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I’ll see about posting some pics on my facebook tomorrow. Won’t be able to do it tonight though, have other plans.
Smarter than the average bear
I’m in Dunn so not too far away. I can send pics. Not sure how to send you my email addy. I really need to post this on our facebook page. I wish we had a way to send private messages on here.
Smarter than the average bear
LOL @pack78. I have a tractor but now I use it only to cut my 4 acres of grass. I did use it to help me build those raised beds but it will no longer be used in the garden. Seems to me tractor = farmin’, no tractor = gardnin’.
I will say this, creating raised beds is no easy task. I put 3,000 lbs of cardboard into mine. Grocery stores bale their cardboard and if you have the method to haul it they will give it to you. Lowes was also a good source since theirs tends to be BIG (fridges, stoves, etc). I also used 20 bales of wheat straw. The only drawback to this is seeds inside that stuff tend to sprout. It’s easy to pull though. The base of my beds was cut up hardwood trees from the ice storm we had last winter. I dug out a trench and put the cut up limbs and such in , added some wheat straw and covered them up. This sorta created a water reservoir in the bottom. Added the cardboard and lots of 34 – 0 – 0 (10 bags) fertilizer to make it breakdown easily then more wheat straw, 17 -17 – 17 and soil. Squared them up with raised lips on the side and ends of the long beds, railroad ties for the short beds. I’ll enclose the long beds this fall with lumber of some sort probably. Much work on the front end but totally worth it IMO.
I’ve given tons of veggies to 5 sets of neighbors (3 of them are elderly and living on limited income), and brought lots in to work to give away. I’ve never had the results like this before, never. It was funny watching and hearing comments from some of those elderly folks who had never seen this done before. Some thought I was kinda nuts but that’s nothing new. What was even funnier was their response when the veggies started coming in and how much such a small space was producing. The corn was a BIG hit, most said it is the best they have ever had. I’m seriously considering planting a second crop of that since I still have some seeds left and I didn’t freeze any.
The initial preps do take a lot of work. There are lots of resources out there about how to do it. I combined everything I read about raised beds, square foot gardening and companion planting. I’ll probably do a few things different next year but it will just be tweaks from what I’ve learned.
Smarter than the average bear
Bill, agreed on the soil amendments completely BUT for me this year the raised beds did things drastically different. Since the beds were being planted companion wise AND intensively planted the results were fantastic.
Specifically:
1. Weeds were easier to get to to pull and get to since the top of the beds were elevated 18 inches. Crabgrass was reduced by my estimation to a quarter of what it had been in the past. This is a big deal for me. I don’t have the back to bend over to pull weeds anymore.2. Irrigation needs when I went through a dry spell were met with probably 10% of what I had to do last year and even then I could not get enough water on my corn. This year the same dry spell came in early June but only watering every other day for 30 minutes vs. over an hour everyday last year and my corn crop was pretty good. It could have been better and I’ll put permanent drip type irrigation in for next year. The fact that the bed was mostly flat with either side retentions on the short beds or a raised lip on the long beds kept the water that I had to provide IN THE BED. They also retained rain water better. With raised rows there is no way to do this with irrigation. Since the corn was in the middle of the long beds it always got the most benefit from water. You live and learn with this stuff.
3. Companion planting really works. There really is no way to do this in row planting. The squash and zucchini leaves are providing lots of shade on the large beds where the corn was planted. Weed mitigation, lots of it. Also reduced soil water evaporation. I also planted various beneficial flowering plants throughout my beds. I’ve noticed much fewer bugs eating the plants. 4 o’clocks ROCK. Bugs eat them and they die.
4. Fertilization requirements are smaller. This is due to two things I think. First is the makeup of the bed itself. They are highly porous which makes them retain water easier. Second, the amendments are easier to get WHERE they are needed.
5. The only drawback I’ve experienced is I have to “crop” everyday. The squash, zucchini and cukes get way out of hand if I skip a day since I’ve been getting rain over the last 10 days. I’ve had zucchini and cukes that looked like watermelons. No use keeping them they aren’t any good.
My take is if it’s a small garden, make it smaller by intensive planting and make it easier by raised beds.
Smarter than the average bear
As someone who has always done the “row” thing I understand. My garden space is 50 X 75 so just about the same as yours. Last summer I could NOT keep enough water on corn and peanuts and wound up with none of either in spite of watering for over an hour everyday when it was rally dry. I’ve done extensive research on the raised bed thing and put it into motion this year. 2 beds are 4 X 40 and have corn, squash, zucchini, peas, pole beans, peanuts, watermelon, and cantaloupes. Intensive close quarter planting. In the other two beds which are 4 X 16 I have tomatoes, cukes, peppers, okra, eggplant, onions and shallots. When it was really dry I could water all of it in 30 minutes AND every other day. The makeup and design of the raised beds help them to retain water really well. I have almost no weeds to the point where I can spend 30 minutes twice a week weeding and they are gone. I have more veggies this year from that arrangement than I’ve ever had planting the 75 X 50 AND a quarter of the work. I’ll NEVER go back to the old way again. When the season is over I’ll turn everything in for composting in place. I’ll probably grow turnips over the winter.
