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In the back.... 120108
Bok choy by the wall, lavendar, mesclun mix greens, chard, arugula, epasote (herb for flavoring beans - used in a lot of Mexican cooking)
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Views: 86
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Comment by Mike Ashby on December 4, 2008 at 11:32am - Well, you're overly modest. In my book, you're an impressive, skilled gardener, and your photos are an inspiration to me. I'd love to see your gardens in person the next time there's a tour (if I'm correct in thinking there are now and again, as at Greg's house?). Keep up all your good work and help us newbies along! --Mike
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Comment by Jennifer on December 3, 2008 at 3:29pm -
Actually I haven't been at this long - and I started "food gardening" because I lost my job when I became very ill. The garden gave me a chance to regain some health AND feed myself.
I'm still learning about gardening in the desert - and probably will be for life! But it's so intruiging, it's hard to resist as you say.
As for being a good gardener - weeeeeelllll.....I'm a tad less bad than I was before - mostly because my soil has had 2 yrs of compost and organic amendments added. Trust me, I am still on the "Top 10 - America's Most Wanted" for being a serial mass murderer of plant life =( Live and learn - and eat what grows!
Next experiment - the biointensive bed in the front yard where I will plant oats (seeded today in flats in the greenhouse) - should be interesting.
Jen
PS - I'm pretty impressed with that pic of you in your garden as well!
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Comment by Mike Ashby on December 3, 2008 at 3:20pm
- Thanks, Jennifer, for the detailed instructions, especially for the photo of your simpler system. I looked at several of your other photos on the site, and I'm truly impressed: you're an amazing gardener; I feel like such an amateur now. But I guess we all start somewhere. I must say, the videos and photos you post are really helpful. I'm so eager to do something in my garden, I feel like quitting work for the day. When I can snatch another slice of time, I'll have to explore more of the photos on the site; they really do help give one ideas and solve riddles. Sign me most impressed, Mike
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Comment by Jennifer on December 3, 2008 at 1:03pm
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A picture's worth a thousand words.....here's a pic of the "easy" style of hoop house
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Comment by Jennifer on December 3, 2008 at 1:01pm
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Mike - thanks for the compliments. Actually - there is an even easier way of doing this - no crossbar at the top. Get some 1/2" pipe for the loops and some 3/4" pipe for the "footings.
--mark where you want hoops over the beds (one 3-4 ft wide bed is perfect for 1/2 of a 10 ft piece of pvc pipe cut in half - 5 ft - for the hoop)
--cut the BIGGER pipe into 12 inch pieces - dig holes and sink them into the groun with just the top inch or two showing - do this on both sides of the bed.
--bend the smaller pipe into a loop and stick each of the ends into the sunk-in bigger pipe a few inches - this is enough to keep the pipes errect.
--If you used 1/2" as your smaller pipe, go get some of the "Large" binder clips at Staples, etc. Use these to secure shade cloth, frost cloth, bird netting, etc to the frame - works great.
--to keep towees and quail out - either weight with rocks at the edge, or cut another piece of PVC and binder clip it to the bottom edges and then use a rock, or landscape fabric staple, etc to keep it down.
I'm blind in one eye and can barely see out of the other (really!) and it takes me about an hr - start to finish - to construct one of these once I've gathered the materials.
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Comment by Mike Ashby on December 3, 2008 at 11:36am
- What a beautiful bed! I'm intrigued by your white piping. I'm not completely happy with my floating row cover cloth over its plastic hoops. I can't see through the cloth, and I have to fling the cloth off its framing in order to see the soil and seedlings and pick things. I think something more easily liftable would be nice, maybe a framework along the lines of yours, with netting over it. Then, it would be possible to see through it and move it aside easily. If only the towhees wouldn't scratch the seeds out of the bed and the quail eat the lettuce and other seedlings, I wouldn't have any sort of barrier. Thanks for the nice photo!
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Comment by Jennifer on December 2, 2008 at 7:08pm
- Yep - it's ready to harvest - want one? Will you be at the seed saving class?/
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Comment by Ben Ruesga on December 2, 2008 at 6:05pm - Mmmm..that bok choy looks delicious!
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