Survivor Garden - NoDig (56k warning) "NOW WITH 100%UPDATES"

[difeq]

I have been following this thread, I have an acre of land and have built my own raised gardens as well (I am in Clay central part of NC, and nothing grows. ) So far I have 2 beds and will build more as I can. I have a compost bin as well, wanted to pass along this site that has been a huge help to me. http://www.instructables.com/green There is most stuff about composting on there than you think, they have everything. Hope it helps someone.

[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

Thanks Difeq, I'll check out that part of Instructables and thanks for following the thread.

My very good friend Cymro has told me a lot about the quality of the soil or lack thereof in NC. I've reccomended raised beds for his (and GerryAgnosia's) situation as well (Wilmington). As you've discovered yourself the only way to fix truly poor soil is to make your own good stuff right over the top of the bad stuff.
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[sheddi]

The pics were taken yesterday and the day before. If you compare the photos from this update to the photos in the previous updates you can see how much "flush" of growth there has been. The fruit has either increased greatly in size, number or both.

Mmm, nice melons.

[Real_Ale_Act]

Any updates?

How are the new additions doing (tomatoes, peas, peppers)? Have you been able to harvest any of those melons yet?

Has the mint taken over yet, or are the others suppressing it well enough? I'm particularly interested in that since the only time I've ever seen mint coexist peacefully with anything it was in a dahlia bed - the dahlias grew so vigorously from their tubers in late summer that the mint couldn't keep them back.

How much time is left in your growing season?

[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

Thanks Sheddi!

Any updates?

Why yes. Here's one coming along right now.

How are the new additions doing (tomatoes, peas, peppers)?

Pretty good. You have to remember that there were these guys in the garden before I added the new ones but everybody is doing okay. The new tomatoes took off well and caused enough competition that the columnar basil and the tarragon especially had to kick it up a notch.

^ SnowPeas. You can see a Capsicum and a Chilli plant in the pic as well.







^ Cherry Tomatoes (both old and new)


^ Capsicum growing in the understorey.

Have you been able to harvest any of those melons yet?

Driven by your question I isolated a promising melon from the herd and performed the following field expedient ritual...







...which sadly shows that while there is some colour coming through they are still not quite ready. Another 2 weeks maybe given good hot weather.

Has the mint taken over yet, or are the others suppressing it well enough? I'm particularly interested in that since the only time I've ever seen mint coexist peacefully with anything it was in a dahlia bed - the dahlias grew so vigorously from their tubers in late summer that the mint couldn't keep them back.?

^ Mint. Still contained by plants more aggressive and hungry for sunlight and real estate than it is [Don't try this at home kids].

How much time is left in your growing season?

About a month and a half kindasorta I'm thinking. Either way there's enough time to bump up the K in the soil profile to finish anything off if it needs it.

Also it's time to get some winter curcs (Queensland Blue and JAP pumpkins) ready to plant out.

There has been plenty of culinary herbiage harvested on a daily basis (Basil, Tarragon, Parsley, Chives, Mint, Thyme, Oregano)...


^ Chives and Parsley growing in the understorey.

We have been eating Tomatoes and SnowPeas as well.

Also feasted on Rockmelons (and there's plenty to go)...





And there's plenty of watermelons still on the vines...




And the Butternut Pumpkins are doing their thing and should be ready soon...







^ Tarragon flowers iz so purty.



^ It's a monster.

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[Real_Ale_Act]

That looks outstanding! Thanks for the update. Those tomatoes look like a nest of red birds' eggs in the picture.

It makes my fingers itch to see all this gardening going on and not be able to take part. At least I can enjoy it vicariously through these garden threads.

[Emberfox]

Wow! o.o i had no idea you could get that many plants in one space.
I iz jelus.
Great thread

[Howl]

Looks like a nice set up you got there Tetra Grammaton Cleric. You've given me some good ideas for my garden. I'm from WA as well and am working on a garden of my own, when it's daylight i will take some pictures and post them although mine is still a work in progress. Keep up the good work, I like your style.

[NightWatch]

I love this thread.

[One Of None]

Awesome job! Enjoyed following the progress of the garden.

[hushpossum]

What fun! Will any of these plants be able to overwinter, or will you just start fresh next growing season?

[thefirebuilds]

I built one. Lookie!















Now how do I get my dog to stop eating the damn tomatoe leaves and throwing up all over. I thought he would have figured out they were poisonous a little sooner.

