Biointensive garden bed pics
 

Pictures of a hole in the ground, what could be more entertaining?
Bed is about 5x18. I dug out the soil,if you could call it that, down about 36 inches then started adding manure, compost and topsoil.

First 2 pics taken during dig.
2nd two with compsoted horse manure and shavings.
Then with some topsoil mixed in.
And last but not least my new rain barrel.

I need one more load of dirt then I'll be ready for next spring.
I just bought a pretty large seed pack from heirloom seeds.
I can't wait for spring.

NOOB

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

cool i wonder if you could try some winter crop?

im trying some lettuce carrots and beets for winter but i dont know if they will
make it through a heavy frost at the rate we are going i dont know if we are going to get a winter
still have not seen any frost at all

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

You dug that by hand??? Looks disturbingly like a grave.

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

Nicely done!

What are you planning on growing? You can get a suprising ammount of food out of a bed that size if you utilize vertical space with climbing vines like pole beans, tomatos and cucumbers along with other stuff that produces very quickly like certain radishes and lettuces. If you like okra you can produce a whole lot of it off just a few square feet when the weather turns warm again. If those pics are recent I'd wager you could get some carrots and brussel sprouts in right now.

The rain barrel is a very handy thing to have, looks like you've got a big poly tank in the back there too. You might be able to tuck away a 55 gallon compost tumbler somewhere in there.

Anyway it looks real good!

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

I plan on tomatoes, cucmbers, potatoes, carrots, brussel sprouts, beans etc.
As much as I can cram in.

I can't take all the credit for digging. My wife dug as much as I did. The pick axe is her specialty.

The last pictures are from yesterday and I thought about a winter crop this year but changed my mind. Doing more prep work instead for the coming spring.

I have 2 compost piles going right now, one has been going all summer and is really getting black and rich.

I am in the construction field so I might need some fresh food next year as this housing debacle continues. Hey buddy can you spare a tomato?



These are the two seed kits I purchased. I know I can't grow it all in that bed but I am digging a second one right now.
http://www.heirloomseeds.com/victory.html

http://www.heirloomseeds.com/cgs1.html





NOOB

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

Consider crops that can grow well on top of one another. I can't for the life of me remember them anymore, but there are lots of plants that work well within the same space, without competing against one another.

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

There's some good stuff in those seed kits, a number of them are even varieties I grow.

I was actually going to suggest digging a second bed or two if you have the space but I didn't want to impose too much on your current success. Sounds like you've got it covered. The extra space is really handy on a longterm basis because some things take a long time to make seed, like the brassicas. Having an area set aside as a seed bed can be handy and having two beds will also help with a rotation to keep your soil fertile. Looks like you'll have plenty of legumes and compost.

Any way you cut it food isn't getting any cheaper. Especially not good tasting food that was raised clean and free from chemical pesticides and fertilizers and all that junk.

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

Companion Planting! I keep this list handy.

Bean
Companion - Cabbage family, carrot, celery, chard, cucumber, corn, eggplant, pea,
Potatoes, radish, strawberry.
Friend – Savory, nasturtium, and rosemary (repels bean beetles)
Foes – Shallot, onion, and garlic (will stunt beans)

Beet
Companion – Bush beans, cabbage family, onion, lettuce.
Friend – Garlic (enhances flavor and growth)
Foe – Pole beans.

Cabbage Family (Broccoli, kale, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi)
Companion – Beet, celery, chard, cucumber, lettuce, onion, potato, spinach.
Friend – Garlic (enhances flavor) rosemary, sage, catnip (repels cabbage moth) Dill
(improves health and growth) mint (helps keep ants at bay) Nasturtium
(repels aphids, bugs and beetles) Tansy (repels cabbage worms and cut worms)
Foe – Tomato and kohlrabi (may stunt each others growth)

Carrot
Companion – pea, pepper, tomato, bean, onion, lettuce, radish.
Friend – Chives (for adding flavor) rosemary, sage (repels the carrot fly).
Foe – Dill

Corn
Companion – Bean, cucumber, melon, parsley, pea, potato, pumpkin, squash.
Friend – Geranium (repels Japanese beetles)
Foe – Tomato.

