February Goes Out in White Glory!

Yes, winter is reminding us it is not done yet!  We woke to a flurry of snowflakes coming down. 

 

At times the snowflakes were quite large, nearly the size of the palm of my hand.



It did not take long for them to turn everything white.  All construction next door is at a stand still.  



My poor little chuck wagon raised bed is getting a good testing for snow stability. 



And my studio in the background is where I spent a good portion of the day, painting on special orders.  A nice day to spend doing something creative, at least the snow did not get too deep to trudge in and out through. 



And though this storm is winding down another is right behind it with supposedly a lot more of the white stuff.  Winter is making up for lost time I guess.  

Just last week we were enjoying mid-60 degree temps.  The ski resort up the hill a ways is more than likely jumping for joy.  A lot of new snow will attract the skiers and snowboarders on Spring break which is coming up soon.

It is not unusual to get measurable snow here in March and even April so I will just ride it out.  

Enjoy!

 

A Western Raised Bed

Good  morning all.  With the wonderful weather we have been having I decided to get a raised bed built to start our lettuce and spinach in.  I have a bed in back for that purpose but it does not get much sun right now.  

Click here to go to other post on straw bale raised beds.

So we are putting one on the South side of the house to capture what sun we can at this time of year.  We eat tons of lettuce and it makes sense to grow it since it is so easy.

First off we need to consider snow, we have not had much this year, especially compared to the numerous feet of it we got last year but we can get a good amount up thru May.  That being said we needed to build a cover for the bed to make it like a greenhouse that is strong enough to hold up to the heavy wet white stuff should we get it. 



My husband rounded up the scraps of 2x4’s and some 3/4 inch plywood and made this gambrel shape.  It is quite sturdy and he assures me it will take whatever the weather throws at it. 



A few more angles.





We covered it with some clear plastic, 6 mil I do believe.  Fastened it with staples but not all the way down so I can lift the sides to access the bed.

It reminds me of a covered wagon.



This should heat up whatever bed it sets on just fine and extend my season quite well.



We purchased some straw bales to set it up on, making a hot bed. First I will grow lettuce in it while the weather is on the cool side then use it for plants that like it hot, tomatoes, peppers etc.  Maybe I can get some good home grown tomatoes to ripen for me much earlier!

Also this makes it easier on my back rather than stooping to the ground.  Now to fill up the bed and plant my seeds.  Not today though.



Winter is reminding us that it is still here!

My back deck yesterday..



And now today…



I need to head to my studio, I have sign orders to fulfill.  A good day to spend indoors painting flowers!

Straw bale garden bed and poor mans raised beds.

I have read a few blogs lately showing their fancy raised beds made with lovely lumber.  Don’t get me wrong, I do love them.  But what about us folks who have to make do with what is on hand? 

What if you just want to test the layout before sinking your hard earned $$$ on the pricy version. I am always changing things around so I have a hard time financially committing to something right off the bat.

 I have done a few raised beds on the cheap. I have used stones, cement block and logs.  I even built a hot bed from straw bales…it worked great! And it cost me about $30.

This is what it looked like, wish I had taken more photos for you but you do get the drift.
As you can see it is made up of 6 bales of straw, at the time the cost per bale was $5 but now I just bought some and with the hike in all prices I paid $7.  In the back ground you can see my traditional raised bed made with scrap lumber we scrounged up to use, it was all free.  Much of it was planks from an old scaffold set up. 

The benefit of the straw bale bed is I could plant not only in the compost/soil filled center but also in the bales themselves.  You can see the bounty of lettuce, sugar snap peas, broccoli, and spinach in this bed.  It makes harvesting a bit easier too as you don’t have to stoop as far. 

I set mine up in the fall, used it as my compost bin adding all the debris from the clean up of the summer garden, I fill it heaping full.  As I toss in plant debris I mix in the debris from my chicken pen which gets it cooking. I will let it compost down a month or so and before the first snow flies I will top it with 6 inches or more of finished compost. 

I get mine by the truck load at a local yard that composts yard waste on a large scale.  Many municipalities have something similar so call around, it is much less expensive than buying bagged potting soil.

I arch some concrete mesh over the top to make a hoop house and cover with clear plastic.  The ends of the mesh can be pushed right down into the bales to hold it in place (sorry I cannot find the photos I had of this but I will do one this summer and photo it to share) and voila!  you have a hot bed. 

The bales of straw will start to compost once it starts raining on them along with the garden debris inside creating heat and when you are ready to plant your cool weather crops like lettuce, broccoli and spinach you have a nice warm soil while it is still cold outside.  I did not make one this past Fall, too much going on but last year I was picking lettuce and spinach in early April, even under the snow.  (in my climate that is early) 

Once I am done with the straw bales (a couple years using as a hot bed) I pull them apart, which is easy as they have half composted anyways, and use them for mulch around plants.  No waste. 

Other easy set ups are like this garden in potting soil bags for an instant garden..I have seen many like this but found this one at the link below.

The Vegetable Gardener

Or make your own self watering containers like this young man did, and he gardens on an apartment balcony…that is a determined gardener. He even has a video of how to make his self watering growing containers. 

Urban Organic Gardener
If you move you can just take your garden with you.

Then there is the layered approach, I have yet to try this one but I think I will this summer, maybe. Follow the link to get the step by step…

Layered no dig garden bed

Can you tell I am itching to get out to the garden?  I did try to work in my greenhouse today but it was too chilly.  Tomorrow it will be sunny and it will warm up nicely in there so I can toodle around in it in the afternoon.  I need to dig out my compost heap to make more potting soil with to pot up some seedlings, they are shooting up. 
Yes!
Happy Gardening!