August Update

Ancho/pablanno peppers

Beans to the left

Tabasco Peppers

The garden is winding down.  I still have a lot of peppers growing and I planted some peas a couple of weeks ago.,

Melons!

My watermelon and cantaloupes are doing well.  I have around 10 watermelons growing and three or four cantaloupes.

It's Hot!

It has been very hot here in Bixby, Oklahoma!  It has been over 100 degrees for the last two weeks.  It never gets below 80 at night.  That makes the A/C work really hard and the electric bill go really high.  It is also very hard on the garden.  I have watered every day.  One thing about the SFG is that you really do need to keep it watered.  As you will see from some of the pictures, my tomato plant are looking a little dry.  That being said, I'm getting baskets of tomatoes every day.  My heirloom tomatoes don't grow as well, I get one or two to 20 of the regular tomatoes.  The taste is unbelievable!  I'm going to really work on them next year. Eggplants are still growing like crazy.  Peppers have slowed down.

Cantaloupes

Here are my first cantaloupe.  I grew these in a hose hammock about three feet off the ground.  Can't wait to eat them!  On another note, eggplants grow like crazy.  I have been trying to find ways to cook them.

JULY

Everything is growing great.  No bugs, no fertilizer just water.  I was a little bummed about my heirloom tomato.  It was larger than a softball and as you can see in the picture something went wrong.  Going to research what causes this.

Celebrity Tomaotes

Eggplants grow like crazy!

Fresh from the garden

Sunflowers

Trashed Heirloom Tomato

July Update

watermelon

Garden is doing great.  I've learned so much this season,  already making plans for next years garden.  It's wild seeing my cantaloupe growing three feet in the air.  I have harvested all my corn and  planted some watermelon in its place.

cantaloupe hanging with hose

June Update

Cherokee Purple Heirloom Tomato

Fresh Sweet Corn  

Cantaloupe growing up my net.  

Celebrity Tomatoes

Cantaloupe

My Sunflowers are huge.

Egg Plant

The garden is doing great.  Haven't had any pest or bug problems as of yet.  One thing I think is a little strange is that my plants haven't gotten really huge but they are producing.  My neighbor has tomato plants three times my size but I have three times more fruit.  Maybe it has to do with the garden only being 6" deep.  As long as they are growing veggies... Below are some current pictures.  We had our first corn feast the other day. You really can taste a difference!  All of my radish and green onions have been harvested.  Still have lettuce growing, hasn't burned up yet.  Eating tons of peppers, waiting on my tomatoes to get ripe.

Carrots and Corn

Here is the full view of my carrots and corn.  The carrots have really taken off.

Beans and Cantaloupe

My beans are running up the netting and my cantaloupe are growing well.  I over planted my melons,there should only be one per two squares.  Oh well, we will see what happens.  I may pull a couple in another week or so.

Here are some blooms on my pepper plants.

It's May 1st, the garden is doing really well.  Here are some pictures of my lettuce garden, the plants in the front right are egg plant.  I planted them in the squares that had radish in them. All the radish has been harvested. I really planted way to much lettuce.  Can't keep up!

Corn and Wind don't mix

We had a pretty big storm come through last night and the wind has been blowing like crazy today.  My oldest corn plants are doing ok, it's my small ones that have almost blown out of the ground.  I should have let them grow through some chicken wire.

April 20 Pictures

My carrots

Corn

Salad-lettuces, swiss chard, onions and spinach

Tomato, Pole Beans, peppers, cantaloupe, sunflower

Here is an update on my garden.  Things are growing well.  It has been a little cool the last week or so here in Oklahoma, probably not great for my tomato, cantaloupe and bean plants, but all is looking good.

Things are great in the Garden

My SFG is doing great.  I did make a mistake which the SFG book said to be careful of... don't over plant.  My lettuce garden is producing like crazy and my family can't eat this much salad every day.  The picture is of a really big bowl of lettuce and spinach that I harvest every day!

Corn is on the Way!

My corn is doing great.  I planted 12 seeds and I have 12 stalks.  So far so good.  I planted 12 more this morning and will plant 12 more in two weeks.  My carrots are in the same bed as the corn and they are starting to sprout.

