Budsmokn's 2012 organic herb and vegetable garden *grow journal* (pics inside)

Hey there fellow blades,

This is my first ever attempt at growing my own food. This journal won't be too in depth...I just figured I mine as well document my first try at gardening and give you guys something to read and look at.

Enjoy

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I'm starting out pretty late here. I'm in PA so around Mother's days is when most people start putting plants in ground. This past weekend I only started to get my garden area prepared, but I'll just work with what I got for now and next season I'll plan ahead more. Practice makes perfect I suppose. Anyways, I took up the sod and tilled the soil about 12 inches deep all around. For now the space I'm using is roughly 8' x 12'1/2" (100sqft)...I'm thinking about taking out some nearby bushes and extending it out, but I'm still working out the details.

I have pretty shitty clay soil so today I went out and got some local free compost from my township. I added that but only had enough to fill up half the soil. I'll go back either tomorrow or Wednesday to get some more. I'll keep going back and add more and more since every where I've been reading is saying get as much organic material into the soil as possible.

Here's some pics I took while adding the compost...

Going from right to left I dug 12 inch deep trenches about a shovel widths across and added in several inches of compost.

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg23/scaled.php?server=23&filename=photo5nj.jpg&res=landing

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg221/scaled.php?server=221&filename=photo4jr.jpg&res=landing

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg85/scaled.php?server=85&filename=photo3vw.jpg&res=landing

Then once I did that I added a few more inches over the top and mixed that into the topsoil and this is what it turned out to....

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg855/scaled.php?server=855&filename=photo3em.jpg&res=landing

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg201/scaled.php?server=201&filename=photo1nzt.jpg&res=landing

I'm definitely liking that darker color and it's a lot fluffier on the compost-amended side. And like I said, I'll be doing the other half in the next day or 2 and then I will continue to add more and more compost until I plant.

I sent out a soil sample to Penn State for it to be tested...I'm waiting on results to go buy fertilizers. I'm not exactly sure how to go about fertilizing. You guys think I should just add stuff into individual holes as I plant and put specific things that support each plant in as I plant them? Or should I just mix a couple different fertilizers (which ones depend on my test results) into the whole bed just like I did with the compost?

Also, I plan on getting some good topsoil too, to add on when I go to plant cause I think my current soil is way to dead to support very healthy plants.

Any and all suggestions/comments/questions are welcomed

Peace

Edited by budsmokn420, 08 May 2012 - 01:42 AM.

Anyone has an opinion on worms? Should I buy some and if so how many?

eh, i would have tilled it all together and had a good mix of ingrediants, but either way i guess, ive done it before.
worms tho, i see trees back there,and lots of other plant life, im sure you have worms back there already, especially if you mixed some compost in.

wahtyou planting???

eh, i would have tilled it all together and had a good mix of ingrediants, but either way i guess, ive done it before.
worms tho, i see trees back there,and lots of other plant life, im sure you have worms back there already, especially if you mixed some compost in.

wahtyou planting???

So you think once I get my test results back I should just mix all the fertilizer in together?

And I'm not exactly sure specifically what I'll be growing yet. I didn't have enough time to grow my own starters so I'm gonna be buying all of mine. I'm trying to get as much variety as possible, while still growing enough of what I like to eat most often and getting fairly decent plant combinations.

My thoughts right now are celery, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, lettuces, spinach, kale, carrots, and a bunch of herbs like parsley, basil, cilantro, etc...hopefully some watermelon and some berries too if I can find a way to keep the goddamn animals away lol

hellyea, thats alot of stuff to grow at one time man hahahaha
sounds awesome though, ive never grown celery before, hmmm
but the fertilizers, idk. i jsut saw that one layer of black and i was saying instead of layering things, just mix it all together, like till it all up or something
maybe use a hoe if you dont have a tiller. idk if you did mix it or layer it...
idk
idk

i havnt had a garden since last year, witch failed miserably because it was a spot id never grown anything before kinda rusty rite now.

hellyea, thats alot of stuff to grow at one time man hahahaha
sounds awesome though, ive never grown celery before, hmmm
but the fertilizers, idk. i jsut saw that one layer of black and i was saying instead of layering things, just mix it all together, like till it all up or something
maybe use a hoe if you dont have a tiller. idk if you did mix it or layer it...
idk
idk

i havnt had a garden since last year, witch failed miserably because it was a spot id never grown anything before kinda rusty rite now.

I did till it all together haha I just dug down a foot and put the compost in to amend the lower soil. After I put in a couple inches I filled the trench back up with the soil and turned it all together. Then I added more on top and mixed in a couple inches into the top soil.

