garden news-my fall garden

GARDEN NEWS-MY FALL GARDEN

last night the charlie brown pumpkin movie was shown in the pumpkin patch at our community garden
it was dark cozy and chilly but all there had a great time


a big ole pumpkin was there that weighed around 350 lbs for all to enjoy

our main garden is being transformed from the summer garden to the fall garden
i am also redoing my garden plot
it is about 400 square foot in diameter

i have 8 3ft x 7ft beds that are framed with wooden 2x4s
i also have 15 30 gallon grow bags 
i also have a 3ft square bed that i grow a walking stick kale/collard or kale/collard tree
it produces big leaves that are like collards
they are tender and cook like regular collards

i also have a 3ft x 8ft bed that has concrete blocks around it 
i grow strawberries in the holes in the blocks

i have a 4ft x 4 ft bed that i grew cherry tomatoes in the summer and this fall i have planted a vine snap pea there

after i removed my summer crops i added  4 inches of compost 
either compost we buy for the garden or compost we make in our big compost bins or compost i make myself in my garden using buried 5 gallon buckets with holes on the sides and bottom

i add compost material from our kitchen in the buckets and worms come through the holes into the bucket to eat the compost materials
i produce about 30 gallons of this compost every 6 months
it is added to the beds when i prep them for the season

after i cover the beds with compost i add a scattering of an organic fertilizer
this is forked in with a garden fork
raked smooth
and
a soaking of a fish emulsion seaweed molasses mixture is added
the bed is then covered with a layer of pine straw
the pine straw holds in moisture
when i plant the bed i remove the pine straw

each of the beds are prepped this way
i never dig or till the beds

i do the same for the grow bags

on the back row is two beds that are 2ft x 7ft
they have a permanent 6 foot fence on t posts
these beds are used for peas in the winter and beans in the summer


in my grow bags this winter i am growing potatoes in 5 of them
lettuce carrots and garlic in the others
our soil here is clay so potatoes dont do well in the ground so i use the grow bags with good success

for the potatoes i get an organic red potato and leave it in our window until it makes sprouts from its eyes usually about 2 weeks
i then plant the whole potato in the bags


in my beds shown here i plant
dino kale and curly kale
cauliflower
cabbage
swiss chard
and
then on the back row i plant tall telephone shelling peas


in these beds shown here i plant 
onions that i get from dixondale farms in texas called  texas 1015 and early white onions
they make a nice bulb onion that you can store for several months
these we will harvest around next april or may
next is a bed for leeks
i get these from dixondale also
they will be harvested in april or may of next year
both the onions and leeks i will chop up and freeze for use in soups beans stews casseroles etc
next is a row of broccoli
next is a bed with celery with room for more veggies
i usually will plant a vegetable that we have extra in our greenhouse or maybe something i dont usually plant like red cabbage

at the back is a bed with a fence that i will plant magnolia snap peas a multicolored pea that tastes yummy off the vines
i eat a lot of my peas while im working in the garden

so
this is my fall winter garden that i will have fully planted soon
it will produce a lot of produce for us to use in our kitchen

the same thing is happening in our main garden
we are now prepping our beds there and will soon have it all planted for the winter also

we have an online fundraiser event that will start on november 15th and run to december 15th
it will be live starting november 15th
it is a garden go fund me like site
based on how much we raise we can also get a partial matching grant
all of the funds raised go to our garden

the link is seedmoney.org 
the link to our garden will be live on november 15th

If you have a community or school garden you might consider posting your site on this seedmoney.org site

our garden has raised over $5000 using this site
part of this was matching grants

the organicgreen doctor