Who's got their entire vegetable garden out yet?

farmingfisherman

Well-Known Member
I'm in beautiful Portland Oregon. I think it's zone 8b. I got out real early and planted the early cold season crops. We had a few frosts after I planted but it didn't phase the early crops. I also plant at the end of summer and overwinter crops like beets, kale, carrots and other greens. I'm going to plant fava beans this fall as well. They're supposed to be a good overwintering cover crop.

I don't have very much space so I'm utilizing as best as I can. I've done a bunch of reading on succession planting. My goal is to have my garden full 365 days a year. It can be done with the right crops and proper planning.

You have a great state there in Colorado and if I ever moved from Oregon Colorado would be at the top of my list. I've spent a bit of time there all across the state. Denver, Colorado Springs, Canon City, Trinidad, Pueblo, Ft Collins, I've been all over. But my favorite place was Durango. Beautiful little town. I spent a week in Farmington NM and then drove up into Durango for another week before flying back to Portland. The Animus river ran right behind the hotel I was staying at. Beautiful country. Unfortunately I was always there for work and didn't get to explore as much as I would have liked. But as Arnie says, "I'll be back". :bigjoint:
Last weekend was great! Kinda hot but still really nice. We sat out in the yard with my wife's parents out off Bluff Rd. and it was still in the high 70's in the shade of their huge trees. Hoping the T-storms they are predicting for the afternoon hold off. Last year we had small sunflowers that we had put in the ground and they
got pounded by a hailstorm, afterwards they looked like a horde of locusts had come through or something. Plants that survived were scared up and growth was stunted for more than a month afterwards! Sure hoping we some good rain now and a dryer Summer/Fall compared to what we had last Summer.
 

xtsho

Well-Known Member
It was 87F yesterday again. Now it's in the upper 60's and I've been working in the front yard. It's supposed to lightly rain for the next couple days and I want to get the weeds cleaned up and some flowers in.

I like a nice flower garden in the front yard for people to see. What I don't like is when they stop and pick the flowers which they sometimes do.
 

madvillian420

Well-Known Member
were supposed to be getting frost here in Chicago tonight but i have cucumbers, snap peas, basil and rosemary started in my spare propagation dome, waiting for the right outdoor temps
 

Mass Medicinals

Well-Known Member
Wow! I'm impressed on your progress for Portland area!! Yeah, CO is pretty awesome- don't tell anyone, although, i think the cat is out of the bag already...

So we're essentially moving in the same direction with successive planting, but i need to do more research on what can be planted in the fall and survive till spring here. I've had kale straight up grow through the winter two years ago though. That stuff could survive on the moon i think. Maybe that's why Martians are green!! I think we're zone 5b here on the front range, but our winters can get pretty cold for periods of time.. lots of volunteers each spring though! We need to look into a cold box or similar...

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Awesome raised bed. We are going to be assembling ours in the next week or two. Our vegetables had a slow start and aren't ready for the outside yet, so soil and constructions has been delayed for us.

We're considering lining with cardboard any thoughts?
 

ColoradoHighGrower

Well-Known Member
Awesome raised bed. We are going to be assembling ours in the next week or two. Our vegetables had a slow start and aren't ready for the outside yet, so soil and constructions has been delayed for us.

We're considering lining with cardboard any thoughts?
Second one is built! Now i just need to fill it... :wall: Laying cardboard down is a popular method for weed control, so you can just build right on top of grass/weeds without a lot of site prep. We used tyvec siding underlayment, just because we had it. Built the box, then laid that down and stapled that on about 1ft up the sides, and then used contractor trash bags cut in half lengthwise to line the insides of the side boards (overlapped with tyvec). I went cheap with the side boards and just used standard pine lumber, so the plastic liner should help protect the boards from constant contact with wet soil. We'll see how long they last... we used cedar 4x4s for the corner posts, and leveled the boards, so only contacting the ground at the one high corner that everything is leveled off of. Scrap wood and bricks to fill the gap at the bottom before lining/filling. Don't us pressure treated lumber, as it might leach nasties into your soil...

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Mass Medicinals

Well-Known Member
Those look so great!