[gardener]

Our dogs (when we had them) used to graze on whatever of our veggies they could get through the fence - said (wire) fence being a necessity to keep them out. They never got sick from the veggies, though.

[thefirebuilds]

Well it turns out the lab has contracted some kind of virus and now has bronchitis from the dog park. Actually nothing from the veggies.

[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

Since Permaculture is alive and well in ZS-land might as well self bump this old chestnut.
Kindly start at page one please - T'will make much more sense that way...

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[doc66]

Reread this. Made me want to start my own raised bed... but it's too late in the season, really. I hate moving. Next year if the Myans don't get their way. Or was it the Incas...Aztecs?

[whisk.e.rebellion]

Hall of fame'd!

[slannesh]

I really enjoyed reading this one, was one of many sources I took inspiration from to start my own raised bed garden.

Any updates for following years? Did you use the same bed again and rotate crops?

[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

Hall of fame'd!

Holy crap!

**removes pre-prepared speech from pocket**

"I'd like to thank the Academy. This honour means you tolerate me, you really tolerate me. Thank you."



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[CptSmashy]

Alrighty... dammit... I'm going to finally have to get busy and start this whole gardening thing. Sigh...

[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

I really enjoyed reading this one, was one of many sources I took inspiration from to start my own raised bed garden.

Any updates for following years? Did you use the same bed again and rotate crops?

Sorry I missed your post before Champion, I got caught up in the moment of the Hall of Fame thing... y'know, the girls the ZS Board sent around to my house with the champagne and the flowers (and their heavily armed & armoured minders ), the red carpet, the talk show circuit, the photo opportunitys at the White House vegetable garden, the thread signings, guest appearances on prepper youtube channels, the week of partying in Miami with Rudy, that whole waking up in an alley somewhere in Nevada next to a dead hooker (again), the life of a ZS Hall of Famer is just one big glamorous stripperglitter filled tornado but now I'm back catching my breath and drying out a little I can answer your post...



Alas, I'm pretty sure the folks I set that one up for let it die, which was a shame because I had about four different varieties of winter pumpkins growing out in pots including Queensland Blue and JAP's ready to replace the Butternuts, Watermelons, etc. All they would have had to do is pull out the unproductive curcubits and tomatoes, chucked 'em on the bricks, grabbed the compost out of the bin I set up and layered/top dressed it around the remaining plants, planted in the Curcs from the pots and mulched over the top with some fresh hay and the train would have kept on a-rollin'. Easy.

Layered the old plants on the bricks with some new hay in the compost bin, watered both the garden and the bin with the fish emulsion, etc mix and yeehah. Easy.

So when I say let "let it die" I mean let the system die. Like I said repeatedly throughout the thread a no-dig garden is a whole system... you don't water the plants you water the system... you don't feed the plants you feed the system... you don't fertilise the plants you fertilise the system, etc. etc... so, yeah... a shame, but watchya gonna do, right?

I had photos somewhere of the meals we cooked up with the Butternuts. One in particular I will always treasure the memory of... Two of those summer pumpkins sliced lengthwise, rubbed with butter and a little salt in a roasting tray with a little garlic fed three adults and two children (two familys basically) in the best meal ever... nothing else just the two pumpkins... truly a survivor's bounty.

Alrighty... dammit... I'm going to finally have to get busy and start this whole gardening thing. Sigh...

Sounds good, get on it.

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[sheddi]

Re-reading this thread had been a right ol' trip down memory lane

In 2010, us Sheddis got in on the act in a limited way with potatoes and carrots in planters on the patio paving, sunflowers, and pumpkins and courgettes (zucchini) growing free-range in the lawn borders.

Everything did really well; we got about half-a-dozen foot-or-more-diameter pumpkins, about 40lbs of potatoes, a decent crop of carrots, the sunflowers did well (although we didn't eat the seeds in the end) and the courgettes went completely wild to the extent we were fed up of eating them by the end of autumn! There's a bit of a shortage of photos but here's a sample.

Planters in the spring (early May):


Pumpkins in the autumn (late September):


Last year various Real Life events got in the way of gardening. This year unfortunately the British spring and summer have been so wet that the slugs have eaten everything (Mrs Sheddi refuses to use slug bait in case it poisons the local wildlife.)

Roll on Spring 2013!

[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

S'awesome Sheddi ol' buddy. Good job!

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[TacAir]

S'awesome Sheddi ol' buddy. Good job!

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TGC - quick question

Biochar - good as a layer for a garden, or too much of a good thing?

Also - sunshine, I'm so jealous....