Garden is Set

I went to our local farm store (Conrad Farms Bixby) and purchased some plants for the garden.  I got three varieties of tomato plants:  Celebrity, Big Boy and Cherokee Purple which is a heirloom.  They were all started right down the road from my house.  I also got several different pepper plants.  I also bought some tomato cages.  I was going to use the frame with netting, but it would have closed in my garden.  

My pole beans are starting to show and I have a canteloupe starting.  

My Vertical Frame is Complete

I built my first vertical frame today.  It was really easy and cost me 15 bucks.  For some reason my poles are not 5' tall but about an inch shorter. Guess I cut it wrong.

I've decided to plant my cantaloupe on the west side of my 4x4 and will plant my tomatoes on the north side.  Thinking about getting some tomato cages instead on another vertical frame.  SFG says that you plant melons one every two square feet.  I'm going to do that, but I am also going to plant some pole beans in the other squares to grow up the frame.  Hope it doesn't screw with either plant.  We shall see.

Gardening is Fun!

Having a really good week with the SFG.  We have had rain here in the Tulsa area for 5 or six straight days, it all started right after I planted the salad garden, corn, carrots.  Was worried the seeds would wash away, but things are looking good.

I'm very surprised by my radish.  They are growing like crazy.  I don't really think anyone in my family likes radish, but it looks like we will have a lot to try.  Don't know if you can tell or not, but there are 16 radish per square foot and I planted 2 sq. feet.  Looks like all the seeds sprouted.  My lettuce is looking good too.

Planted Seeds Outside

As you can read from my last couple of posts, my seed starting adventure did not turn out so well.  The weather has been great here in Oklahoma, and I'm sure we are past the last freeze so I decided to plant all of my salad seeds in one of my SFG's.   I have five different lettuce, spinach, and radish planted in the plots.  There are 4 plants in each square except for the two spinach which have 9 plants in each and there are 16 radish plants in two squares.  A few of my pepper plants survived my mold funk problem so I put one of each kind in my four left over squares.

I'm soaking my corn and bean seeds right now and will plant them later today.  Planning on 36 corn stalks and I'm going to plant 12 today, and then 12 more in two weeks then another 12 two weeks after that.

Hope these turn out better than my first batch indoors!

Seed Failure!

For some reason my poor little seedlings failed.  I lost almost all of them.  They got some weird looking fuzz on them and just died.  I'm a little bummed, but will try again next year.  On a happier note, I took my remaining seeds and planted them in the actual garden!  In one of my SFG boxes, I planted 6 different types of lettuce, spinach, radish and green onions.

Most of my pepper plants survived the fuzz attack.  I've got them outside breaking them in.  I'm determined to get at least a couple of plants growing from seed I started inside.  As for the other veggies, going to the greenhouse and purchase plants already started.

Most of my seedlings have died. I still have all of my different pepper plants, but all the leafy veggies, tomatoes and eggplant died.  I'll try again next year.  I'm going to purchase tomato eggplant and some other veggies already started in a week or so.   I did purchase some new lettuce seeds today and will plant them right in the garden and hope for the best.

Going Down Fast

Not exactly sure where I went wrong, but all of my seedlings seem to be dying.  I have some serious fuzz/mold on most of the plants.  I think I may have taken them out of the vermiculite to soon.  The plants I left in the vermiculite are still growing like crazy and look really good. I think I may have watered too much.  I'm letting them dry out a little and see if they come back.  If not, I still have seeds left and will plant my lettuce/swiss chard in the actual garden and see if they grow.  The pepper plants seem to be doing ok and all my herbs are doing well.  Tomato, eggplant and lettuce are not.

Lettuce not doing so well

I've got most of my seeds transplanted from the vermiculite to the little trays filled with Mels mix.  My Red & Green leaf lettuce and the Swiss chard seem to be dying.  Not for sure what to do.  I keep them under grow lights for 8-10 hours a day.  They kind of went into shock after I put them in actual soil.  On a positive note, my tomato, jalapeno, egg plant and my herbs are doing great!

