My 2010 Fair Project

[Mike K.]

Actually, it is two projects or one project with two different angles! 

Diane Jones and I are working on having a raised vegetable garden display. My goal is to grow all the plants (some exceptions such as potatoes and onions) from seeds. Hopefully, I will have about 25 different types of veggies - everything from asparagus to zucchini.

A offshoot of this is container gardening, but with a twist. I want visitors who may not be aware how some food is grown to see up close and personal what is happening. I will have clear containers with root veggies planted around the edges so people can see things such as potatoes and carrots in the soil. To make it more fun, though, the containers will be themed, such as a Peanut Butter & Jelly container. Peanuts along the walls, strawberries in the middle. Another one would be potatoes with corn and green beans in the middle.

This will hopefully be a fun as well as valuable project.

Mike

[Mike K.]

These are some of the plants I hope to have on exhibit:

Peas:
Lincoln Garden & Oregon Sugar Pod II

Beans:
Chinese Red Noodle
Royalty Purple Pod
Old Homestead (KY Wonder Pole)
Wax Beans
Lima Beans

Squash
Patisson Panache Jaune Et Vert
Tondo Scurd Di Piacenza

Potatoes
Kennebeck

Spinach
Bloomsdale
Giant Noble

Mustard
Japanese Giant Red
Southern Giant Curled

Kale
Blue Curled
Dwarf Siberian

Cabbage
Early Jersey
Tete Noire

Eggplant
Black Champion
Ping Tung

Cucumber
Lemon
Improved Telegraph
Sikkim

Corn
Sugar Queen
A Field Corn

Peppers
7-Pod
Habenero
Jalapeno
Fish
Pequin
Royal Black
Large Purple
Mesilla
Hungarian Hot Wax
Bell
Sweet Banana

Tomatoes
Riesentraube
Delicious or Better Boy
Red Zebra
White Beauty
Roma
A Stuffer (still need to settle on a specific one)
Yellow
Legend or Silitz

Other Veggies
Black Simpson Lettuce
Swiss Chard
Onions
Garlic
Turnips
Broccoli
Beets
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Celery
Cauliflower
Carrots

Herbs
Sweet Basil
Holy Basil
Lemon Basil
Cilantro
Oregano

Misc
Cotton
Rice
Sugar Cane
Coffee
Jicama
Alpine Strawberries
Peanuts

Randel at www.rareseeds.com (Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds) has donated about 35 packages of seeds. The challenge is going to be to have mature but not dead plants in August. Several of these plants are normally mature in June, others in October. Instead, they have to be ready in the middle of August. That means starting seeds six weeks ago as well as starting others in the middle of June.

Hopefully, this will provide visitors with an idea of how they can raise a garden, even if all they have is a patio!

Mike

[Mike K.]

Thanks to the Village of Glendale, who delivered five yards of compost, and Bill Hammon who hauled up three yard of aged horse manure and two yards of dirt, the bed is now filled, awaiting a heavy rain (hopefully this weekend) so everything will settle.

Thanks to Ham. Co. Solid Waste Mgmt. I have an Earth Machine coming so I can compost leaves and weeds this summer, and the finished plants this fall. I've also contacted some places with the hope of getting some rain barrels so I can set up an irrigation system if needed this summer.

Mike

[Mike K.]

Well, the bed has been built, received rains, dried a couple of times and on Saturday it was tilled. Because the soil was not the least bit compacted, it was different! The tines went probably a foot deep - almost up to the guard. But it mixed the compost, horse manure and dirt completely.

Saturday I planted:
Jicama - 4
Cotton - 3
Eggplants - one each of Long Purple, Ping Tung and Black Champion
Sweet/Bell Peppers - one each of Crispy Hybrid, Black Beauty and Banana
Hot Peppers - one each of Jalapeno, Habanero, Black Pearl, 7-pod, Tepin, Hungarian Hot Wax, Cayenne and Fish
Mennonite Sorghum - 4
Rice - 4
Tomatoes - one each of Legend, Red Zebra, Red Delicious, Better Boy, Red Stuffer, Riesentraube
Celery - 3
Calabrese Broccoli - 3
Herbs - two oregano, two parsley (still have Sweet, Honey and Lemon Basil to plant)
Silver Queen Corn - 8 hills
Lettuce - one row of Black Seeded Simpson

On Sunday I added
Oregon Star and Lincoln Garden peas
Bright Lights Swiss Chard
Old Homestead, Chinese Red Noodle and Royalty Purple Beans
Patisson Panache and Tondo Scuro Squash
Dwarf Siberian and Blue Curled Scotch Kale
Japanese Giant Red and Southern Giant Curled mustard
Beets
Turnips
Carrots
Potatoes
Telegraph Improved, Lemon and Sikkim Cucumbers
Tomatillo Verde tomatillo

Still to go
Early Wakefield and Bete Noir cabbage
Onions
Two types of spinach
Genovese, Lemon and Honey Basil

Every row is planted 18" from the ones beside it. I ignored the spacing between plant recommendations - totally! For some things, such as beets, carrots, turnips, lettuce, etc., the seeds were just too small unless I wanted to take a month to sow them. I figure I can thin them out once they sprout.

Peppers, tomatoes, squash those plants are supposed to be way more than a foot - mine aren't. Some of the cukes, beans and peas are three inches between plants. I can see come fall time having a 160 sq. ft. root ball. But the soil is fairly fertile (compost and horse manure), and a bit on loose side so roots won't have to struggle. Plus I can keep it watered and fertilized with compost tea. The pH seems to be about 6.7-6.8 on my RapidTest meter and the soil temp six inches deep was 77-78 degrees.

Even if it does turn into a root ball, I'll mow the plants, till the very top and sow ryegrass for a cover crop. After a few good freeze/thaw cycles this winter, it should compact naturally and I'll have room for another six-eight inches of the dirt/compost/manure mixture.

Mike

[Mike K.]

These pictures were taken Thursday, five days after transplanting. Seeds were sown Sunday and none had sprouted. I'll try to update this weekly.

http://www.valleycat.net/garden/2010/may20.html

Mike