have a filter system on the well? I know very little about wells.
I have a totally landscaped hill in my back and side yard. There are high powered rain birds that throw the water back and forth up the hill. Everything else has a sprinkler system. You are correct the sprinklers give a good dose of water on the patio, and retaining walls, as well as dirt areas. There is no pool, or spa, but I do have large water features That require cleaning daily. I use a skimmer, then I’m sure many gallons of water to keep the level up.
During the fall and winter months I drain the water features, and tarp everything.
Saves a little on the water bill.
Your property must really be a labor of love. Why would you even think of moving in the future?
About the raised flower beds, very interesting. Are you going to build one?
I would be interested to buy a pre-made one. I worked with all the roses today, and cleared out old dried plants from the ceramic pots. I stop when my back starts to kill me.
I should go on line to see who has the raised beds.
I used to plant vegetables, but insects and wild life took over. Have yet to eat a fig from the fig trees.
Stay well.
Funcountess

@bjs06, Welcome to the garden! I remember when some of my friends were talking about haybale gardening. I don't remember if they ever tried it, though. I think they were planning to use a bale on the ground - nothing like these photos. These are quite interesting. Thank you for sharing the pictures as well as introducing us to the straw bale gardening. I am going to share these pictures with my daughter-in-law!

What do you plan to raise in your garden? Is your husband interested in gardening, or is he satisfied to be the raised garden builder?

Here is the site for Joel Karstens, the originator of the concept: https://strawbalegardens.com/
Any kind of tight straw bales will work (not hay!) but oat, rye & wheat straw are my favorites. I get mine from a nearby farm supply store or sometimes right from a local farmer - just make sure the bales are tight
Basically, you acquire the bales, put them in the sun & corral them (so they don't collapse as they compost), put down a soaker hose - preferably with a timer, add a trellis above, condition (jump start the composting process with a prescribed course of fertilizer and water) and plant. Stand back and watch it grow, tying up plants as needed.
Once planted there is little to no weeding, no soil-borne disease, out of reach of bunnies and clean veggies. And you can plant greens or flowers in the sides of the bales for extra yield. I started using bales because I only have one spot for my tomatoes, and was getting a lot of disease because I couldn't rotate where I planted.
My 7 bale row supports 5 tomato plants and 5 peppers, which is enough for fresh eating and a little freezing, plus a supply of fresh lettuce and basil (in the sides). It is wrapped with a 30" X 50' roll (I think) of green wire fencing (not chicken wire) held by 4' steel fence posts at the corners and about every 7-8'. My plan for next year is a second row of bales where I will plant potatoes in the sides and bush beans on the top.
It's a wonderful choice for sites with poor soil, and as the bales decompose, you take the resulting compost and spread on other gardens before you put in new bales.
Sue

We would be using straw bales this year (such a wonderful experience - thanks to Joel Karstens) but it does take quite a bit of work at the beginning. Getting the bales, positioning/anchoring them, seasoning them for 10 days, getting the trellises set up, setting up the timed drip watering hoses, etc., but after that (:-))...you just mainly enjoy watching it grow. I suppose any garden takes a lot of work at the beginning? We always used fabric/plastic so we wouldn't have to weed before...that always took time.

My hubby was recently diagnosed with colon cancer and had surgery in April so he can't lift more than 10 lbs for a while longer. Our gardening plans have changed drastically. We start the appointments with the Chemo doctors in June. Our kids will be helping to build the raised bed garden. The therapy we both get from gardening will be well worth it, I'm sure. I'll be keeping my eyes on my naughty bunnies! Nothing like gardening to focus on God's beautiful earth amid all this Covid-19 and cancer stuff!

Loved hearing how you taught your nephews this method & winning a prize! My 9 year old grandson has been so fascinated by our straw bale gardens...this year he's going to help us with the build & plant the raised beds ♡ Can't wait!

Happy gardening everyone!

This is the book I purchased to get going on straw bale gardening. A wonderful resource!

@bjs06 No doubt the comfort of being outside to do some gardening, or setting up, will be beneficial to you both. The "everyday-ness" of such activity brings joy. I am wishing you both support and best wishes.

This straw bale gardening thing is so great to think about! I guess it is not too late for me to get started on it. Figuring out where to place it as afar as light requirements go. Question I have for you and @sueinmn is, what happens after the growing season? Does the bale garden get broken down, or covered and reused another year?

"Naughty bunnies" laughing, and picturing a group of Rogue Rabbits!
Ginger

@funcountess I don't currently have a filter in the water line, but I plan to put one in this year. The pump company did some work on the well both in 2018&19. One thing they did was install an automatic shut off so the well doesn't empty completely.

Gardening is good therapy for me, being out in the sun, being productively active. This has been a good year for my yard work, as I have been doing jobs in March and April that I don't usually do until June - weeding and spring cleaning, final prep on the planting hills, and getting the water system in place. I always pick up the soakers and winter them in the barn, so they last longer.

When we bought the place, the previous owner had started building a water feature, but I didn't like the way it looked or its location. I had a man grading the quarter mile driveway and putting gravel down when I first became the owner, and I asked him to dig up the ugly mess with his backhoe and put everything in a pile out of sight. It's become my resource for rocks and dirt when I need it somewhere. I'm glad I didn't ask him to haul it away. Now it's a mixed bed with two yellow and one white flowering potentila, white peony, snapdragons that come up every year, some iris, coral bells, wild prickly poppy, artemesia, daylillies, daffodils, tulips, sand mounds of succulents and kinikinick, mostly protected by a large pine tree. I just tuck new plants in when I get them. No outdoor work today because it's been raining. I don't mind a day off. The work will still be there tomorrow.

I've never done raised beds. Our son made some as a father-daughter project this year. I don't think that the bale beds would work for me. I fenced in a 50x50' corner of the back yard to keep the deer and dogs out, and filled it with permanent trees and shrubs and perennials and reserved areas for vegetables. They coexist well. Some things I have to keep pruned back because they encroach on the paths.

Moving to town isn't something we plan to do until I get to the point where I can't keep the place up. If I die first, it would be best if I could have an estate sale, so our kids wouldn't have to deal with so much stuff. My father lived until he was 76, and my mother was 84. My wife's family lived quite a bit longer, so odds are she'll outlive me.

So, the plan is to stay put as long as we can. I call it our final resting place.

@jimhd Those flowers sound lovely Have you ever posted a picture of them? Id love to see them You are a real gardner with all the flowers and vegies does your wife do any canning?

@lioness My wife used to do quite a bit of canning - tomatoes and fruit, but now she only does tomatoes as supply gets low. She freezes anything that comes in abundance - peppers, peaches, pears - and when she cooks a large casserole or batch of spaghetti sauce, she freezes half to enjoy it another day. Same with meatloaf. Makes a triple batch and freezes two. We have a cellar that stays between 45 and 60 all year, so we keep potatoes and onions down there, along with lots of other things. I keep my paint there, too, so it doesn't freeze. It's kind of a multipurpose pantry.

Jim

I just got a new laptop with my stimulus check, so I'm having to figure out how to use it. A lot of things are differentt. If I can, I'll post a few pictures. I did manage to transfer everything from my old laptop, and my photos are in Googe Photos cloud, accessible from anywhere.