And yea it's alot but I'm basically a raw vegan so I eat a shit ton of veggies and I would love to just be able to go outback everyday and grab my meals so I wanna have enough.

And btw this is a new spot as well...just took off the sod last weekend lol so the soil is pretty shit now but I'm gonna make it work. You gotta start somewhere...

ok, maybe i missed something earlier haha its all good, shit that sounds awesome man.
hey ive got a cool method for cucumbers btw, get some fenceing shit, like chicken wire, BUT not that small of fence, get some fence ya know kinda bigger, like 2 inch holes inbetween or whatever. anyway,
make a way for it to be positioned diagonally somehow, or straight up and down if youcan figure that way out, but
grow your cucumbers ontop of it and let the veggies hangdown through the fence holes so they dont get shitty laying on the ground growing. keeps the foliage nice and thick too if you can figure out a good way to do it.

ok, maybe i missed something earlier haha its all good, shit that sounds awesome man.
hey ive got a cool method for cucumbers btw, get some fenceing shit, like chicken wire, BUT not that small of fence, get some fence ya know kinda bigger, like 2 inch holes inbetween or whatever. anyway,
make a way for it to be positioned diagonally somehow, or straight up and down if youcan figure that way out, but
grow your cucumbers ontop of it and let the veggies hangdown through the fence holes so they dont get shitty laying on the ground growing. keeps the foliage nice and thick too if you can figure out a good way to do it.

That's a great fucking idea man thanks!

Something like this maybe?

It looks like ya just need to give it something to grab hold of to keep them from laying dormant on the ground

+ 1

yess yess, like that haha, mine was alittle more ghetto rigged i guess, but i let mine grow like
scrog style. horizontal instead of vertical like those. of course taht looks like it would keep the sun defending leaf foliage together more, instead of just letting it grow acorss surface.
hmmm
somthing for me to think about in the future

yess yess, like that haha, mine was alittle more ghetto rigged i guess, but i let mine grow like
scrog style. horizontal instead of vertical like those. of course taht looks like it would keep the sun defending leaf foliage together more, instead of just letting it grow acorss surface.
hmmm
somthing for me to think about in the future

Oh I see what you're sayin...I could even lay that type of grid maybe a foot above the soil but horizontally.

I'm sure both ways work great, although I think I'll opt for the vertical grid since I need as much space as I can get

I also have an organic grow journal. I would have to say, I like the space you're working with. And be careful with the herbs...they can take over your whole garden. I always grow my herbs in seperate containers. In my garden I have cukes, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, basil, and strawberries. I recently just bought a small cherry tomato and planning on SCROGing it. Just to see what happens.

Good luck with your grow, if you have any questions about anything shoot them my way...I may be able to help.

I also have an organic grow journal. I would have to say, I like the space you're working with. And be careful with the herbs...they can take over your whole garden. I always grow my herbs in seperate containers. In my garden I have cukes, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, basil, and strawberries. I recently just bought a small cherry tomato and planning on SCROGing it. Just to see what happens.

Good luck with your grow, if you have any questions about anything shoot them my way...I may be able to help.

yea I most likely will be planting my herbs somewhere else, maybe pots like you said.

What do you think about fertilizing? This is new soil so I sent it out for a test. When the results come back should I go buy fertilizers and mix them into the entire bed? Or should I just throw them into the individual holes I make when I plant my starters?

Also, I didn't find too many worms while tilling so do you think I should go buy some?

yea I most likely will be planting my herbs somewhere else, maybe pots like you said.

What do you think about fertilizing? This is new soil so I sent it out for a test. When the results come back should I go buy fertilizers and mix them into the entire bed? Or should I just throw them into the individual holes I make when I plant my starters?

Also, I didn't find too many worms while tilling so do you think I should go buy some?

I wouldn't worry about mixing in fetilizers....are you going all organic? If you where going to use ferts throw them in the area that you are growing, not the entie bed. Use mulch on top to hold in the moisture.

Don't worry about the worms. They will come with good soil. You can go out and buy worms if you want, but I think you should be ok.

Go out and by some earthworm castings. It's like having a bunch of worms in your garden .

I wouldn't worry about mixing in fetilizers....are you going all organic? If you where going to use ferts throw them in the area that you are growing, not the entie bed. Use mulch on top to hold in the moisture.

Don't worry about the worms. They will come with good soil. You can go out and buy worms if you want, but I think you should be ok.

Go out and by some earthworm castings. It's like having a bunch of worms in your garden .

