The Whole Garden

I just snapped a long-distance picture of my whole 35' x 50' vegetable garden, and thought I'd share it.

There's always work to be done - weeding, spraying, tying-up, mulching, and the garden is never perfect. But, I'm happy with the result and we're starting to get a lot of garden veggies now. I planted beets, cabbage, onions, tomatoes, peppers, bush beans, tomatillos, okra, cucumbers, eggplant, basil, squash, melons, and three different varieties of sweet corn - and they're all doing real well.

It's pretty here too, isn't it?

This message was edited Jul 5, 2009 12:22 PM

Ozark, no I wouldn't say it's pretty, I think it's absolutely beautiful. Lots of work but I can tell that you're very proud, as you should be. I hope the summer keeps all your veggies growing well.

DDDAL

That IS a beautiful garden!

Wonderful garden and beautiful setting. Picture to be proud of and I'm sure you are proud of all your hard work.

A hearty amen to all the previous comments from an old Baptist preacher.

Yep! Good job. That's the way they are supposed to look.

Jerry

Wow --- what an inspiration... maybe next year I can get something close to looking that good.

lovely!

You did good! So be proud!!!!

Your garden looks wonderful! I'm still trying to get mine weeded but things are starting to look good. I was wondering if you strawed your garden to keep the weeds down, looks like you have something between the rows.

sherlyn, my mulch budget was a little low this year, but I used a technique I read about somewhere around here. Put newspaper down and then put the straw or mulch on top of it, if you can't get the mulch thick enough to keep the weeds back. Works really well. I called the guy in charge of printing the local newspapers and he said they use soy ink and the paper is garden friendly.

"I was wondering if you strawed your garden to keep the weeds down, looks like you have something between the rows."
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For sure. I couldn't raise a big garden without mulching - I'd be pulling weeds ALL the time.

It's an ongoing process through spring and early summer, and I've got almost the whole garden covered now. I use my tiller between rows and hand-pull weeds in the rows - then as I get each section clear I put fresh grass clippings down, about 6" deep. Those pack down to about 2" after they turn brown.

I've got a lot of yard to mow, and I've got a grass catcher on my riding mower for just this purpose.

There's a whole BUNCH of benefits to putting those grass clippings on the soil.

1. They get real hot the first couple of days, and that kills any weed seeds and emerging weeds in the soil. I don't have any more weeding for the whole season once I get the mulch down.

2. The mulch conserves water and keeps the soil cool and moist underneath. I have a soaker hose grid laid out under the mulch, and I water my whole garden just by turning valves.

3. Having mulch down eliminates mud - I can walk and work in my garden even after heavy rains.

4. I didn't expect this one - little black brachnid wasps live in the mulch, and I haven't seen a tomato hornworm for years. The wasps kill all the other caterpillars, too.

5. Veggies that lay on the ground like melons and low-hanging cucumbers don't rot because they're laying on the mulch instead of on dirt.

6. The mulch improves my soil every year, as I till it under in the fall.

So, I wouldn't even think about raising a big garden without mulching it.

Boy, Ozark, I like those comments. You know what your doing and it shows. Wish I had known that stuff 30 years ago when I was raising about an acre of garden trying to keep those younguns fed. For all you guys that don't have enough grass clippings, hay works the same way. Wheat or oat straw is the best because it doesn't have grass seed in it. Any type hay will work. Happy gardening Ozark; you've done a heck of a job.

Ozark, you are a master gardener for sure.

Awesome! Beautiful garden.

Beautiful garden! I want one !

Thought I would put up a shot of my garden. I have another raised bed the other side of this one. It has bunch beans, squash and running bean. Another 24 ft bed has cantalopes. The one in the photo has tomatoes, cucumbers and also had cabbage on one end.

Great garden, Jim. Everything is so nice and green. Just wish I had room to do so much.

Thanks Samigal. The garden has been very prolific. Our temps have been running 100 for the past 30 days and very dry. I've had to water every other day in these raised beds. Still can't understand how things can produce in high heat. I picked 10 gal. of tomatoes today along with 5 gal of squash and cucumbers. Picked 31 cantalopes, today. Everything is caged even the squash. They are stooling out from the limbs and starting to bloom and it looks like I'll be having more squash than I've had all season. We sure have made a lot of folks happy with the veggies we've been giving away. That's the fun of gardening. It also pays dividends, one of the guys I've been giving cantalopes to brought my wife a dish pan fool of ripe peaches off his tree and said the muscadines will be ripe in 2 weeks. What goes around comes around.

Oh gosh, what a crop! I'm still waiting on my tomatoes. Lots of green ones. Always nice that you can trade with others. I could live on a garden full of veggies like yours.

Well I'll tell you Samigal, Jo and I are veggiie eaters. Neither care whether we have meat or not as long as the veggies are producing. We have pretty much lived out of our garden since spring. Had lettuce, radishs, beets and cabbage earlier. Raised a few potatoes to eat fresh. My beds are 40 feet x 5 feet, so had enough distance to plant running string beans down one side and bunch butter beans down the other with squash up the middle in cages. String beans have quit bearing and butter beans are through and pulled up and replanted (about 6inchs high). When the weather cools down I'll plant cabbage, brocolli and turnips and mustard. May plant some rutabagas as well. We are blessed with mild winters most of the time so usually can eat out of the garden year round.

That is terrific, you sure can save on the groceries. I always have to make room for my flowers, so don't do much other than tomatoes. I would love to have all the great veggies you grow. Master Gardener for sure.

I wish I was a master gardener. I have learned a lot from some of these threads. If farmerdill post a reply, pay attention. He really know his stuff. Want to look at some photos of my garden and yard email me at jimgoodman1@hotmail.com and I'll sent you an invitation to my Kodak Share Gallery.