these should not be growing in December here! but I’ll eat them.
only the oregano is normal but it ought to be under snow or ice. baby fennel in December.
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today I’m planning to build the crappy cheap metal oval raised bed things. it’s warm and sunny and dry out, a bad omen to be like this in January.
my bulbs are all sprouting.
snow doesn’t last beyond sunup. the greenhouse insulation is shredded and it has not mattered, it’s been above frost in there the entire time without the small heat running so far. maybe Feb/March will be icy? one can only hope for some form of winter
we have gotten several freezes but in the days it’s 40-50F mostly, seeds are sprouting, those die in the freezes, so a lot of things that normally reseed will not be able to in spring i think.
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We have had only a few frosty mornings and night feeezes at this point as well.
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well I’ve been sick and off work and not able to do much still. someone sent me a good number of the metal raised beds so my partner and i put them together and I’ve been having him move them around the garden like furniture to decide where they go, come spring. the dog supervised
I’m still setting up the greenhouse it’s real slow going this year. normally my hot peppers and onions and spring plants would be started about now.
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Good dog!
I have been thinking about getting some of these types of beds for a few years now. I am interested in how you will go about filling them.
Will it be mini Hügelkultur type?
Treated as a big compost bin?
The bottom filled with random ‘fill dirt’ you see for free everywhere and the top foot potting soil?
I’ve thought in the past that I would do a combination of Hügelkultur and compost layering. Where I would put in branches and such at the bottom, then the chunky tailings from sieving compost, then unfinished compost, and then top off with old potting soil mixed with more compost and soil!
Whew, a mouthful that!
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- native plants evolved to grow in the ecosystems of their native environments.
- cultivars adapted to the ecosystems of their landrace environments.
- In many cases, Hügelkultur is a poor match for either.
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Well, to be honest I know only the most very basic and common words in German. Plus, I got fancy copying the word with an umlaut, but normally you see it like this: hugelkultur.
I don’t know how you got the first two points you made, but to rebutt your third point is the only way I have heard of hugelkultur in this definition:
Hugelkultur (pronounced “hyoo-gul-kulture” German for “mound culture”) is a German gardening technique that involves building a raised bed or mound using decaying wood debris and other compostable organic materials. This permaculture practice creates a self-watering, self-composting garden bed that improves soil fertility, water retention, and aeration over time. The method mimics natural forest processes where fallen trees decompose and enrich the soil for decades.
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@Tiirsys
It is far from the original native environments of species cultivated today (including those from forests), and very far from the landrace environments of cultivated plants. Like many fads, it makes the gardener feel better than the plants. This is not to say the plants do poorly, rather, there are better approaches.
I see where you’re coming from. In my own interests, I feel like hugelkultur is a good way to use/clean up materials- whether they be windfall from a storm or a tree had to be cut, maybe there are just extra logs and stuff laying around that would eventually decompose but until then are in the way or an eyesore. Yup!
@Tiirsys
If you applying these scraps after planting, then it is no different than mulching.
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Just make sure the logs are extra, extra dead! 3+ years ago, I watched all the “fill your beds cheap!” Videos and was excited to try on a new 8x4 bed. To my surprise and horror, shoots started to come up from the logs and they took over the garden. They were logs that had been cut the year prior on a neighbors property. Granted, it must have been something extremely aggressive, and I absolutely should have figured out what it was first. I had to dig up the whole 8x4 bed to remove it all and get every last growth. I just fill with leaves, bulk soil and bulk compost now and it’s not that expensive. Also, you don’t get the big settling issues that happen when you put logs in. I throw food scraps in about halfway filled. I am adding another small (2x7) bed this spring and plan to mix in sand. For the years prior to the log nightmare, we used bagged soils, and wow that gets expensive. So… @resonanteye what’s your plan?
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well i have a WHOLE LOT of logs that have been sitting around a year or two. so those will go in the bottom to take up space
pine straw because again i have TONS.
then the current mounded areas, I’ll probably shovel that in to fill up to the top. i have some compost to add.
just whatever i can get my hands on for the bottom half ish, really. then native soil and my current garden soil to fill.
I’m going to compost in one of them, slow compost basically. just fill into it, cover it with mesh, wait till next year
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dug in and filled one of these raised bed things. bottom is full of mealy log chunks and cardboard torn up, then my mound bed topsoil shoveled over into it
I’ve got a handful more of these to put in. i like the hand built pallet beds better for looks, though. these remind me of industrial toilets or something
also did more seed in the greenhouse. no heat and it was 50F in there in the morning.
I’ve got another twenty trays i can fill, but no more heat mats or domes
plenty light though
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Awesome starts! I agree the metal beds are super ugly in winter, and I thought I would regret switching. Wooden beds are so pretty in their more natural form. But, the metal beds disappear during the growing season, and then it’s just nice that you don’t have warping wood.
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I’m going to paint them so at least they match the house!
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greenhouse update
brassicas popping, lettuces still waiting, chicory sprouting. tiny onion and leek curls of green just under the soil.
my friend came over to block soil with me and planted a tray of long season melons, which are already up
the greenhouse itself is as always confusing and disorganized, but I’ve got room for a few more shelves of trays. I’m just about out of tray bottoms but i figure in another week I’ll be up potting some things so I’ll have empties.
i also took quite a lot of grape, fig, and mulberry cuttings to prop and so there’s a few tall trays with square pots.
I’ve got a single crate i used for the tall seedling pots.
overall, a mess, an enjoyable mess, and I’m glad i have enough energy to get out there more now.
in addition, an avocado is flowering. my tarragon may be back from the dead. and figs are beginning to wake.
one tropical “big giant” avocado has dried out or simply gave up on dormancy temps and seems dead. I’ll wait until May to decide it’s a goner
multiple unheated trays with lettuce and leeks onions not really starting yet. a tomato tray is though? peppers are still taking their time to sprout, tomorrow I’ll be potting in the ones i over wintered and hoping they wake up well.
lettuce under the lights without a mat, why they must take so long.
I’ve got to put the plexi sheets over the raised beds i built tomorrow too. might toss radish and lettuce and spinach seeds down in those to see what happens.
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used up all the rain water i stored in the greenhouse in the fall, tanks/barrels all empty now.
just in time for watering season in there!
i organized today then started 4 trays of round two of lettuces, some of those will get put into the cold frame next few weeks to see how they do.
also started asparagus from seed today never done that before. and put in a rooting crate of both kind of grapes I’ve got and some mulberry cuttings.
i forgot to take pictures today because i got hot and sweaty from moving stuff around and wanted to just be done with it for the day.
will get pictures tomorrow.
ordered a cheap starter irrigation tubing kit to see if it’ll work in the raised beds at all. and ordered some hose repair/split kits for the soak hoses as a backup plan.
wait i did take one photo on the porch after, the last few ripe olives off the little potted tree. i got an entire large handful off it, first time any of them have made fruit, though two have flowered now.
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took some pictures today
green coming up all over.
some of the things going on.
i use mostly soil blocks or little rows in trays. the soil blocks make it possible to start cucurbits early
moving them into a bigger pot for the duration once they use up the block. it doesn’t disturb the roots, which self prune at the air, at the edge of the block
TWO avocados are flowering and all figs are waking up. but florea is further along and woke earlier. it still has breba despite my throwing the pot around in the fall
white genoa is right behind it with actual leaves
edit to note, it was almost 80F in there today with the sun shining. last night it was 60F around 2am right before i went to bed (ran out to turn off a forgotten light)
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So amazed by how much you start early and manage to up pot! I don’t start my cucurbits for weeks. Have you tried the super large cucurbit block?
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