Hi! So, I’ve kept you all in suspense for a week, not knowing anything about the raised beds. Here’s what you’ve all been waiting for!
Ta-da! You can see some things growing, in particular peas and lettuce, to the left. The peas:
We made a trellis out of PVC pipe and twine, and some bungee cord. Basically, we have five ~4 foot pieces of PVC pipe- two approximate Xs with a section on top, in between. We have two pea plants from inside, and some more planted. (Peas need a trellis for support. They especially like to attach to twine.)
On the other side of the raised bed: lettuce.
Notice the edge of the trellis from the peas. Again, we have some older plants from inside and some more planted. The lettuces from inside do not seem to be happy. They sprouted in good dirt, so now they’re too picky! The baby lettuces will probably find it easier to get used to their area.
If you have noticed black pipes in a few of my pictures, you’re very observant! Those are my drip irrigation system. Basically, they are some pipes, some of which have holes. Those are the pipes actually in the beds. The rest are supply lines, without hole. We turn it on for a while every morning. It waters all of our plants simultaneously by dripping water through the holes. We ordered it from Dripworks. We also their online Garden Planner website, which is free for the first thirty days- just enough to make a map of your garden. It’s really neat.
Some more plants: the kale!
More plants from inside with seeds in between. And again, a drip irrigation pipe.
There were some tomatoes as well, but they had powdery mildew, so we had to throw them away. (Note: If your plants get powdery mildew, DO NOT COMPOST THEM! That will give your compost powdery mildew, spreading it to all the plants that you use the compost on.) We got the plants when they were about ten inches tall, so we did not grow them from seed.
A (bad) picture from before we threw them away:
They were practically dead. We have planted some more, but I haven’t gotten around to taking pictures yet. Stay tuned!
Also, some of the plants in the planters have gotten big enough to eat, which resulted in a salad (lettuce) and kale/green apple grilled cheese! (The apples were from the store, though.) Both tasted good!
Stay tuned next week, for… probably some more garden updates, but something exciting happening is possible!
Aw, you’re making me hungry for a kale-apple grilled cheese sandwich! :D
Do you ever put plants in “bunk-beds”? Seriously, I’m curious. :)
I repeat: Yes, the sandwich was good! Try one!
Plants in bunk beds. I understand what you mean: one plant in a raised bed with another raised bed on top. I don’t think that happens, as the plants on the bottom would be deprived of light by the ones on top, but maybe you could have a shade garden… I have, however, seen “ultra-raised” beds: very tall planters. I can include a picture next time if you like…
Cool! What if you put lights under the bunk above it? But then plants need actual sunlight, so nevermind…. :)
Wow !
I suppose you could do that… after all, we started out plants under a grow light! By the way, my next post is all about different ways and places to grow plants: inspired by you! :)
Aw, thanks! I feel so special! :D