Fall Garden

We discovered that we could possibly get two seasons of crops in our garden here! So, we decided to give it a first try. Our spring/summer garden had all but waned (except for the sweet potatoes and peanuts, which needed more time), so we only had half the space to use.

 

 Emily was out and about somewhere, and Sarah and I were home alone. We decided to get right to work. We dug up the old garden soil first and put it aside in Sarah's kiddie pool.

(Not sure what Sarah's issue was here. Wardrobe problems.) 

It still looked very rich, but I'm sure a lot of the Miracle Gro nutrients had leached out already. We mixed a bunch more Miracle Gro back into the garden soil as we refilled the planting bed.

The bottom of the bed was lined with a plastic sheet, presumably to keep out weeds and other meddling things. I poked a bunch of holes in it to allow water to drain, since this place gets so soaked. Then I covered the bottom with an inch or so of pea gravel as a drainage barrier.

Next I added dirt mixed with a little bit of the local clay dirt.

Then I added sand and mixed it with the dirt to get an evenly distributed composition.

I repeated the dirt and sand steps layer by layer until I filled the planting bed.

 

Finally, I squished the dirt down so it was compact, added bug killer and more Miracle Gro, watered the heck out of it, covered it with mulch, and let it drain and dry out for several days.

 

 

We chose peas, radishes, beets, lettuce, and beans, and spinach for our fall crop. The beans (above) came up fairly quickly, but a rabbit infiltrated and ate them. The radishes, of course, came up in two days (pictured below).

 

 

The spinach didn't make it. The rabbit also ate some of the peas so that they never had a chance to flower and keep growing. The beets, though, are still growing. We may have a crop of those yet.

 

And, of course, the yams and peanuts are still growing. They'll be done soon. Oh, and the miniature peppers are there in front too.