Time for a visit

I did not want to plant any tomatoes in the Original Raised Bed (ORB) this year because I wanted to be able to give them close attention for frost, bugs and disease.

But then I was given some extra tomatoes as a housewarming gift the day after I'd just bought a bunch of seedlings. Therefore, I did end up planting two tomatoes far, far away (a 5-minute drive) where I will not be able to care for them as well as I may like.

Not that they've needed any help so far. They are doing just fine on their own.

This was the ORB when planted mid-September. I guess I did have a little bit of trouble with bugs eating the pepper and the 'Dark Opal' basil. I sprayed both plants with a 1-to-10 solution of dish soap and water. No more bug bites.

This is the ORB a month later. I'd actually trimmed the 'Mortgage Lifter' tomato (on right) a few times. I've surrounded the tomatoes with protective shields of sweet alyssum, chamomile, thyme, basil and oregano.

Unfortunately, the seeds I planted did not do as well as I would have liked. It may have been a little too hot still mid-September. I planted from seed some turnips, 4 to 5 lettuces, carrots, arugula, leeks and all kinds of onions.

One last look ...

Planted!

Got all my vegetables and seeds into the ground yesterday at my community garden plot! I forgot to take a picture, unfortunately, but I'll take a shot today when I head by there to make sure everything is going OK.

Can't remember the last time a hobby made me so excited and happy.

I'm using the Square Foot Garden method, which my mom told me about. Pretty easy! I checked out the book from the library. The gist is to set out square-foot grids across your gardening area, with one crop grown tightly in each section.

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

I bought very inexpensive redwood slats that a Lowes guy split for me. The slats ended up measuring about 1/4 inch by 1 inch, with two of them 8 feet long and six of them 4 feet long. I braided them in the raised bed to make the grid. The 4-foot-long ones were a bit long, so I snapped off 4-inch pieces that I'll use later as stakes.

Looking around the rest of the community garden, it will be interesting to see how everyone's plots turn out. Seems I am the only one using this style, so if my experiment doesn't work out, I'll keep track of whose garden does work!