Monday, May 18, 2009

FBF in HMB! Part 4

Last Friday was the assembly of the "greenhouse" part of the raised boxes. To do that, I bought polywoven plastic used for greenhouses in the northeast that is supposed to be able to withstand gale force winds, as the side of our house where we put the boxes tends to act a bit like a wind tunnel when we have storms. This is me measuring out the plastic.

My design for the "greenhouse" is to allow it to be pulled over the boxes, but also to be able to furl the plastic when the days are warm and when we are working in the garden and don't want to have to negotiate our way around it.

So, I cut the plastic to the right length to cover the boxes while allowing for approximately 3-ft. high plants in each box. Then, I wrapped the plastic around a 1"x2" redwood slat and screwed it to the fence. Leon installed 2"x3" uprights at the edges of each box, on each of which we put a u-shaped bracket. I put a 1"x2" redwood slat in the bracket to create a sort of frame, pulled the plastic over the top of it, then put another slat in the frame so it stays anchored and taught. We installed cleats on the fence and on the boxes so that we can either tie down the plastic and secure it when we want to use the "greenhouse" or we can roll and furl the plastic when we are working on the garden or it is sunny.



Here are boxes 4 & 5 unfurled.




Here they are furled.








We had plans over the weekend, so we didn't get to work much on the planter boxes, though I finished up the installation of the plastic on Sunday.
Today (Monday), however, I was determined to get the soil in and plant the garden. Mom recommended a blend of a third each of soil, peat moss, and compost/manure. Because I got soil that was already mixed with compost, I blended about 60% soil, 27% peat moss, and 13% steer manure/compost. I'm guestimating on those percentages, but I think it looked about like that.



Leon came home and helped bring in the last of the dirt, and then we got to PLANT!!!

Last week I put together a planting plan based upon the book called Great Garden Companions by Sally Jean Cunningham (thanks for the great reference, Mom!). I followed the recommendations made in the book about combining certain flowers with vegetables to fight off bad insects and encourage good ones. I'm also delighted to think about having an assortment of flowers I can pick to decorate our house!






Leon and I planted cucumbers, watermelon, basil, cilantro, peas, beans, squash, garlic, lettuce, onions, carrots, beets, and spinach. We interspersed them with sunflowers, marigolds, wildflowers, and nasturtiums. Tomorrow I'll pick up three small tomato plants, and I'm presently growing four peppers from seed, both of which I'll add to the basil bed.





Here's our "salad" box. I got the heirloom red and white pinwheel beets that I really, really hope grow okay. And we have TONS of onions....too many to plant, so maybe I'll be shipping some to Idaho.


Finished up the planting and lowered the "greenhouse" to tuck the little seedlings in for the night. It can still get cold here -- while it was 80 degrees yesterday and sunny, today it was overcast and in the mid-60's and it is expected to dip below 50 degrees tomorrow night. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this will work for the little plants!

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