So we're kind of kicking ourselves for a potential planning blunder. We have a nice space for a garden. And initially thought a number of raised beds was the way to go. We also opted for pine boards and cedar 4x4 posts. So now we have all the supplies (less soil), and are realizing we don't need the raised beds given the space we're working with. Like we could just take up the grass, fence it off and create raised rows...

We're wondering if we can make one large raised bed to 18" height. We have 72 pine 8 footers and have cut the 4x4s into 16 equal segments that could act as support posts outside rather than the inside corners.

Anyone good with math problems :D
 
I just set up a new 9'x3'x10" bed to try out square foot gardening. I've already got several other beds and smartpots, hugelkultur mounds, etc. but have never tried a square foot garden. Just sprouted a bunch of new veggies...thai winter squash, japanese otome watermelons, yellow squash, cucumbers, leeks, tomatillos, lipstick peppers, aji peppers, rainbow chard, bok choy, red kale, shishito peppers. Lot of stuff I have not tried growing before.

I'm in Hawaii so we can grow year round, but are less motivated to garden during the rainy season.
I just set up a new 9'x3'x10" bed to try out square foot gardening. I've already got several other beds and smartpots, hugelkultur mounds, etc. but have never tried a square foot garden. Just sprouted a bunch of new veggies...thai winter squash, japanese otome watermelons, yellow squash, cucumbers, leeks, tomatillos, lipstick peppers, aji peppers, rainbow chard, bok choy, red kale, shishito peppers. Lot of stuff I have not tried growing before.

I'm in Hawaii so we can grow year round, but are less motivated to garden during the rainy season.
I'm in Hawaii too. Agreed. Lol
 

randallb

Well-Known Member
Second one is built! Now i just need to fill it... :wall: Laying cardboard down is a popular method for weed control, so you can just build right on top of grass/weeds without a lot of site prep. We used tyvec siding underlayment, just because we had it. Built the box, then laid that down and stapled that on about 1ft up the sides, and then used contractor trash bags cut in half lengthwise to line the insides of the side boards (overlapped with tyvec). I went cheap with the side boards and just used standard pine lumber, so the plastic liner should help protect the boards from constant contact with wet soil. We'll see how long they last... we used cedar 4x4s for the corner posts, and leveled the boards, so only contacting the ground at the one high corner that everything is leveled off of. Scrap wood and bricks to fill the gap at the bottom before lining/filling. Don't us pressure treated lumber, as it might leach nasties into your soil...

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I don't understand the building wrap in the bottom of the planter.

Also note "Tyvek" is moisture directional.
 

ColoradoHighGrower

Well-Known Member
I don't understand the building wrap in the bottom of the planter.

Also note "Tyvek" is moisture directional.
Not necessary at all- for us, it's mostly to contain the soil once filled, since there are gaps along the bottom edges and the ground. House wrap is not waterproof, especially when horizontal and flooded. We use it for weed control ground cloth too, because we have a 10ft×100ft roll left over, and that stuff ain't cheap!
 

ColoradoHighGrower

Well-Known Member
Those look so great!

So we're kind of kicking ourselves for a potential planning blunder. We have a nice space for a garden. And initially thought a number of raised beds was the way to go. We also opted for pine boards and cedar 4x4 posts. So now we have all the supplies (less soil), and are realizing we don't need the raised beds given the space we're working with. Like we could just take up the grass, fence it off and create raised rows...

We're wondering if we can make one large raised bed to 18" height. We have 72 pine 8 footers and have cut the 4x4s into 16 equal segments that could act as support posts outside rather than the inside corners.

Anyone good with math problems :D
Depending on your space and desired layout, you could build your beds with whatever dims you want to while optimizing board footage/waste cuts. 18inch height is great for any vegi, including carrots.
My other garden plots are raised beds too, but only 6" above grade plus some initial tillin first two years or so to condition our clayey soil. Now a sort of no- till situation with drip irrigation and mostly top-dressing with compost. Those are about 20x10 and 16x8ft, but could be any dimensions! :joint:
 

NoMoreBottles

Well-Known Member
Built a 70' by 12' fenced in 8' high vegetable garden area. Have over 100 plants ready to go. May 21st and last night it was 36 degrees with a good frost. Maybe a few more days? More snow in May than February and March combined, strange weather.
 
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