I keep hearing about casting but what are they exactly?

And if I'm not adding in any organic ferts until I plant, is there anything else I should add to the overall soil besides the local compost I'm getting?

Earthworm castings - earthworm poop. TexRX posted a link in my thread of good things to add to your soil. Mine will compose of compost, earthworm castings, kelp meal or seaweed, blood and bone meal, and perlite.

Earthworm castings - earthworm poop. TexRX posted a link in my thread of good things to add to your soil. Mine will compose of compost, earthworm castings, kelp meal or seaweed, blood and bone meal, and perlite.

Lol there are so many fucking names for shit in gardening....kinda figured that's what castings were though haha

And I would consider kelp meal, bone meal, etc to be fertilizers...so you're saying I should mix all that stuff into the topsoil? Or down into the first foot of soil?

That's a great fucking idea man thanks!

Something like this maybe?

It looks like ya just need to give it something to grab hold of to keep them from laying dormant on the ground

+ 1

If you have some left over cyclone fencing, that also works, great. It's what people call, "chain link fence." I have some squash or something growing around a pear tree. I've been training it to grow fairly low, so it's basically winding around the trunk. I planted one half growing in the sun, half growing around another tree, and that one is actually dying where the direct sunlight hits it. Not sure what's going on, other than it's getting too much sun, lol.

As for ferts, ruh roh hit it on the head. Just dump some ferts where you want to plants to grow. If you mix it in the soil, you may end up with concentrations in the soil where you don't want it, causing the roots to head to that area. You want the roots to only be looking in their general area. It's when they sprawl for food or water that they end up strangling themselves or others.

Castings are a great start, but I would suggest some worms in the long run. You should throw down a bunch of worms before you add your ferts. Just bury them in the same places you want to plant. You can even throw some food scraps and dirt in a bucket, and, "plant," the worms. Depending on the size of the container, you just bury the dirt with worm castings into the garden. I say get worms because it gets kind of expensive if you have a larger garden, or terrible soil. I get 10 lbs of castings for 30 bucks at my local nursery. Worm castings are just worm poop. Have you ever seen a worm hole? They pop up from the ground and poop, and it looks a lot like a small golpher hole, lmao.

Great start, so far, my friend. You could probably just add in some light ferts and just plant, now. Your soil didn't actually look THAT bad, but it looks great after the mix-in. Like I said man, the best thing you can do while you wait for that soil test is to throw some worms into the mix and let them shit all over your garden.

If you have some left over cyclone fencing, that also works, great. It's what people call, "chain link fence." I have some squash or something growing around a pear tree. I've been training it to grow fairly low, so it's basically winding around the trunk. I planted one half growing in the sun, half growing around another tree, and that one is actually dying where the direct sunlight hits it. Not sure what's going on, other than it's getting too much sun, lol.

As for ferts, ruh roh hit it on the head. Just dump some ferts where you want to plants to grow. If you mix it in the soil, you may end up with concentrations in the soil where you don't want it, causing the roots to head to that area. You want the roots to only be looking in their general area. It's when they sprawl for food or water that they end up strangling themselves or others.

Castings are a great start, but I would suggest some worms in the long run. You should throw down a bunch of worms before you add your ferts. Just bury them in the same places you want to plant. You can even throw some food scraps and dirt in a bucket, and, "plant," the worms. Depending on the size of the container, you just bury the dirt with worm castings into the garden. I say get worms because it gets kind of expensive if you have a larger garden, or terrible soil. I get 10 lbs of castings for 30 bucks at my local nursery. Worm castings are just worm poop. Have you ever seen a worm hole? They pop up from the ground and poop, and it looks a lot like a small golpher hole, lmao.

Great start, so far, my friend. You could probably just add in some light ferts and just plant, now. Your soil didn't actually look THAT bad, but it looks great after the mix-in. Like I said man, the best thing you can do while you wait for that soil test is to throw some worms into the mix and let them shit all over your garden.

Thanks you help bro...that's basically what I've been reading too so I'll just add in the rest of the compost today and then Ill work on getting a good amount of worms and casting for this weekend hopefully and anything else I should amend the soil with. If I get my tests back next week I'll probably start planting some things the following weekend. That's when ill add in ferts too...

Any suggestions besides the castings that I should add before planting the starters?

Lol there are so many fucking names for shit in gardening....kinda figured that's what castings were though haha

And I would consider kelp meal, bone meal, etc to be fertilizers...so you're saying I should mix all that stuff into the topsoil? Or down into the first foot of soil?

I always pre mix everything before planting.