Cucumber
Companion – Bean, cabbage family, corn, pea, radish, tomato.
Friend – Oregano, tansy, Marigold (keeps beetles away) Nasturtium (deters aphids)
Foe – Sage.

Eggplant
Companion – Bean, pepper.
Friend – Marigold (repels nematodes)

Lettuce
Companion – Beet, cabbage family, carrot, onion, radish, strawberry.
Friend – Chives, garlic (deter aphids)

Pea
Companion – Bean, carrot, corn, cucumber, radish, turnip.
Friend – Chives (repel aphids)
Foe – Garlic, onion (stunt the growth of peas)

Pepper
Companion – Carrot, eggplant, onion, tomato.

Potato
Companion – Cabbage family, eggplant, corn, pea, bean.
Friend – Marigold (repels beetles) horseradish (provides protection with a wide variety
of potato pests)
Foe – Tomato

Radish
Companion – Bean, carrot, cucumber, lettuce, melon, pea.
Friend – Nasturtium, chervil (bring better flavor)
Foe – Hyssop

Squash
Companion – Pumpkin, corn, melon.
Friend – Borage (protects from worms) marigold (repels beetles) nasturtium (protects from squash
bugs and bettles)

Tomato
Companion – asparaagus, celery, carrot, cucumber, onion, parsley, pepper.
Foe – Dill.

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

That's the ticket. Thanks Rev. I'll have to print that out.

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

How do keep critters out..rabbits, squirrels, etc....

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

Set a few traps. No reason to refuse free protein.

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

A dog is best but a fence helps. I have two hawks on my property that keep things orderly. If you grow some hot peppers you can juice them and apply them to anything that's being hit by mammals, even some insects don't like it. No effect on birds, though. I haven't tried it out but apparently artificial grape flavor has the same effect on birds that pepper does on mammals from what I've heard. A sweaty shirt, socks, etc that has a strong human order is also a deterent.

I've always wanted to try one of those weird motion activated Halloween critters that move and make noise when somebody passes by. :D

editted to add... Professur's idea isn't bad either. As long as you can be reasonable sure the animal hasn't been in stuff that is potentially harmful like lots of nasty garbage or whatever. I wouldn't want to eat a scavenger from the city for instance. A squirrel should be fine.

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

I don't want to derail the thread ... but do you have bat boxes? They're worth their weight in gold for keeping insects under control, with a healthy crop of spiders and labybugs. I used to lose half my raspberry crop to bugs, but not anymore. And at the end of the season, I've got some huge Orbweavers to take bass fishing with me.

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

I've heard human hair works against deer, do you know if this is true?

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

Interesting about the marigolds, I wonder if I should plant them by my peaches since peaches are short lived because nematodes attack them.

I planted potatoes and tomatoes right next to each other this year, didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

That list originates as a text file I found on the web some time ago. While most of it checks out I haven't tested every combination so I can't really offer any insight on the tomato/potato phenomenon at this time. I did know about marigolds though, my mother used them when I was a kid and they were popular with growers where I lived.

We seem to have bats by nature here, not sure where they're living. I've been thinking about converting some bushelbasket gourds into bathouses though. Bats eat mosquitos and mosquitos are like the insect equivalent of something that really sucks. I never would have guessed orb weavers make good bait for bass. I'll have to try that out, we get quite a few every year, some really big juicy guys too. On that note I have a whole mess of brown hoplos I need to get fished out of my pond and converted to fertilizer.

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

The book "grow more vegetables" is a biointensive garden book that goes over companion planting. Very interesting stuff that most gardeners don't realize.

I like the bat house idea, I brought up the cathouse idea a few years ago but my wife wouldn't let me.


NOOB

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

And guano is good, too.

Before you commit fully to the biointensive path, though, I want you to buy a book: Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food In Hard Times, by Steve Solomon. From the back Solomon is no lightweight--he is the founder of Territorial Seed Company, and he discusses a lot of the backroom dirty secrets of seed companies, growing trials, and the like. But the best material is on how to grow food in poor soil with little or no irrigation. I own a copy of this book, but when I get the chance I'm going to buy another copy, so I don't have to risk it being lost.

I got my copy through Amazon.

Re: Biointensive garden bed pics
 

Rev, just be warned that any perch in the area will ruin your 'weavers. They pull the legs off them.