Salad Bowl and Vegetable Garden
May 1st, 2008 Planted a vegetable garden and a salad bowl garden today using older pond forms that were not in use.
Vegetable 6 packs purchased at Sutherland's last weekend.
Herb Garden for cooking
Herb Garden
Bell Peppers. These plants were grown last year. They survived our "winter" and are now producing peppers.
Bell Peppers and Love Lies Bleeding - both from last year
Camouflage fabric laid down to help keep grass from growing around pond forms.
Drilled numerous drainage holes into the bottom of the pond forms.
They'll never hold water again.
May 1st. Decided the front yard would be the best place to plant vegetables and salad goodies.
The split leaf philodendren behind the forms is still in a pot. Can be moved, if necessary.
Weather was perfect for this job. Not too much sun, a nice breeze to keep me cool.
Last week I purchased 10 bags of potting soil. Now that I've decided to use both pond forms, this won't be enough soil.
Purchased Dynamite Fertilizer which ought to work throughout the growing season.
This will be an experiment for this product. I hope it helps to produce many nice veggies for our table.
Bought 10 more bags of potting soil and 5 bags of Pine Bark Mulch. Surely this will be enough!
Earth's Finest. Can't ask for any better than that, can ya?
After maneuvering 18 bags of soil and putting in the plants. I sprinkled the Dynamite between each layer of soil and mixed it in.
Looking pretty good, so far. Time to water that soil.
What we'll see as we drive up.
These packages of seeds went into the smaller "salad bowl". I just broadcasted them over the soil and covered with one bag of soil and partial bag of mulch.
Harvest 65 Days - Ready July 4th!
Harvest 25-28 Days -Ready May 25-28th
My first watermelon. Isn't it cute??? Key placed for reference of size.
Harvest 45 Days - Ready June 14th
Includes 20% each - Prizeleaf, Royal Oak Leaf, Salad Bowl, Red Salad Bowl and Mighty Red Oak Lettuces.
Harvest 35 Days - Ready June 4th
Includes 20% each - Bull's Blood Beet, Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach, Red Salad Bowl Lettuce, Crispy Frills Lettuce, and Tendergreen Mustard.
Harvest - 35 Days - Ready June 4th
Patience will be rewarded when I pluck my veggies from my garden.
These are planted close to the edge of the big pond. They will hang over the side and melons can rest on the ground. Harvest 85 Days - Ready July 24th
We love zuchinni fixed many ways. Can't wait to put some of these on the table for dinner. Harvest 50-55 Days - Ready June 19 - 24th
These are planted close to the edge of the big pond. They will hang over the side and melons can rest on the ground. Harvest 97 Days - Ready August 5th
We're more fans of Roma Tomatoes because we like the smaller size. Hopefully these will be nice and tasty.
Harvest 52-54 Days - Ready June 21st - 23rd
Eggplant is wonderful so many ways. Looking forward to having these too. Harvest 65 Days - Ready July 4th
Looking at the veggies from the back side of the pond.
Parked plants in front to hide the sides of the pond forms. And there ya have it.
I'll thin these out and plant in one of the forms.
It only took 1 bag of mulch to cover the tops of both pond forms. The rest will be used elsewhere in the yard.
19 bags of potting soil - $25.90
(5) 6 packs of veggies - 8.45
1 bag of pine bark mulch - 2.40
Dynamite 9 month Fertilizer - $8.97
Miscellaneous seeds - N/C (leftover seeds from last year, already "expensed" last year)
2 pond forms - N/C (previously "expensed" from previous years, 1 was in ground, the other was the cover for my lawn mower)
Total expense - $45.72
We had rain most of the day yesterday. Little sprouts in the salad bowl are poking their heads up
This salad bowl has gourmet lettuces, carrots and radishes.
More lettuces
I believe they like the way God waters with rain
Closer shot of lettuces
I'm just so proud of my little babies
Close up of lettuces
Can't hardly tell, but I think the veggies grew a bit too
Don't they look taller?
Zuchinni
Watermelon
Muskmelon
Tomato and Eggplant in the background
This beautiful green bell pepper came from the plant that overwintered.
Lots of sprouts coming up. The zucchini is getting bigger.
This is the carrots, radishes and lettuces getting bigger.
Aren't they cute???
Probably lettuce. Only time will tell.
Zucchini is getting big. I see blooms beginning to form.
Lookee there! Something is eating my leaves. Time to take some action here.
Muskmelons are getting bigger.
Another shot of the zuchinni
I brought my wind mirror to the front to try and detract the birds.
Zucchini
Watermelons are getting bigger
I bought green onions from the store. After cutting off the tops, I planted the white part that still had roots. They've already grown in just a few days.
The Salad's coming on up
Look how big that zucchini blossom is, with lots more to come! YEAH!
I added this big rubber snake as a garden guardian.
He's doing his job.
He looks pretty real, from a distance. Every time the birds see me close to the garden, they start chattering. I guess they are trying to warn me about him. :-)
Green onions are getting bigger. I can snip as much as I want and they will keep on growing.
Look how big those zucchini leaves are!
Overall view of the garden this morning.
From a different angle. Notice the bell pepper in the bottom right.
I hope it turns completely red. I prefer the red ones to the green ones.
Lots of blossoms under the zucchini
Watermelon and muskmelon is growing
I can't wait to make my salad from my garden!
Watermelons (on the left side) are really filling in.
Lots of big zucchini blossoms
Muskmelon Blossoms
Tomato Blossoms
The garden looks beautiful. I put new cages over the tomato plants.
I can’t help but go out and admire it each morning. I water it and look for new growth.
I haven't plucked a single weed out yet.
Watermelon Vines hanging over the pond
Check out my first zucchini!
Closer shot of the zucchini
Zucchini - Sadly, Squash Vine Borers have gotten into most of my zucchini plants.
Eggplant Blossoms
Bell Peppers. We've been enjoying these already!
Wild Spinach Tree
View from the back of the veggie pond
You can see the zucchini plants are suffering from the squash vine borers.
Close up of the watermelon vines
Watermelon and Muskmelon blooms
Watermelon vines trailing down and around the pond forms.
Japanese Eggplant
Things are growing like weeds. Watermelon Vines are taking over
Japanese Eggplant Bloom
Japanese Eggplant
First Tomatoes of the season
First Tomatoes of the season
First Tomatoes of the season
Watermelon Vines
First Watermelon
Isn't it cute?
First Watermelon - Size Comparison
Zucchini is betting bigger. We'll be able to eat this one soon.
Garden on June 19th
This Jubilee Watermelon is about 7-8 Inches in length now and about 5 inches around the middle.
Another watermelon hiding in the vines. This one is a bit longer, but not quite as big around.
Watermelon vines taking over the space.
The garden, long shot
The watermelon patch
Isn't it cute?
Close up of the watermelon
Close up of the hider
Muskmelon hanging on the side of the pond form - about 3 1/2" in diameter
Another muskmelon ripening
Japanese eggplant ready to be picked for dinner tonight
More of them still growing