Intercropping - Carrots Love Tomatoes!

I've been reading the book Carrots Love Tomaotes by the late Louise Riotte - its a great book on companion planting and also a really helpful general garden reference.  Most people know that marigolds (as I overheard at the garden center yesterday) - "keep something bad away from your tomatoes...or something."  But most people don't know that there are plenty of other plants that will protect each other - for example mint planted among cabbage will repel the cabbage butterfly, cucumbers "are offensive to raccoons" so are good to plant with corn to keep them away and corn seems to protect cucumbers from wilt, if you plant garlic in a circle around fruit trees it will protect them from borers.  Did you know any of that?  I didn't.  The book is an excellent reference and her writing style is old-fashioned but cheeky.  This book should be on any gardener's shelf.
 
So, with Louise as my guide, I'm trying to do a little more intercropping than I have in the past - while some parts of my garden are just rows of stuff (with consideration about what is to each side), others are (or are going to be) more of a blend.  The three-sisters area (which I'm repeating from last year) is an example of this, but this year I'm doing a different take on a tomato patch.

I had just watered it before this picture was taken, so it gives a better visual.  To break it down - there's a big square, segmented into 4 smaller squares. The big square is marigolds around the border (I just put some full grown ones in as markers, but there are others seeded along  the sides) and also intersecting the large square and basil at every corner and at the intersection in the middle.  Each smaller square will be a tomato plant in the center, an onion at each corner, and one or two Paris Market carrots (I've just ordered them from Seed Savers (dot) org) at the North/South/East/West points on the smaller squares.

This is what a Paris Market carrot looks like:

Isn't that fun?  I'm so excited about them.

These are some of my more-developed seedlings having some outside time.  Three corn plants and two luffas (which are for the aforementioned 3-sisters area), a cucumber, an eggplant, and two tomato plants.

I'm sure that my neighbors will be happy when this is gone.  There are a few bigger (purchased - I'm impatient) tomato plants, a stevia, some extra basil and some trays of corn, watermelon, jenny lind melon, and pumpkin seeds that just went in yesterday.  On the sides are pots of morning glory that are staying there and hopefully swallowing up the railing.

And speaking of things that I impulsively bought at the garden center yesterday - lime tree!  With limes!  Anyone have a good name for a lime tree?

Out in the garden-proper - the broccoli is starting to make food!

The lettuce is starting to look like salad!

Beets are really starting to do their thing!

And it won't be long before my Titans will be knee-high!

Marching toward April

So big news is that my landlady just gave me 80% of what used to be her garden.  She's 85 and going to be away fron mid-June to mid-August.  Apparently her grown sons lived with her for a while in the 90s and made it into a vegetable garden but she's just been doing tomatoes and flowers for a while now.  The soil needs help - I just started in with some manure and am using my coffee-grounds hookups to get myself premium nitrogen input (I've got a bag that will go in as soon as it cools off).  I'm hoping the poo and coffee combo will get this ground back into shape.

To start, some inside seed-bits all cloched up and waiting:

I've got tomatoes, brussels, eggplants, and onions in so far.

Brussels (Long Island Improved, for the record) getting their secondary leaves!

These guys just sprouted today! (they were definitely right on the edge yesterday) they're about to get moved into a brighter spot.

Basils and a Rosemary in the kitchen.

Peony a-comin' - I'm thinking about moving this inside over the weekend...it's supposed to snow, although I've seen plenty of other in-ground peonies coming up in the neighborhood, I worry about my babies.

Spinach Babies!

Chard babies!

New garden spot!  Colleen and I turned the soil at the back part already and you can see the dark area that I've amended.  The trashbag in the right corner is coffee grounds that I'm going to do another amendment with...and probably mulch a little high around the garlic sprouts in preparation for tonight's snow.  They're supposed to be planted out before the frost, but I still worry about them.

Composter all nestled in the shrub line.  You can also see the wire fence that I'm going to use as a trellis for my gherkins.

Light sprinkling of poo.  I have 3 more bags in the car.

Garlic I transplanted yesterday...not terribly gracefully, I must say.

Garden watchers.  I want two others.  I have to find my goose...so maybe I only want one more.