First Transplants

My seeds are spouting like crazy.  I really overdid it by planting so many seeds.  The Square Foot Gardner warns about this but I did it anyway.  I have zillions of little sprouts.  I transplanted them into my Mel's Mix and hope for the best.  It is really cool to see these things grow from a seed.  So far I've transplanted my two tomato varieties, my red and green leaf lettuce and Swiss Chard.  My green onions are sprouting like crazy also, will transplant them tomorrow.

Here is my completed 4x4 garden filled with Mel's Mix.  I did figure out when I started to put the lattice bars on that my frame was not quite square.  I screwed them together wrong, so I re did it and it came together a lot better.

Purchased the rest of the Mel's Mix products and mixed them together.  Had my five different types of compost along with the  peat moss and vermiculite.  Wasn't for sure how to measure it correctly so I just filled a five gallon bucket with each ingredient and threw it all on my tarp and mixed it up.

I have growth!

Here is a picture of my first ever seeds sprouting.  Just planted these four days ago in vermiculite.  These are my lettuce plants Red and Green Leaf.  I better get busy making my Mel's Mix so I can transplant them.  I think I may have over did  the seeds.  There are like 30 little sprouts in each little cup.  I guess my pinch had a lot more seeds than I thought.  Oh well, at least something is growing.

I just received my Valentines present from the family.  They are making sure that no birds mess with our garden!  The netting is for my future cantaloupe's.  I'm going to build a frame this weekend and strap my new netting to it.

Not much to update.  Have the seeds under a grow light and keeping them watered.  I'm a little confused on how much to water, but according to the Square Foot Gardner, you really can't go wrong with the vermiculite. The vermiculite stays pretty moist.  I'll post pictures as soon as I get some spouts.

Started my seeds

I started my seeds today.  I got some small portion cups and poked holes in the bottom.  Put in some vermiculite and the seeds, then topped with more vermiculite.  Watered in the tray and the vermiculite sucked it right up.

MY Square Foot Garden Frame

The frame was really easy to build.  I bought four 2"x6"x8' boards and Lowe's cut them for me.  I screwed them together and stapled the weed barrier to the bottom.  Now they are ready for Mel's Mix.  The cost of each square was about $10.  I built two of them and will fill them in a week or so with the mix.

My Seed Starter

I found an old cart in my attic, brought it down and spray painted it.  I found some 18" lights at Lowe's @10 bucks each, bought some "Grow Lights" (they pretty much look just like the lights that came with the lamp but cost $8 each) and velcro'd them to the underside of each shelf.  Attached is my picture of the shelf.

I'm trying to follow the Square Foot Gardner Book and will plant my seeds in vermiculite tomorrow and see what happens.  I went to Stringer Nursery Tulsa again today and purchased more seeds for my salad garden.  They have tons of peat moss and composte, so I will be back to get that when I get ready to make my Mel's Mix.

My First Square Foot Garden

I'm in the process of starting my first Square Foot Garden.  I tried a raised bed garden last year having never heard of Square Foot Gardening (SFG).  I grew some really huge plants but not one vegetable!  I take that back I finally grew a squash, but the squash bugs got in and took care of that one.  Going to go at it a little different this year and follow the SFG plan the best I can.  I just finished building two frames and will use my previous frame this year also.  The SFG book is really awesome, but I'm a little worried about trying to start my own seeds and when to plant etc.

The SFG book says that you need 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 compost.  I'm a little confused on how to put it all together because the vermiculite and the peat moss come in cube foot bags (but the peat moss expands to 8 cubic feet from a 4 cubic feet bag) and the compost comes in pound bags.  Guess I'm just going to fill my five gallon pickle bucket with equal ingredients and keep adding until my box is full.

Vermiculite is not real easy to find, but I did finally find it at Stringer Nursery in Tulsa.  They were very helpful and I bought two big bags.  I also just got my seeds in the mail so will try and start those this weekend.  I hope the seeds I bought are better than the seeds I could have purchased at Stringer.  The seeds I bought from Burpee.com are like $4 a pack and the seeds at the nursery were around $2 and from the same company.