What a better way to spend your time if you're on lockdown than starting up a community vegetable victory garden.
My parents live on a nice quiet cul-de-sac thats nestled between a large acre of grassy field with woods, and on the other side, a few other homes with families and young children. That acre of grass and wildflowers is a perfect spot to install a vegetable garden where my parents and neighbors can grow their own vegetables while the coronavirus pandemic is altering our daily lives. And hopefully, their children can participate thus enriching their knowledge of horticulture and maybe even encouraging a few budding young garden hobbyists to form. Why not I figure. I started my love of gardening at a young age.
This was a project I proposed and took up nearly singlehandedly. Clearing the space for the beds and conditioning the soil. Being on a major budget I used only a round nosed shovel, a leaf rake and a wheelbarrow to get the job done. I also was able to convince one of my friends to loan me his 1973 motorized rototiller for a morning. The thing hadn't run in 35 years. But after a bit of oil and a new spark plug it ran beautifully.
The spot in the field I've chosen. Time to start clearing the grass and shaping the beds. My main goal is to find out exactly what kind of soul ill be dealing with. Each bed is 12 feet by 3.5 feet in size. I'd have liked to build raised beds in order to thwart interloping weeds from the field making their way into the beds. But the budget rearing its head again that idea was kiboshed. I'll just have to use a grass edger and weed periodically to maintain things.
The soil isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Its not as full of red clay like most of the surrounding soil here in back state South Carolina. Its still pretty devoid of top soil and very alkaline. I'll need to fix that.
However, the soil is rocky in places. So I spent a good amount of time tossing as many of the larger rocks that I could into the woods in the background. I left most of the smaller pebble sized rocks. Minerals are good for the soil. I then flood the beds with lots of water and let it drain into the soil for two days. My personal belief and experience is that establishing a proper water table under the beds is crucial.
Now that the beds are cut and the soil cleaned of rocks and weeds. I crank up the motorized rototiller. Here's my buddy Joe dropping it off. Thing weighs a half tonne. We needed to use an engine hoist to get it on and off his truck bed.
But it was worth it. We tilled the soil down about a foot. Turning the earth into a fine, soft and loose consistency.
Being a professional landscaper I believe the most crucial thing and most necessary is making sure your soil is just right for what youre trying to grow. Doing it right from the beginning will, even if its a pain in the butt at first, prevent many, many issues and heartbreak down the road and for the lifetime of that garden.
Here I dump loads of shredded pine, oak and assorted woods and a hefty amount of cow, chicken manure and steaming mushroom compost. I also added a good amount of mycorrhizae and a little bit of epsom salt. Yep that should do it.
Mycorrhizae is something I use extensively and I swear by it for a healthy root system. If I can get my hands on it, i use it!
The epsom salt many people will argue with me about the practicality of it. But I feel and have seen the sulfur and magnesium make a big difference in plants. Usually potted plants and plants with nutrient lockout. But personally I think it never hurts to supplement with it initially and get it into the soil. And I think it improves texture, colour and flavor on things.
Re tilling the soil manually with a shovel to mix the conditioner into the existing soil evenly. I go down about a foot. Maybe a bit more.
Nice blended soil.
Luscious loamy soil. If you lean on it with your palm or forearm you'll sink in a good few inches. It turned out pretty good.
Now to add the first bit of vegetables, which will be a process of adding plants as I find them over the next few days. But for right now I've got Better Boy tomatoes. I'm looking for a heirloom cultivar to add to the collection and some Roma's. Hopefully I'll come across a few in the next week or so. Also, I've planted sweet cherry tomatoes.
In this photo they're only a few minutes post planting. It was windy the day before and their little seedling pots got knocked over, the tomatoes started bending towards the light while knocked over. So they haven't had a chance to re orientate towards the sun yet now that they're in the ground. They're not wilting and are in fact very healthy.
Better Boy tomatoes
Super Sweet Cherry tomatoes
Next to the tomatoes I've got bell peppers planted.
In the other beds I've got Swiss chard.
Cucumber and a lone cantaloupe that I put as far away as possible in the corner of one of the beds so that I can train it to grow into the grassy field and away from everything else. Here's the cucumber.
A jalapeno for fun is in one of the other beds.
In between rows, ive planted marigolds to keep some pests away. And to add a bit of colour.
I hope to get some zuccini, cabbage, broccoli, basil, corn and sunflower. My dad really wants sunflowers. They'll go in the north west corner of the garden along with the corn where their stature wont shade the rest of the plants. Looking for some herbs to add to one plot. Especially Summer Savory if I can find it. Yum!
So thats the start of the victory garden for now. If needed I can expand the garden and add more beds. Heck theres plenty of room in that there field to keep going if I want to.
I'll be posting weekly chronicaling the new cultivars added and the gardens overall progress and harvests.
Wishing everyone the best and happy gardening.
-hidave
All photos by hidave
