A Garden Reborn

Here it is, the moment you have all been waiting for...well some of you have been waiting for...well, the one I have been anyway. :) The garden in all its glory is being reborn from the ashes of its former self. As stated in my other entries, the garden has been moved from the old spot to a new one on the north side of my house. I have also decided to replant pumpkins in the spot they were last year and plant only with some potatoes. Hopefully this will keep the Bambi Brigade away from that particular patch in the hopes that the pumpkin vine's will remain un-accosted and I can get a good crop to celebrate the arrival of their namesake. I have taken a few pictures to document the progress, I also have documented the rainwater harvest system that I have set up. I have not yet taken pictures of the Front Garden. Maybe I will get to that tomorrow.

These are the rain barrels I promised I would document. No, you don't see the fact that the shutters really need to be painted. The barrels are Greek pepper barrels that I bough from this site. Pretty much the same barrels as seen on TV. The terra-cotta colored barrels hold 50 gallons each (that's 400 pounds of water each, for those of you keeping score.) The hose between the two of them is the overflow that allows one to flow into the other, filling them up in succession. The black hose coming out of the top of the left barrel is the extra overflow that keeps the water from just pooling on the top if it rains too much. The green hose coming from the bottom of the left barrel is the connector to the drip irrigation system that I laid out in the Main Bed. The barrels are directly across a little brick path from the Main Bed.

These barrels fill up fast! They went from completely empty, to overflowing in a day of light to moderate rain, without a very large roof surface area. I might get at least one more, just in case the summer is really hot, which it looks like it might be. Not pictured on the right barrel is another hose that I used to fill the water can with. It was much easier than to unscrew one of the plugs and have the water shoot out all over.

The Main Bed, as it lay bare. Who's that Giant with that rake?

The Main Bed as being prepared by me (photos provided by my lovely assistant, The Wife). The soil is very clay-y? clay-like? clay containing? In the Suburbia area. Soils class is a little vague to me at the moment, but I seem to recall something about the Piedmont being like this. The soil, and the bricks, are leftovers from the construction of my porch, so it probably should not be a surprise that there isn't a heck of a lot of organic matter in it after 50 years of being unproductive.

My drip irrigation laid out, with me getting the sunflower seeds ready to go. We found this in the local Home Despot, its a Vigoro drip irrigation hose. I think they might be discontinuing it because I can't find it online anywhere now, and I bought the whole length for $10. It works well, but since it is drip, it has to run for a few hours to get even 2 gallons of water out. Great to turn on and walk away, easy to forget about.

Irrigation with the approximate location of the plantings.

The list of vegetables panted in the Main Bed (Sounds like Main Belt Asteroid. I know, only I would get/make that joke):
1) Sunflowers: the red, multi-bloom variety
2) Corn, yes corn again, Bambi Brigade be damned
3) Tomatoes, Squirrel Squadron be damned.
4) Carrots
5) Green Bell Peppers
6) Jalapeno Peppers
7) Some Chinese peppers that I don't know the variety of. Yes I know, not local, but the Giant's Mother-in-law is too cute to deny sometimes.

The Main Bed, seeds, irrigation, covered lightly in sand to break up the clay.

It's not evident in this photo, but I have already hit Whole Foods and grabbed some organic compost and spread it over the top. The sand is there to keep the water from just running off the clay. I'm crossing my fingers as to whether this will actually work or not. The soil has so much less organics than that in Ye Olde Pumpkin Patch. Ideally I should have mixed compost in with the sand and clay and tilled everything together. If I get bad results this year, I think that will likely be the culprit. Ye Olde Pumpkin Patch, and the Front Garden have more organics, so it will be interesting to see the results. *puts down pencil and clipboard*

Ye Olde Pumpkin Patch, in its glorious fallow state. The site of the Original Garden (may Gaia protect it.) Ahh, the possibilites!

Ye New Olde Pumpkin Patch. 4 mounds, each seeded with MANY seeds I recovered from our pumpkins that were not carved into Jack-o-lanterns last Samhain. Like the Main Bed, these mounds were covered in sand to aid drainage. The soil is much more organic at this part of the yard (which is within sight of the Main Bed). As of yesterday I have seen 4 sprouts poking thought the sand. This tells me that, so far, Ye Olde Pumpkin Patch is the most productive section of this garden complex. Who knows what the future may hold? The space to the left of the mounds is reserved for potato baskets which are due to arrive any day.

Next up, the Front Garden and potatoes in a bag.