Trying Next Year Now

With the disappointment of my "No Dig" experiment I am trying a "Recovery" box filled with Silver Queen corn, Purple King pole beans, and Dragon's Tongue abd Yellow Wax bush beans. I filled the half settled box with a 50/50 mix of compost and soil plus a bag of steer manure. Then topped it with an inch of bark mulch that I have ratholed 32 bags away from Meeks for $1.99 each. I will add another inch of mulch as soon as the plants are 6 inches high and will infuse some blood meal so the mulch doesn't steal all the nitrogen. The mulch hopefully will keep the weeds down and soil just as moist as straw does without the few straglers that sprout from the mulch. The one large stalk of corn is one of only two survivors of my first "Silver Queen" planting.

BEE BALM and a few Others 7/15

Today's Garden Pictures 7/15

Finally an Update

After acquiring a new modem I can finally trust my internet to come up and stay on long enough to eke out a post. After many times looking at The Bird-house garden, with great green shades of envy, I took a few alley walks around my neighborhood and discovered my garden is either even with or slightly ahead of the progress here. It must be a weather microclime. Still I am not happy with the results of the "No dig" garden experiment. It might be better the second time but I will never know as next year I am reverting to the tried and true 50/50 compost/soil with a bag of steer manure in each box. I need consistency and results especially with today's grocery prices.
This type of gardening I've found to be very labor intensive for watering, not very kind to young plants on very hot days, and also very troublesome for getting a good watering soak for plants. Since the straw/alfalfa composts at different rates within the boxes it creates deep pockets that the water runs off into and pools. The water also runs through the compost and right through the straw/alfalfa onto the ground underneath.
My corn is doing terrible but I do have some new corn in, a reliable favorite "Silver Queen", that I am hoping will come on strong. The tomatoes are just forming, the okra is small, the beans have a ways to go, and I've only harvested 10 summer squash. On the bright side the egg plant and peppers are really coming on strong and my watermelon is finally flowering.




ALL PICTURES FROM 2 WEEKS AGO.

A Few Pictures

Thanks to my crappy Xfinity internet, fiscal year end at work and repainting the whole exterior of my home and garage I haven't posted on here in a month. I'll be firing off quite a few in the next week including an update on the my "No Dig" experiment.