The '09 "garden"

The New Egyptian Garden in 2009 was planted in containers or pots. Yes, a pot farm. This was because plans were afoot to move and it wouldn't be very smart to put a garden in the ground and then have to tear it up or leave it behind when we bought a house and moved out. The pot farm was in the front yard instead of the back yard. This kept the animals off the plants so I lost none to animals. Well I suppose squash vine borers are technically animals and they took out the squash plants once again (despite BT treatments) before they could mature but the slugs, rabbits, deer and groundhogs were disappointed.

All in all the container garden was a fair success with the exception of the squash plants. I had to do very little weeding and the soil was free of countless tiny violet bulbs (AKA the "boogers") that proliferated in the back yard. The Red Lightning tomatoes were a bit on the small side and there was not a great yield but the Brandywine and Beefsteak were very successful. I attribute this to the fact that the latter were in much larger containers than the former.

The beans were a moderate success and overgrew their neighboring plants in a big tangle making it difficult to find the produce. I also had a couple broccoli plants that had survived from the previous season in my workshop and although I didn't expect much from these plants I got a couple small heads. The basil and oregano grew well in their rectangular planters and provided welcome additions to tomato sandwiches.

I modified the automatic watering system that I had set up in '08 and it worked well. The container soil was a mixture of generous amounts of peat and pearlite with the previous years garden soil. I know, the experts say never use actual soil from the ground in containers but I worked so hard on that soil that I couldn't resist and besides it would have been too costly to buy all the ingredients to fill all those containers. Call me a cheapskate but one of my main reasons for planting a garden in the first place is to save money by growing my own produce. Ray Magliozzi calculated that after he got done buying all the necessary garden supplies each tomato he harvested cost him about $11.00



I should have taken more pictures. Here is the Beefsteak tomato plant in May.












The pepper plants. They did well in spackle buckets.















The Beefsteak plant in early June. Just after this it started setting fruit.











This is what it's all about. It's a Brandywine.

Pictures from '07 and '08

A side bed that where I attempted to grow corn on '08. Too much shade and too many pests made for an almost total failure.







The rain barrel. It filled up completely during one particularly rainy weekend.









Grass. See I actually can grow grass if I want to. I planted it to cover up a particularly bare spot adjacent to the main garden.




A strawberry blossom.




























Chicken wire being used to keep pests off spinach.












Spuds. You can see that the All Blues actually have bluish foliage.

























Notice the bean plants at the left. I later constructed a trellis which these plants climbed. They met another set of climbing beans in the middle over the center isle.









































































The "lawn" next to the main garden. Here you can see the violets ("boogers") that spread uncontrollably and caused me no end of aggravation trying to remove them when cultivating the soil.










Here we see "muleweed." It looked like horseradish, spread like horseradish but the tuberous roots, which were shaped like horseradish roots, had no heat and were yellowish. Horseradish is white.









Grapes. They were growing there when we moved in. They produced tint red grapes which weren't much good because of either lack of cultivation or because they were too old.



My technique of killing the weeds and grass by laying a tarp on the ground for a prolonged period. This is one of the side gardens where I grew spaghetti squash.









Parsley



































Broccoli Raab









Limas and wax Beans which were devoured by some animal before they could mature.










Potato flowers.


























































Snowpeas and Sugar Snap Peas.

Raised beds

As you can see from past year's gardens I do raised beds. There are many reasons why raised beds are advantageous and I won't go try to explain them now. This isn't a how-to site it's a chronicle. If you want to know the advantages of raised beds there are innumerable web sites and books about such things. I was first turned on to them by the TV show "Square Foot Gardening," it's no longer on the tube but there is a book of the same name by the host and creator of the show, Mel Bartholomew.

I have been pondering just how I shall construct the raised beds in the new garden. For the New Egyptian Garden I bought the cheapest 1/2" plywood I could find, cut it into 2' X 4' sections and painted it white with a non toxic paint. When I pulled the down many had started to rot. I think I may have been able to get another two years out of them if they had been left undisturbed but some would definitely have rotted through in that amount of time.

I have been weighing the options and scouring the net and books for various materials. There are advantages and disadvantages to all of them. I want something that will last and look good. However the first priority is that they must function well, appearance is secondary. Ease of construction and cost are also major considerations.

