Raised Beds are Finished. Garlic is Growing. 1.4.2021

 The raised beds are done.  They are all filled with soil mix.  The last one got about 2/3 soil from where the neighbor built a road on his easement on my property.  It's good soil, unimproved and fallow.  That got mixed with some raised bed soil from an old bed that has been improved with lots of compost over the years.  I added some wood ashes and crushed eggshell to the mix.

The middle bed also settled, so got a wheelbarrow of that same soil on top of the prior mix.  I added it on top of the maple leaf mulch, which I want to compost itself.  Both beds will get a leaf mulch for the rest of the winter.  I hope the earthworms will like that and do their thing.

The first bed was planted with garlic after I filled it in Sept or Oct.  These are the big, "Music" garlic, and also some others.  One row had germinated shortly after, but the most did not.  Now they are poking through the soil.  Winter wont hurt them.  Currently they are getting all of the coffee grounds, which in my case is quite a bit.  I used to collect coffee grounds from Starbucks, which sometimes they were nice about and sometimes they were put off by that.  With the pandemic, I haven't been to a Starbucks in a year.  So these are all from my own coffee pot.  They also got quite a bit of compost mixed into the upper soil layers, which I figure they will like.

I also salvaged some garlic plants from an old raised bed, planting them in the new one.  I don't know how they will do.  But if they grow, that's good.  If they don't, nothing lost.

I think these taller raised beds will benefit my gardening a lot.  They don't take nearly the amount of leaning and crouching and back-straining.  They were still a lot of work to fill.  That is an investment into a gardening future.  Having three beds, one gets garlic, one gets peppers and pickle cukes, and one gets scallions and leaf crops, or bush beans.  That makes a good rotation, one year on / two years off for each crop.

So far, I like this style of raised bed better than any other that I've tried.  They are less heavy work to put together.  Boards take less garden real estate than cement blocks, although there are advantages to those.

Fall Gardening in Kitchen Garden. 8.30.15

Garlic for planting.  8.30.15

 It may be early, but I planted the first of the garlic today.  These are cloves from this year.

Changes-
Instead of 8 per row, they are 6 per row.  Instead of 10 rows, there are 8.  I did that to give them more room.

It might be too early.  Last year I planted late and they did not get in much growth before the first freeze.  I can plant more in a few weeks.

This bed has the following rotation:

First Garlic Planting.  8.30.15

2013: strawberries
2014: strawberries.
2015: beans
2015: now, garlic.

I used the largest garlic heads.

I also cleaned up the 1/2 of an 8x8 bed that had E.W. Onions.  That got topped of with some yard soil and planted with buckwheat for green manure.

I started the 4x4 cinderblock bed that I have been gradually building, for replenishing the Chinese Chives.   Will progressively replant them into this bed over the next few weeks.  The soil is enriched with aged chicken compost, and a sprinkling of Epson salts and lime.  Prior testing showed my soil is acidic, and a bit low in calcium and magnesium.  I mixed the additives into the soil and watered to get it ready.

Today's Catch

This was yesterday's catch - my 'day off'. I made some 'blonde salsa' - yellow tomatoes, yellow peppers, onion and garlic, all from the garden. Very good.

A few more, this is today's catch.

Ning's eggplants. He's had several crops.

The fall planting of beans is blooming. There are tiny beans forming. It might be a race to fall, but maybe this method worked and we'll get a fall crop of beans. This rotation was garlic -> beans this summer.

The slugs ate a few holes in the leaves, but the mesclun grew by leaps and bounds. Good for stir fry or fried rice.

September 11th is my garlic planting day. My day to remember planting garlic, mainly because I was planting garlic on that horrific day. Not much room, since every nook and cranny is filled, but this spot is somewhat open. This location contained beans until a few weeks ago. The bean plants finished bearing, and were fed to the chickens. Nothing goes to waste. I planted cloves from 3 heads of Inchellium Red. Next to find a place for some German Red, which I like better due to flavor but it is not as productive. This rotation was scallions -> beans -> garlic. After planting, I applied swept-up leaves for mulch ans some chicken wire as kitty/doggy deterrent. Neither critter can resist freshly dug soil (kitty for her litter, doggies for digging).

In a note, the work hours are not tolerable, at 13 to 15 hours daily. Fortunately, this time of year, all that the garden needs is watering about every 3rd day, and a little puttering each weekend. We'll see next year if the work report is better.