Garden Tour #1

Today I'm going to take you on the first tour of the garden. As you can tell from the pictures, I'm growing a lot of plants in containers. The number one reason that I am doing this is because its a lot easier than tilling. Now I didn't say cheaper. But, there are still costs either way. I will reuse this soil next year and I will show you how. I will admit, I tried container gardening last year and I didn't do good at all. I did aa lot of research over the winter and I feel that I will be far more successful this year. So far I have tomatoes, peppers, and squash in containers. Yes, the grow bags count as containers. To each container I have added one tablespoon of an insoluble fertilizer. Its something like 12-10-10. So if you use 5-5-5 go to two tablespoons. Then every other week, use a soluble fertilizer organic or not. I would go with a quarter strength fertilizer at first. You don't want to burn your plant. So far I have bought all of these plants at work. That doesn't mean that I won't grow some of my own. These plants just gave me a head start. I just noticed that I didn't include pictures from my earth garden. I will make a separate post on it. Don't let having no space stand in your way of gardening. This season I do plan  on doing videos. First off, I don't have nerves of steel. So I need to get over that.

I hope that you will follow me through this gardening season.

It's been awhile....

It's been a long time since I have posted on here. I'm going to do a better job at blogging going forward. Not only will I post about gardening. I'm also going to post about other stuff such as fishing. I've got a big fishing trip coming up this next weekend. I'm going to blog all about it.

Cucumber Cages Build

Today I went and found some old tomato cages and stakes. I flipped them upside down and planted three cucumber seeds in each one.

Then I went to the back garden beds and used three cages for acorn winter squash.

I'll keep everyone update on how they grow. Have a good one!

Cucumber Cages

I saw something online today that I am going to try. I have been going onto for sale sites on facebook looking for wire fencing to make cage for cucumbers.  A guy on youtube named Donald (webcajun) uses cages for cucumbers and has great results. What I saw today was to use a tomato cage and flip it upside down and stake it to the ground and plant my cucumbers in it. I will post pics of the cages tomorrow and show the progress.

Panhandle Vegetable Garden June 30, 2015

Back At It

I got a head start and planted many of my tomato plants in April. I had surgery twice in May and that put me behind. Now I am back on track. I've got corn, okra, cucumbers, watermelons, and squash all in the ground now. I'm not going big on the planting. Just sticking to the basics. We did manage to harvest a few small potatoes today. I am gambling by planting pepper seeds in the ground along with a few tomato seeds and see what they do. You should not be afraid to try new things in the garden.

A New Plan

So I sit here and think about my future in farming and I decide that I need a solid plan. So I will start off with a 1 year plan. The plan is simple. I keep my current job as its a guaranteed income. To get income, I will start off with 10 CSA customers a week supplying vegetables from the first week of May through October. I will charge $20 a week for a bag of produce that is currently available. Any other produce that is grown will be sold on a roadside stand and through facebook. The crops that I focus on will be popular and will be a higher dollar return. Like corn is very cheap and takes a lot of space to grow. So it is not a good choice. Space is a big consideration when choosing crops. I don't have a bunch of space so I will be limited in what I can grow. I'm going to break the season down into three groups. Early, Regular, and Late season planting periods. In the early season I will focus on the following:

1) Lettuce
2) Radishes
3) Kale
4) Spinach
5) Snap Peas
6) Beets
7) Broccoli
8) Assorted Herbs
9) Cabbage
10) Collards

The regular season will focus on:

1) Tomatoes
2) Cucucmbers
3) Carrots
4) Onions
5) Leeks
6) Garlic
7) Swiss Chard
8) Summer Squash
9) Peppers

The late season will focus on a mix of both early and regular season crops. Now that doesn't mean I won't throw other crops in there. Herbs will be a huge focus and are great in cooking.  These seasons don't reflect when a crop is planted. I understand that you question how I can grow so much in a smaller area. The answer is simple. Planning and more planning. Every square foot has to be planned out and no space can be left to sit idle. At least I have a start in my planning for next year.