Plans for the Fall 2015 Garden

Fall Garden 2015

A hard to see drawing of the duck/chicken/goose pen to the
left, Bed #1 and Bed #2. You can also see the outline of the fence.
Each square is 2', though I'm going to make the beds 3' not 4'. 

We're going to start with two in-ground rows that are 3' wide and 30' long. An electrified fence will be placed around the beds at a 1' height to keep out the ducks, chickens, and geese. The corners will cut in to make sure there is plenty of room for Tragdor (Kubota BX25). These beds will sit next to the duck/chicken/goose pen, and orient east/west. They will be in full sun, and face the same orientation as the existing grape vines that are to the east. What's on the to-do list in order to get these beds up and running this fall?

Bed #1: This bed won't be planted until the spring. For now it sits next to a large pile of sand (yes, sand, this is Florida after all), and be used for composting. I'll stake out the dimensions, but only place a loose border. Daily scraps will go be placed in the bed, then covered with sand. Come the spring we can add a layer of well composted manure or even a few bags of potting soil and be ready to grow! 

Bed #2: This bed will be planted, but needs to be amended heavily. The plan is to make a prettier border using the scalloped edging stones that were here when we bought the house. The first layer will be the frozen crabs and shrimp that have been in the freezer waiting for their higher purpose; hooray! A layer of sand, and then a mixture of Black Kow, Blak Hen and potting soil. Voila, we'll be ready to plant. 

We're not going to irrigate these beds yet, but we will install hose bibs at the front and back of Bed #2.  Eventually we will lay lines for drip irrigation, but not until we know this is the configuration that we truly want. 

On the list to grow this fall:

• French breakfast radish
• Yaya carrot
• Nelson carrot
• Atomic red carrot
• Rainbow chard
• Golden globe turnips
• Hakurei turnips
• Veronica cauliflower
• I plan to start some seeds indoors so they have a head start once the bed is ready to plant. 
• Orange smoothie pumpkin
• I plan to start some seeds indoors so they have a head start once the bed is ready to plant. 
• Kakai pumpkin
• I plan to start some seeds indoors so they have a head start once the bed is ready to plant. 
• Toscano kale
• Romaine lettuce
• Early wonder beet
• Bouquet dill 

Our kitchen should be finished this week. Perhaps I'll get to painting the living room this week so we can really empty a storage unit out this weekend. The chicken/duck/goose pen needs more work, namely finishing the pond, the final pieces of the top rail on the fence need to be attached and the coop itself needs a bit more hardware cloth. We also need to put wood sealant on the nesting box, which is an old cabinet we re-purposed. 

I hope we aren't taking on too much, but we'll see...