May. 12. 2023 ~ Tomatoes and Okra and Peanuts Oh My!: What I ve Planted for this Summer
About one month ago father, mentioned that I had previously denied that he buy the materials for a second garden. I had been complaining of
how little space I had (a 4x4 feet get cramped very quickly). I still have no memory of of not taking him up on the initial offer but I definately wouldn t be making the same
mistake twice. And so, That weekend, with is Lowes credit card in hand he purchased four oldcasle bricks, two bags of ferilizer, three bags of potting soil, and six six
foot long planks of wood... Wait what? Didn t I just say that the first gardening bed I have was 4 x 4? That math doesn t add up in even when I remember to cary the two. So yeah, when ask
what the dimensions of the currently standing bed were, I gave my dad the wrong number. The bright of of this was that I was able to use a hand saw (the electric one ran out of battery), And
was able to get a bed 40 ish per cent larger than my other one. Sounds like a win!
At this point I had six small tomato plants in individual small plastic pots. I had startedd these about a month prior in March. A previous set of seedling had died that month due to and unusually late frost. Luckily the weather was very kind to this set. So I transfered the tomatoes and then prepared my new bed for planting. I had learned schematics of this bed from a familily friend who I shall call Mrs. Z. She deserved an entire page to herself, so I m not going to go to in depth on her here but the important thing about Mrs. Z for now is that she is quite cheap. Cheap enough for the price of three bags of gardening soil to be too much. She told be that the base of her beds were filled my lawn crap. Sticks and leaves and other stuff that would have other wise been picked up by yard waste management. I opeted to stick (hehe) to leaves exclusiveley, as a feared that larger stick would get to in the way. I cannot understate how many leaves i had to rack up the fill this bed even half way. I would have to spray them with water and step on them to compact them enough to fit more but I knew my dad wasn t about buy a bunch of soild either so I just kept filling it with leaves.
After putting in the three bags of potting soil and two bags of fertilizer I felt that I didn t have the amout of soil that I ought to have. Luckily Aldi (God Bless Aldi) had some soil for cheap. My dad bought three bags. I added the Aldi soil and a large bag of sand we had sitting in the garage. I was satisfied with the bed but it would be a couple of week until I put anything in it. I wasn t sure what to plant; it was to late to start almost anything that was southern peas, okra, or peanuts and I was still pushing it with those three. I settled for peanuts and okra. I sowed them about one week ago adn they ve both started germinating now. I can t speak to how succesful they will be but it never hurts to have something in the ground. And thats my garden for this Summer. Tomatoes, peanuts Okra. Theese where atually some of the first plants I put in my bed one year ago. I like how it worked out like that
At this point I had six small tomato plants in individual small plastic pots. I had startedd these about a month prior in March. A previous set of seedling had died that month due to and unusually late frost. Luckily the weather was very kind to this set. So I transfered the tomatoes and then prepared my new bed for planting. I had learned schematics of this bed from a familily friend who I shall call Mrs. Z. She deserved an entire page to herself, so I m not going to go to in depth on her here but the important thing about Mrs. Z for now is that she is quite cheap. Cheap enough for the price of three bags of gardening soil to be too much. She told be that the base of her beds were filled my lawn crap. Sticks and leaves and other stuff that would have other wise been picked up by yard waste management. I opeted to stick (hehe) to leaves exclusiveley, as a feared that larger stick would get to in the way. I cannot understate how many leaves i had to rack up the fill this bed even half way. I would have to spray them with water and step on them to compact them enough to fit more but I knew my dad wasn t about buy a bunch of soild either so I just kept filling it with leaves.
After putting in the three bags of potting soil and two bags of fertilizer I felt that I didn t have the amout of soil that I ought to have. Luckily Aldi (God Bless Aldi) had some soil for cheap. My dad bought three bags. I added the Aldi soil and a large bag of sand we had sitting in the garage. I was satisfied with the bed but it would be a couple of week until I put anything in it. I wasn t sure what to plant; it was to late to start almost anything that was southern peas, okra, or peanuts and I was still pushing it with those three. I settled for peanuts and okra. I sowed them about one week ago adn they ve both started germinating now. I can t speak to how succesful they will be but it never hurts to have something in the ground. And thats my garden for this Summer. Tomatoes, peanuts Okra. Theese where atually some of the first plants I put in my bed one year ago. I like how it worked out like that