[luke]

I thought I would start a thread on my garden because I enjoy looking at what other people are doing, so thought some of you might want to see mine.

So far in the garden I have planted 50 pounds of seed potatoes, one long row of onion sets, and 3 short rows of sweet corn. I plan on secession planting sweet corn every 2 weeks for the next month. And I will be planting more veggies as the weather allows me to....it's still fairly early for beans, tomatoes, melons.

I built a raised bed for 50 new strawberry plants, and planted 6 new fruit trees, 2 apple, 2 peach, 1 plum and 1 pear. I also planted 6 new blackberry bushes. I also included pics of my greenhouse I built this year, which I am still experimenting with at growing things in it. I have lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, broccoli, bush cucumber, turnips and cabbage planted in there, along with tomatoes, and pepper starts for the big garden.

 

[Raider Bill]

Are those Schedule 40 supports?

Very nice! Happy gardening!

 

[luke]

Are those Schedule 40 supports?

Very nice! Happy gardening!

yes it is schedule 40

thank you

 

[elkhound]

great job....the coop and greenhouse are OUTSTANDING !!!! a job well done !!!

 

[Malaz]

Very nice Luke!!

I wish I had that much land to plant on. I need to clear more land, but I don't think I'll get to that project any time soon since I'm clearing by hand.

 

[SurvivalMike]

How many chickens do you have luke. And if you wouldnt mind some time I would love to see some pictures of the inside of you coop. Builing one my self In a week.

 

[Saberman]

Awesome Luke it reminds me of my uncles garden when I was a kid....you really have to be self motivated to take on a garden like that. Hats off to luke. Thats like money in the bank.

 

[luke]

Thanks everyone for the kind words and for looking at my thread. Gardening has always been a hobby of mine. This year I expanded things to have more veggies and fruit then I had the last few years. I also restocked the hen house this year for eggs and later to raise meat birds.

I haven't done much in the last week. We have had needed rains this week so things have been to wet to work in the garden. I did work a few hours in the greenhouse, weeding and planting a few left over onion sets to see how they do in there. I have 2 raised beds, 4x16, with several different vegetables planted in the GH. I will post pictures of that when things get going better. I also cleaned the chicken coop this week putting the manure on the compost pile for next years garden fertilizer.

I am hoping things dry out by sunday or monday to get more planting done. In the mean time I will be working on fencing to keep the deer and ***** out of the garden. I will also fence off a place for the chickens to run during the day time.

 

[luke]

How many chickens do you have luke. And if you wouldnt mind some time I would love to see some pictures of the inside of you coop. Builing one my self In a week.

Mike, I have 28 chickens, they are a little crowed, but have been doing ok. I ordered the chics late last fall and thought I would loose several over the winter, but only lost one during shipping. And we had a very cold winter, lows at -30* at times.

My coop is around 10 years old and is built out of recycled lumber. The only thing I bought were the shingles. The size of the coop is 7x10 and the pen is 8x10, about right for a dozen hens. I will be building some pens to breed and raise meat birds, plus fencing off a larger day time run as soon as I get time. That should give the birds plenty of room.

In the pictures the nest boxes have a sloped top to keep the chickens from sitting on them. Then under the roosts I have a manure pit to catch the droppings which is covered with a wire to keep the chickens out of the pit. I also took pictures of the roof framing and the venting. I have 2 vents with hinged doors on one wall at the top, and the opposite wall has 2 sliding windows

 

[luke]

Update

Yesterday I planted 9 tomato plants, forgot to harden them off and had to wrap the cages in plastic to protect them. I have another 2 dozen or so to plant yet and those are hardening off outside the greenhouse right now.

Sweetcorn and taters are just coming out of the ground. The corn is 2 weeks from planting and I need to get another section planted this weekend, or today if I have the time.

Strawberries are starting to leaf out nicely. Which reminded me to get the fence built around the garden to keep the deer out. For some reason the deer around here crave strawberry plants.

I included pics of inside the greenhouse. Just started harvesting lettuce and radishes. I have two kinds of tomatoes growing in there, cabbage, head lettuce, bush cucumbers, broccoli, okra, peppers and the lettuce and radishes. This is my first year with a greenhouse, so I am experimenting to see what works, plus I didn't get it built as early as I wanted to.

 

[dalebelle]

Really nice looking soil. I have red clay.

 

[Malaz]

Your garden is looking really good. I think I'll try growing strawberries next year. Did you grow your blackberry from a transplant?

 

[luke]

Your garden is looking really good. I think I'll try growing strawberries next year. Did you grow your blackberry from a transplant?

Thank you, I ordered 6 bare root blackberry bushes from a seed catalog, they sent 7. I also ordered the 50 strawberries from them and 6 new fruit trees.

 

[grizly1]

very nice luke i tried the thornless black berries but dead befor they got here if i can figure out this computer i will post some pics of our garden maybee we can trade ideas looks very nice

 

[ArnoldsPupil]

Nice Luke
Wish I would have put up a greenhouse but its so perfect in GA not really nec.
Check out my beds...Been going for a month

 

[grizly1]

hey luke why the black plastic in your tomato bed??

 

[luke]

very nice luke i tried the thornless black berries but dead befor they got here if i can figure out this computer i will post some pics of our garden maybee we can trade ideas looks very nice

Thank you, send me a PM any time you want.

hey luke why the black plastic in your tomato bed??

I use the black plastic to warm the soil and keep moisture in. Saves on watering, can plant a little earlier, plus keeps the weeds out. Oh and keeps the tomatoes that I don't have cages for off the ground and prevents rotting. Growing a garden as large as what I have this year I try to save as much work as possible. I also use the black plastic with melons, which are real hard to keep weeded.

 

[ImbriD]

Great set up Luke. Looks like the greenhouse is working out well. We've been thinking about building a small one. After seeing how yours tuned out, I think we'll give it a go.

 

[luke]

Great set up Luke. Looks like the greenhouse is working out well. We've been thinking about building a small one. After seeing how yours tuned out, I think we'll give it a go.

Thank you, I actually got the idea of the greenhouse from Dilligaf here on the forum, it looked economical and easy to build, and was. I put a 4'x4' square steel siding panel on the lower end, opposite the main door. I plan on putting a small wood stove I have laying around in by this fall to get a few extra weeks growing toward winter and then again next season an earlier start.

 

[Malaz]

Thank you, I actually got the idea of the greenhouse from Dilligaf here on the forum, it looked economical and easy to build, and was. I put a 4'x4' square steel siding panel on the lower end, opposite the main door. I plan on putting a small wood stove I have laying around in by this fall to get a few extra weeks growing toward winter and then again next season an earlier start.

If you don't mind telling us, what was the cost? I like the wood stove idea too. I need to clear a spot first, but having a green house would be worth the effort.