Metal:

I found a couple sites where people had used corrugated steel and recycled diamond plate. While durable and strong metal has two big disadvantages; it is not as easy to work with as wood and it has no insulation factor. Indeed it is an excellent conductor of heat. This means that when it is hot and the sun is beating on it the plant's roots that are in contact with it will die and it will heat the soil excessively thus drying it out.

The bed at right looks more like a watering trough on a stock farm than a raised bed. Indeed, I believe this bed was being used for some industrial agricultural application.



Plastic:

Corrugated composites like fiberglass and other plastics are out of the question, particularly in an organic garden, because plastics always shed small amounts of toxic chemicals called plasticizers. And, like metal there is almost no insulating value. The synthetic deck materials, like Trex, (above) would have good to excellent insulating value but again, they are plastic and will shed toxins.


Stone and concrete:
 
a. Stone would certainly be pretty but the cost and labor makes it prohibitive. I might consider it if the garden were located someplace like New Hampshire where there is lots of free stone laying around free for the taking. In addition the walls would have to be pretty thick. This is good thermally and even though I have lots of space I don't want to use up a lot of it with raised bed walls that are nearly a foot thick. Concrete block and brick has the same drawbacks.


b. Concrete is a possibility. It can have an insulating factor if mixed with something like vermiculite or pearlite but I have never worked with concrete and it seems to me that these comparative light materials would float to the top of the wet concrete before it sets. Building the forms and casting the bed frames sounds like an awful lot of work as well. They certainly would be durable and might not look too bad. Concrete can be made in many colors and can be patterned to look like stone, brick or whatever. It's worth thinking about and doing some more research.





Very attractive but holy smokes! It looks like an awful lot of work.








Wood:
Wood seems to be still the best bet. It's insulating value, ease of construction, appearance and cost put it over the top.

a. Dimensional lumber: This is usually spruce, pine or fir.
It's a pretty good bet for this use. It's sole green and kiln dried. It's beyond me why anyone would but green wood and it's no good for this use either as it we want to keep water out of the wood to prevent rot.



b. Sheet wood. I use this a lot in my trade so I know more about it than the average bear.
1. Plywood: There are many grades of plywood; construction grade, cabinet grade, marine grade, etc,. Cabinet grade is just too expensive. Marine grade seems like it should be the logical choice as it has waterproof glue but it is also expensive and the construction grade that I have used had no problem with de-lamination as, I suppose, the glue is at least water resistant as buildings, of course, have to resist the elements. One might worry about the glues used being toxic but as I'll be painting it and the glue is inside the sheet - only wood is exposed at the surface - it's toxicity is not worth worrying about.

2. Particle board. This term describes the classic particle board which looks like it is made from common sawdust (because it is) but also describes flakeboard, oriented strand board and medium density fiberboard. These materials are not a consideration for use in gardening mostly because they absorb water like a sponge and have too many toxic chemicals in them.

3. Other solid woods:
I'd use teak, mahogany, redwood or eucalyptus if I could get it cheap enough but one would have to be rich to use these woods to make raised garden beds.


Cedar is a good choice as it is rot resistant and a lower grade, not acceptable for cabinetry, might be fairly inexpensive. It might be worth checking into. Pine and other inexpensive softwoods are no cheaper than dimensional lumber as far as I know but that's another thing I'll have to check in to. It may be cheaper to use one 10" by 1" pine plank instead of two 2 X 6s which would in actually measure about 10" together. Again, I'll check.

This wood looks like red cedar. The brackets are a kit from a catalog and they are, like most gardening catalog stuff these days, expensive. Between them and the red cedar someone must have very deep pockets.The example on the upper left looks like white cedar. It also looks pretty pricey.

What to grow (and what not to grow)

Ok, this is more or less a list to myself of what I want to grow. If anyone actually reads this please feel free add some suggestions or comments.