 

 Dirty Garden Sketch.  Really the best kind of map.  It's about 11' by 18' (not totally regular and punctuated by random tiny trees that may or may not do anything).  Starting upper left and moving clockwise there's a watermelon patch, 4 tomatoes and 2 eggplants surrounded by frilly borders of marigolds, the next rectangle is the partly amended part - garlic, bollyhocks and brussels sprouts, lettuce, spinach, onions, carrots, beets, and chard in rows followed by two cuke plants on the trellis fence.  In the upper right is the composter that I plan to partly screen with dwarf sunflowers. The rectangle full of circles is my three sisters area that will be corn, snap peas, and then two mounds of Jenny Lind Melon and three mounds of Luffa.  Next is a spot that I'm going to put two seed bombs that I have no idea what's in them, and then last (beyond the drain pipe) is the pumpkin patch.  There's going to be a row of nasturtiums between the watermelon and the pumpkin.  There's also going to be a row of Titan sunflowers behind the three sisters.

2010 Beginings

It's been in the 50s and 60s in Boston this week and so I decided to start in on gardening, also it was my birthday yesterday and there's no better way to celebrate birthdays than by doing something you love and I love gardening.

Today I started my Brussels Sprouts inside...I love a good vintage casserole dish mini-greenhouse.

(L-R) Seeds for the above, and Spinach and Chard which just got started outside.  I also started some Great Lakes Lettuce from a Buzzy Seed Starter kit.  I love that salad greens are cold hearty.

My front stoop/porch area has a pretty intricate railing set-up, so I'm going to put in three-ish different kinds of Morning Glories.  The Grandpa Otts have always come up beautifully, I just got Scarlett O'Hara yesterday, and I have seed-saved MGs from previous years that could be any combo of Grandpa/Celestial Mix or might just be Grandpa.  I have a whole bag of these and if anyone wants Morning Glory Seeds, let me know.

Flowers that may or may not go in depending on pot/"yard" space.  I've never gotten moonflowers to come up, but I'm going to try again.

Tomatoes....I'll probably do 1-2 of each plant type....and this year rather than pot marigolds in their own pots around the tomatoes, I might just put them in the very edges of the tomato pots.  I'm trying a new kind of mari, they're called French Vanilla.  I think that they're going to make the tomato plants look like giant Caprese salads.

I've had a topsy turvy for years and it's g one unused, I think this year I'm going to try to topsy-turvy these eggplants.  We'll see how it goes.

I'm going to do another root-veggies container...cheap plastic container, drill holes in the bottom, pour a bunch of dirt in it and then root it up.

So...so far:

Near to far:
Two years ago's rosemary that came up a little last year, we'll see.  Garlic (needs the cold to divide)!  Ladybird Poppies (like to be chilly before they sprout)!  A peony...yes in a container...we'll see how that goes.  Somewhat hidden in a tiny pot is the Great Lakes lettuce.  Next is a strawberry pot with home-depot bulbs in it.  I've never done strawberries...another we'll see.  Spinach in the long green container that I'm going to try to be good about succession planting.  Rainbow Chard in the second long green container. 

Left to Right:
A little Jade cutting that I started when we moved to our new place.  Rosemary (another Buzzy Grow Kit) and Basil (more of the same).

I also have had my name on the wait-list for the community garden on the Somerville Bikeway since May of '08.  I'd give myself a 75% chance that my name will come up this year (average wait time is about 2 years)...if it does then I'm going to do 3-sisters again:

Depending on pot/yard space and/or community garden plot, I also want to do these again:

I also have these two seed bombs that my friend Flo (who died in Haiti) made with some kids at a school in NH (they were brought to his memorial by the teacher for whom he led the class.  I have no idea what's in them (although I can see squash seeds in there) so I'm going to hold onto them until I have some space to account for a squash vine, which is not now.  I also like having them on my desk and look at them and think of him.

PS. I'm serious about Morning Glories:

A little progress, a little snow.

So my greenhouse is busting with little lives and I just seeded my next set-- so I thought I'd post a few pictures.


From the outside!

