Alright, let's talk about my garden some more! Bed 4 is a new bed put in this year. It is the only bed that is different in both size and direction, from the other beds. It is the bottom of the U shape we put in this year. Instead of going east-west, and being 9x3 ft, this bed is positioned to go north-south and is 10x2 ft. I only had it built 2 feet deep because it was going to go right up against the fence and I wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the box to weed and work on it. So I needed it shallow enough that I could reach everything from one side. This box gets the most, shade, I've noticed, because it is the first bed completely shaded when the sun gets close to noon. It's also the first box to receive full sun in the morning because it's only 2 foot wide on the east-west side, once the sun gets over the house just a bit, that box is fully in the light, where as the other boxes have to wait for the shadow of the house to recede enough for them to get full sun.
When I take pictures of bed 4, I usually do it from the back corner of bed 5, so you can see the length of the box as opposed to the width, the same way the pictures are positioned for the other 4 beds. This may be a lot more difficult once the corn gets very big... We'll see...
Anyway, here's what you're looking at, starting in the back and moving to the foreground of the picture. At the very north end of Bed 4 are 4 broccoli plants from Valley Feeds and Seed.
A little closer, but looking almost exactly the same, are 6 cauliflower plants from Menards.
Last year my broccoli did well until it got hot. My cauliflower never set heads. I'm hoping both do a little better this year with me getting them into the ground as early in the season as possible. I also have 4 broccoli seedlings upstairs on the upper deck. My hope is that they will be planted in bed 3 in the leftover space in the next week, and we'll see how they fair in the actual garden. Almost all of my seedlings have transplanted well to the garden. I would say the only exceptions might be the peas. The peas that I started in the garden, right in the beds, however, are doing marvelous! And I should mention, the pack of seeds I used were 25 cents and from Dollar Tree, so I think I'm getting my money's worth on those! They were also expired in 2017. 😉 Not bad! But back to Bed 4! In the middle of the 2 rows of broccoli and cauliflower are Nasturtiums, the flowers on the edges of Bed 3, around the yellow squash and zucchini seeds. I think there were probably 4-5 planted. So far I have 2 coming up. This week I'll be going through each bed and it things aren't popping up, that were started as seeds, I'm going to replant. The last time I planted seeds was over 2 weeks ago, so if things aren't coming up yet, I don't think they're going to. On the from edge of this bed, the right edge in the picture, in front of the cauliflower and broccoli, is supposed to be some sort of herb, sage or thyme, I think. There's also supposed to be a row between some of the cauliflower plants, of the other herb. However, I don't know what either is supposed to look like when it comes up, so I'm just letting the weeds grow, I fear. Herbs are probably best grown in some sort of a container. Maybe I'll grab one of the big pots from under my deck today, fill it with soil from the dirt pile, and bring it to the upper deck to plant herbs in. Then I can leave the garden to the big plants. Or maybe, in the future, plant herbs in pots and then move the pots to the garden area and just sit in front or next to the various plants. I'm not sure yet. All I know at the moment is that I want to weed the herbs and I can't tell the difference. Sorry, keep getting on these tangents, that's what you get for reading my train-of-thought blog. Fun ride, huh?
Moving more to the foreground from the cauliflower is green onions. I think these were planted a week or two ago. They are doing awesome! I think in all I have about 60-70 green onion plants between bed 3 and 4. I started using some on Friday! They are delicious!
(This is an older picture, they're much bigger now!)
Next to the green onions is a hill. It's supposed to have 3 or 4 cucumber plants in it. However, only one seed sprouted. I think I mentioned this before, but another seed seems to have washed out of the hill and into the crack where the dirt pulls away from the side of the box when it's dry. It has sprouted there. Michael asked me yesterday if I was going to try to move it back into the hill, but I think I'm just going to leave it where it is. I'll probably end up planting a few more seeds in the hill as well.
Finally, the last thing in Bed 4, in the foreground of the picture, is where 2 zucchini are planted. So far, one of them has sprouted, but I don't think you can see it in the picture, as I think it just happened in the last couple of days. The zucchini, along with the zucchini plants nearby in bed 5, are a part of the 3 sisters growing I'm doing in bed 5 with the corn and beans. If the other seed comes up, I'll have 4 zucchini plants in all, around the corn and beans. The zucchini plants will shade and cool the root areas of the corn and beans. Their prickly vines also keep undesirable insects away from the corn and beans. Also, their leave leaves provide living mulch for the soil which helps all 3 plants. We'll see how things go. The plant from Lowe's looks awesome, the zucchini seedling I started inside seems to be really flourishing in the garden bed, and one of my 2 seeds in bed 4 have sprouted so far, so not too bad! Also, if everything comes up and produces, I'll have 6 zucchini plants and 3 yellow squash plants! Plus a butternut squash plant and *fingers crossed* a spaghetti squash plant later! Yay!!! I love squash!!
So that's Bed 4! I hope you've enjoyed these updates on my various garden boxes and how each of the plants are doing!
Quite the change in a little over 2 weeks!! It's just going to get more and more lush and green! I can't wait! And then, eventually, flowers too! I'm so excited!!