1. Tomatoes. I always grow tomatoes. It's that simple. I figure half a dozen plants will do it because if I grow more plants than that I'll end up with way too many tomatoes like I did in '07. The varieties that I like are the ones that are not available in the stores and roadside stands, they all grow some variation of Rutgers because they are tough fruits that withstand shipping. The skins are thick and they aren't very tasty. Even the tomatoes billed as Beefsteak in the stores are a big disappointment as they are either lying about the variety or they are picked green. In addition they don't even look like Beefsteaks. Besides, I like growing great big, huge tomatoes. Perhaps I'll go for record setter by doing that trick of selecting one plant and pinching off all but a couple blossoms so it devotes all it's energy to one or two fruits.

a. Beefsteak and Supersteak - big, "sandwich tomatoes."

b. Red Lightening or the equivalent. That's a Burpee name and other seed companies give the same variety another name. They are medium sized and really tasty. They look like they are hand painted with orange streaks. I grew some last year but they were a little disappointing as the Spackle buckets I grew them in were really too small to be growing any kind of tomato plant in.

e. Brandywine: Mr. Patterson sold me a Brandywine plant last year and said it was the original New Jersey tomato. I have no reason to doubt him and they were really nice tomatoes. Mucho tastyo. I used a much larger container for this plant as well and attribute a lot of the success to that.

d. Other: Maybe some yellow maters - Yellow Magic - or some other unusual color pattern. You know I like unusual stuff. Porterhouse: A variation of Beefsteak. They look really enormous in the B catalog. Black Crim: Another variation of Beefsteak. Very dark, supposedly developed in the Crimea. Others look good in the catalog too. Tomande, Giant Pink Belgium. Ok that's more than six plants. I'll have to be selective. So many tomatoes, so little chance of not growing way too many tomatoes. Maybe I'll set up a roadside stand. a, b and c are definites.

2. Peppers: No hot peppers. I grew some jalapeños in '08 and they were blisteringly hot. I have no tolerance for hot stuff anymore so I had little use for them. I think there are still bags of them in the freezer if Kathy didn't throw them out.

a. Bell peppers: Three varieties: Red, golden and green. The B catalog has a variety called Chocolate Belle that looks good. It's purple. Purple is good.

b. "Italian" peppers. The long ones that aren't hot. The B catalog has varieties called Banarama, Marconi, Godfather and a really big one called Big daddy.

3. Onions and other members of the Allium family:

a. Yellow onions

b. Red onions

c. Garlic: I understand that growing it is a bit tricky. I'll give it a shot.

4. Asparagus: I don't know if there are different varieties of asparagus (besides green and white), I'm sure there must be and I'm going to find out. I think timing may be essential as asparagus is a perennial and I'll also have to be careful where I establish the beds so I won't have to move them.

5. Brussels Sprouts: I have tried for the past two years to grow these. Third time's the charm. I hope.

6. Artichokes: The same as the Brussels sprouts. As with the asparagus it's a perennial so location is important.

8. Beans and peas:

a. and b. I like wax and limas a lot. I didn't have a whole lot of luck with them in the past so I'm going to plant a couple different varieties of both. Maybe some Blackeyes too.

c. Snow peas: I like these as much as limas and wax so I'm going to put in a couple different varieties.

e. String beans: I've grown the Kentucky Wonder the past couple years and have had success but I think I'll skip them. They get too stringy. I think I'll try the Burpee Tenderpod. The claim they aren't stringy.

1. Italian Rose: These turned out fairly well last year but I didn't get enough of them growing in containers.

2. Purple King: The same as the above. They were tasty and tender.

9. Brassica: I have had mixed luck with brassicas due to cabbage loopers and other pests. I'm going to hope that Cream Ridge is lees friendly to these pests. I'm also going to be more vigilant spraying BT and will perhaps put netting over the plants.

a. Broccoli: Choose a couple varieties when it comes time to order seeds.

b. Cauliflower: The same as the broccoli and I'd like to see if I can get some purple cauliflower seeds too.

c. Broccoli Raab. Kathy likes to make "bitter broccoli" with peppers. I had great success with it in the past so it's a go for this year.

10: Squash and melons: Again as with the brassicas pests were a big problem. The squash vine borers devastated my two pathetic plants last year before they even bore fruit. I don't know what other tricks to use other than very vigilant spraying of BT.

a. Spaghetti squash: I love this stuff so it's a must.

b. Yellow squash: This time I'll be sure not to let the fruits get too big so they are tender and tasty.

c. Butternut squash: I had some last night and I liked it. I didn't know I liked it. You might not think that a person could live 51 years and never taste butternut squash but I have never been much of a squash eater. Someone gave me some squash when I was a small child and I didn't like it. Maybe it was just my juvenile pallet or maybe it was lousy squash.

d. Cantaloupe: I haven't tried this since I was a kid so I'll give it a go. The Breakfast Longkeeper may be a good idea s I don't want rotting melons in the house.

e. Pumpkin: I grew two pumpkins in '07 before the vine borers killed the plants. Neither were very big, decent sized, not dwarfs, but I'd be very happy if I could grow a couple really big ones. Maybe plant them in the front yard.