We found a grow light in the basement just as I was going to buy one - which was nice. A few weeks ago I put in tomatoes, brussels sprouts, onions, and broccoli as well as pansies. I also had to resuscitate my rosemary which was doing fine until about 3 weeks ago.

At first I was a bad plant mom and the grow light would be on for days and off for days-- but I got a timer from home depot this week and so the kids are getting 12 hours of light every day from 6am to 6pm. I plan to up the time soon.

Today I seeded in eggplant, cucumbers, balloon flowers, and marigolds. I put geraniums and dahlia tubers in pots. I also put garlic, daffodils, and spinach outside...oh and a clematis vine. I wasn't going to buy a clematis but there was a whole shelf of them and they were in this little phalanx and one right in the middle had sprouted this feisty little vine. It won me over.

I don't have any pics of the outside plants - but here's a little tour of the greenhouse:



In the front are marigolds that I just put in today. I think I might pot the spares and put them out as decorations for the bridal shower if they're big enough...6 weeks? That should give them time to be a little bushy. To the left are the brussels sprouts. The big tin pot is the sad rosemary. In the back are the tomatoes-- I really want to grow them upside down. I registered for the tomato upside down hanging things and I have my fingers crossed that those arrive at the bridal shower. The two little 4-tops in the middle are the cukes and eggplant. Just in today.



That's still the tomatoes at the back, marigolds in the front and you can see the cucumber 4-top. The set of 6 beside it has more pansies in as does the 4-top to the right behind it. The other two 4-packs are basil and broccoli. The random singles in there are miracle fruit seedlings that haven't done a whole lot yet.



2nd shelf-- my baby lime tree is at the back. I need to repot it this week. In the middle is my supermarket rose bush that lived in the garage all winter and is starting to bud. There are sprouted onions at the back and balloon flowers up front.



This is the somewhat boring shelf- the two little pots are dwarf bedding dahlias and the big pot is the geranium. We'll see how these go.

This is my boring back yard:



There's snow in this picture-- we had a random flurry today. It's hard to see.

The landlady says that the gardeners "don't speak much English" and "whip through there with the mower" so to be careful about that. I plan on making clearly marked guerilla garden installations. So far I have hidden spare dahlia tubers in what I hope to be a safe place. I have clearly marked the clematis vine below the porch railing (not shown). I also plan on putting some titan sunflowers along the garage. I have to get a few more seeds, there are only 5 left in my packet from last year and I can't find the ones I saved. Square one.

Building a Raised Bed on the Concrete

Now that the gf is on-board with the garden project, she wants more crops. So over the weekend she built me a raised bed over a disused area of pavement in the back. The initial plan was for it to have three tiers, but we put 600 pounds of soil, rocks, sand, and lumber in the car...which was about as much as the little civic could take. And the soil we got was just about exactly enough to fill the first tier.

So now the plan is to garden on one level this year and next year we can dig in some compost, get a little more soil, and kick it up a notch.

Anyway, wanna see how we did it?

First we went to the lumber yard and got some planks. I spent some time chit chatting with the guys who worked there and definitely used my cute-girl powers for awesome...aka picked up some discounts.

We came home with 52 feet of 2x8s ( [2] 8 foot lengths, [8] 4 foot lengths, and [2] 2 foot lengths-- and also a scrap 4 foot piece, so really 56 feet) and a bunch of screws. That cost around $40, I think.

Then we went to home depot and got 2 cubic feet of gravel, a cubic foot of sand, 10 cubic feet of garden soil, and 5 cubic feet of organic veggie soil. If the car could have held more, we would have gotten more. I think 2ish more ft3 of soil would fill it up a little better, but it's fine as it is.


Here you can see all the boards for the first tier screwed together. Beyond the back left corner is my rose bush and behind the frame I have some sunflowers planted, but they're babies still.


This is AVR smoothing the rocks out. I helped put them in, I promise.


Then we put sand all into it.


Afterwards we added soil in layers like a cake. 4 bags of topsoil, 4 bags of organic veggie soil, 4 bags of topsoil, 1 bag of veggie soil, and then the remaining two bags of topsoil.


Then we put in the plants and watered it all. This bed has taragon, dill, basil, squash, and punkins.