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[Chris__M]

I never got around to taking pictures, as my garden is still a mess, and it is raining again. A very wet and cold May delayed planting, and of the 4 vegetable troughs I have, only one is actually planted properly. Another one is a jungle, deliberately so. I noticed that some green leaves I had planted for cut and come again last year, were regrowing, and also noticed that the birds were having a field day with this unprotected bounty. As that trough is right outside my window as I work, I have let it for the birds, that amuse me during the day.

So instead, I'll show you some pictures from previous years. Here's what it was like before the makeover, in 2009.

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Here is the makeover, in 2011.

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And here it is from last year.

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You'll notice in the latest picture, the pear tree is cut back from the trellis. We had to do that to get the new trellis in place. But I knew it would recover, and if anything would become more productive. It seems to like a good cut-back every few years.

[Kristin Meredith]

Nice area you have out back Chris!  And the height of your troughs is great on the back I'm sure!

[Chris__M]

As someone who suffers from intermittent lower back pain, the troughs are a godsend.

On a good year (not this year!) I can keep myself in veg for the whole of summer and autumn. Although it probably costs me more to do so than if I bought them at the supermarket, there is something about eating your own produce. That mini grow-house (which is out of the main garden and near my kitchen door) was new, hence empty, but now houses 3 very healthy tomato plants that I am looking forward to getting fruit from.

At the moment, half of the gravel between the troughs have been well weeded, and the other half is waiting for me to get around to it. However, there is a membrane under the gravel, so any weeds don't get much of a foothold.

I wish I had got more planted this year (and it is not too late yet), but I have got some carrots, courgettes and beans on the go, so that is something.

[02ebz06]

Very nice Chris!
Best part about growing your own is you pick it when it is ripe, rather than buying something that was picked green and shipped to market.
Much better tasting...
 

[Kristin Meredith]

Chris, what temperature can your grow house take and still retain enough heat for starter plants?  Something like that could work well for us depending on the lows it can withstand.

[Chris__M]

Chris, what temperature can your grow house take and still retain enough heat for starter plants?  Something like that could work well for us depending on the lows it can withstand.

I haven't really used it enough to have a feel for it.

Certainly in May, when the weather was still cold enough for central heating, it protected the tomatoes well enough when everything outside was still in danger of overnight frosts. (Our weather has been so extreme that the vegetable box company I use say that that the lost a month out of their growing year this spring). I only opened it to fresh air once June brought good temperatures, and I will probably zip it up again when I am trying to ripen the tomatoes.

Another thing is that I have seen people use these with heating pads to maintain a decent temperature. Which reminds me - it is Prime Day here, so I might see if I can pick up a couple at a bargain price!

What I liked about this one (made by Vegtrug) is that the shelf slats are not fixed. So I started off with my tomatoes taking up the bottom two layers while I brought on seeds in the top two shelves, then as the tomatoes have grown, I simply moved the slats to the sides. The plants are now about the third shelf, and I expect them to grow to fill the whole thing. Here's the current situation:

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Another thing I discovered about it. Unless stabilised somehow, they are quite light and will blow over in any strong wind. So you either need to peg them down well, put weights on the bottom shelf, or (what i did) put a couple of screws through the back (including the cover) into something solid behind.

[Kristin Meredith]

Thanks for your insight.

[Kristin Meredith]

Harvesting, eating and preserving going on.  Starting to get lots of peppers.  In addition to pickling, I am also now freezing.  Making the cucs into cucumber salad.  And having to watch the blackberries very intensely this week with the heat, they are starting to ripen.

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[Kristin Meredith]

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[Bentley]

Some of you probably already know this, but it was quite interesting for me to learn.  The guys who rent the land ended up just selling their wheat chaff to a ? who takes it and process it.  They did the what I think of as small, traditional rectangular bale.  I think they are 50lbs.  What was interesting to me is, these guys had a machine that went around collecting 20 of them and making a big bale.  I had never seen that before.  I have seen 1000lb rectangular bales before, but they come out of the bailer that way!

[Bentley]

Man, that last photo, they better spray some glysophate before they plant them beans!

[JoeGrilling]

My tomato plants are producing very well.  This my first year raising plants from seed and the first year I was able to harvest before July 4th.  My tomato garden consists of 12-Early Girls, 12-Parks Improved Whoppers, and 12- Better Boys.  Last week we gave away four dozen tomatoes to relatives.  We are headed to Maui for a week so I harvested the ripe tomatoes in the picture for my neighbors.

[Bar-B-Lew]

Wow, I wish I was your neighbor.  I would be eating BLT's and club sandwiches for weeks.

[Kristin Meredith]

Nice looking tomatoes!!!!

[Bentley]

We have lots of tomatoes, but not even a hit of Red yet!