11. Berries: Again these are perennials so I'll have to place them carefully.

a. Strawberries: If the plants in the garage make it through the winter I'd like to add at least one different variety to them in particular the Alpine.

b. Raspberries: Perhaps black as well as red. Maybe gold too.

c. Blackberries: I don't see these in the B catalog. Perhaps I'll transplant some wild plants as they grow all over this part of Jersey.

e. Blueberries: Perhaps I'll see if I can get some plants from locals like the people in Whitesbog or simply "liberate" some plants that have gone wild in that neck of the woods.

12. Radishes and carrots:

a. Fire and Ice look like a good bet as does Watermelon.

b. Carrots: I don't care for big carrots. The small, sweet ones are just delicious right out of the ground and will grow well into the fall. Perhaps the Purple Dragon, Touchon and the Nantes.

13. Eggplant: I don't particularly care much for this as a food but prepared well, as in moussaka, it can be good. But I do enjoy greatly growing the rather attractive plants. So there.

14: Potatoes: Particularly the varieties that are not commonly available in the stores. I'll have to scare up an inexpensive source of seed potatoes as the B and other catalogs are really expensive. Potatoes should be cheap. I'll also use some store bought spuds for seed even though it's said that one should not do that. I've proven that a myth.

a. Red: While commonly available I like the little "new potatoes"

b. Blue

c. Fingerling: I'll have to plant quite a bit as experience shows that they don't have a very big yield and I really like the flavor.

d. Yukon Gold.

15: Peanuts: Really just a novelty. Peanuts are cheap enough and I'm not about to grow enough of them to make up for that fact. I have some seed "nuts" left over from last year so I'll see if I can get a few to germinate in a container and if they do I'll plant the rest.

16: Jerusalem Artichoke: Just found them in a catalog. Tubers. Nutty, potato like.

17. Spinach: How could I forget Spinach? At least two different kinds. The first crops in early spring.

18. Spices: Too many to list. I'll try to grow all of them. I'll plant them in beds around the house so their fragrance blows into the windows.

19. Ornamentals and flowers: This is going to take some careful selection. I want a lot of these around the house as well as the garden. I'll have to start most from seed because if I have to buy plants it will get mucho expensivo. Sunflowers are a definite as well as the big pink things. I'd like to get some odd looking things going too like Starflowers and Chinese Lantern.

20. Fruit Trees: I've decided that I'm probably better off buying these as young trees rather than start them from seed. I also realize that I will not get any decent fruit for a couple years. The sooner I start the better.

a. Cherry: I'm thinking two varieties. Definitely the small, tart cherries that I have made jelly from. The tree in my back yard when I was a kid, the tree out at the Howell Minipark and the trees next to the firehouse in New Egypt are this variety. I don't know what it's called but if I have to I'll saw off a branch and see if I can root it.

b. Apple: Again I'm thinking two varieties. For sure a yellow like Granny Smith and a red one. I want to avoid the mealy commercially available varieties. I once heard an NPR segment where a guy described his program to preserve heirloom varieties. Apparently there were once hundreds, perhaps thousands of different varieties of apples. The commercial apple industry put an end to this with their disease resistant and tougher, shipment resistant hybrids. Maybe I can get ahold of an heirloom tree or two.

c. Nuts: Maybe. I'll have to do some research into what will grow well here.

21. Trees: I like the big beech tree in the back and the oaks in the front are ok but I may cut down at least one of them. The evergreens forming a division between the backyard and the road are ok too but I'd eventually like to replace some of them with other kinds of trees.

a. Sycamore: I like sycamore trees. I like their great, big leaves and the bark that looks like it has a skin condition.

b. Hickory. The wood makes a great smoke and I gathered some hickory nuts from the New Egypt property and I'd like to try to sprout them.

c. Red Oak: I like the red leaves and it's the state tree.

What not to grow:

1. Corn. We are surrounded with it. In the summer the roadside stands have plenty of good fresh corn and they seem to be able to grow it a lot better than I can. I think I have some seed corn left over though. Perhaps I'll throw it in the ground out by the road as a novelty.

2. Watermelon: I don't particularly care for it and it takes up a lot of space and it's hard to tell when they are ripe.

3. Cucumber: I don't like cucumbers but I'll like to grow them just for kicks. I seem to like climbing, spreading plants like this so if you'll volunteer to take some cucumbers from me, I'll grow some.

4. Any ornamental that will spread uncontrollably: There were these violets that grew from bulbs all over the New Egyptian garden. They were the bane of my existence. I called them "booggers." while digging all the little bulbs out of the soil. They were impossible to keep out of the garden. It will be a real pleasure to work soil that isn't infested with them. I want to avoid things that will spread in this manner like the plague.

5. Horse Radish: See # 4 about things that spread and make a pest of themselves. I have heard that horseradish does this too. I like good horseradish so it's tempting to grow some. If I want some there are grocery stores that sell it fresh. The "mule radish" back in New Egypt was long thought to be horseradish and it was a pest. Not as bad as those damned violets but still a nuisance. I still don't know what that stuff was.

6. Grass: If I can kill it all I won't have to mow it. There must be something that will cover the ground that I don't have to mow.

7. Black Walnut trees: You can't eat the nuts, the roots poison other plants and the nuts they drop on the ground are a pain in the ass.

Gone. All gone.

The New Egyptian garden is gone. In October (09) I tore up the raised beds, cold frames and raked everything smooth then planted grass seed. One would think that this is a bad thing. No, it's a good thing because Kathy and I bought a house on 1.05 acres. No more landlord. The house is in Cream Ridge, a few miles away from New Egypt and I have to say wow! The property is huge. At least compared to the rented property in New Egypt. I could easily fit five or six of the New Egyptian gardens on it. The soil is quite a bit more sandy here. One might think that this is a bad thing. No, it's a good thing as sandy soil has good drainage and one can make excellent garden soil with it by adding compost. The biggest advantage is that there is no idiot landlord to complain and get me all upset and ready to commit murder. It's mid December right now so I am doing no gardening save for planning, browsing seed catalogs and occasionally watering the strawberry plants that I dug up from the New Egyptian garden and potted up. I also have some artichoke plants overwintering in the garage with the strawberries. I hope they don't succumb to the cold. My plans are a bit different for the new garden. I can now have perennial plants. Fruit trees! Raspberry and blueberry bushes! Asparagus! In addition I plan to spread the crops all over the property instead of one area. I'll stick to raised beds but hope to be able to make them more attractive as well as longer lived than the painted plywood that I used in New Egypt which was pretty much rotted out after three years in the ground. I plan to put in some ornamentals as well. The Burpee catalog has something called "Pink Pampas" that look like poofy pink cat-tails. They are an ornamental grass and I think I'll look for other color variations as I like the idea of ornamental grass (that I don't have to mow). As winter progresses I'll post more ideas (mostly so I don't forget them) and start on a mulch pile. There is a large beech tree in the back that provides lots of leaves to that end and three oak trees in front. One may have to come down as it is too close to the other two and is also very close to the neighbors power lines as well. There are other trees scattered about and bordering the property, mostly evergreens. The property is divided by the four buildings, the house, garage and two sheds. The bulk of the open space is behind the garage and sheds which are clustered together. I estimate the open space to be around half an acre. It would make a wonderful large garden but we need some space to frolic, set up kiddie pools, play catch and have loud outdoor parties late into summer nights. It is a corner lot with neighbors on two sides. The neighbor to the east was the previous owner and seems to be a nice guy. He builds hotrods too which is a relief to me as I have a vintage car that neighbors sometimes complained about because they saw it as only an old car that rarely moved. Some people are "ignant" about such things, sometimes viewing a garden only a collection of funny looking plants that need to be mowed and turned into a sterile, featureless expanse of grass and sprayed with fertilizer and poison. I doubt I'll have to worry about that. The property across the street is a farm. I'm going to try not to get too carried away. I tend to get carried away with some things as some people know well. But I would really like to set up a greenhouse, just a small one, probably behind the garage and out of sight. I prefer to start plants from seed, both because it is more economical and because I really enjoy the process. I can't wait until spring.