Smarter than the average bear
Define sandhills, where are you exactly? I built raised beds this year. If your soil needs some refinements I have quite a few things that I did to my raised beds that worked really well. I planted them intensively, lots of stuff packed in really tight. It made it easier to fertilize, weed and keep watered when we went through a dry spell the first 3 weeks of June. Over the past week we’ve had 3 inches of rain and it exploded, I can hardly keep up with keeping it picked. I brought 2 5 gallon buckets worth of veggies into work yesterday. When I get home today I expect to pick the same amount of “stuff”. The extra soil required for the raised beds I got from cardboard I got from a local grocery store plus wheat straw. I have a recipe for turning it into compost that worked really well.
Smarter than the average bear
Stick, no need to wait, gypsum can be applied any time. And it does work wonders. My yard was once all bermuda and it looked great as long as I fed it (LOTS of nitrogen, LOTS). Don’t have the time any more to be spending cutting that stuff with 4 acres and I converted to centipede. Lots less work, looks great and if I skip a week or so cutting it’s no big deal. It is the lazy man’s grass. I decided to do that when I wore out a 5 gang reel mower Bill.
As an aside I went 3 weeks in the first of June with 0.2 inches of rain and had to water every other day, but it was minimal with the raised beds. In the last week I’ve gotten 3 inches of rain. Monday I had 2 5 gallon buckets full of squash, zucchini, cukes, maters, peas, corn, and okra. I had a couple of zucchinis that were 18″ long and 6″ around. They looked like small watermelons. Melons and cants are exploding. The corn is awesome, I planted Serendipity this year and it is delicious!
Smarter than the average bear
Granted chop those are blue collars but they make up less than 10% of the population, Horry county is one of the richest counties in SC. Retirees make up a huge portion in that area. And like Stick said, there are some very unlikely people down there with LOTS of money. A farmer I know personally donated land AND built the athletic parks at Loris High School. His son played football for Clemson, and he was a good ball player but not THAT good, if you know what I’m saying.
As for Coastal Carolina they are very much like UNC Wilmington, they have always lived in the shadow of USC. They were a junior college until 1976. They are a VERY good college and have received many accolades over the past several years. Read their history here…CCU history
Being a native of Horry county AND CCU was the first college I attended I’m pretty proud of them. I’ve had nieces, nephews, cousins, children of cousins, and friends that have educations from there and have played various sports there. Today they have something to really crow about (pun intended) and I’m really happy for them. The interviews I saw post game throughout the world series have been some of the best I’ve ever witnessed. This has been a long time coming but they finally made it and they did it with humility and great sportsmanship. Along the way I’ve read some incredible things about the members of that team. I really hope to see those guys in the bigs.
Smarter than the average bear
BTW Stick, i played in a band at the back alley in OD summer of 72. I’m still amazed I survived that summer. FOND memories though of quite a few lasses from all over the carolinas. Ahhh Groupies, the jam in my jelly roll.
Smarter than the average bear
CHICKEN BIG! BIG! BIG! BIG!
YEEEEHAH! Those guys are special! Can’t wait to get me a shirt! HA!
Stick, I grew up in Loris. Not sure if you knew this but I played catcher too! I was really tickled for David Parrett, he should have gotten a share of best player. He sure came through in the hard part of that 3 game winning streak that it took to get them into the finals.
Smarter than the average bear
ummm Chop, not sure “pretty blue collar” is an apt description of the area. True there are many blue collar types down that way but it’s proximity to Myrtle Beach brings in a very wide variety of “folks”. While it’s not a techie haven like the triangle is, it is a mish mash of retirees (of all sorts), home growns of every description from the intellectual elites down to true trailer park trash, and the myriad for those drawn to “live and lie on the beach”. I grew up 20 miles from the actual beach and I’m amazed at the transformation that has taken place down that way. Much like the triangle has been morphed due to what could be considered “outside influences”, so has Horry County, pronounced oh-REE, (home of the Chants). Visitor and real estate taxes have built some of the best schools in the country.
Smarter than the average bear
you can bet this Carolina bunch is quite a bit less arrogant than the other bunch on the hill. Hopefully Beckwith can stymie the Zona batters and Super Chicken ‘gits ‘er done’
Smarter than the average bear
Technically they aren’t “beach” chickens. Granted the campus is “between” Conway and MB but it is considered to be in Conway. I’m just so tickled they came back last night. It would be a great to see them take it all.
Smarter than the average bear
Sorry stick that was supposed to be 1,000 sq ft. But that is still a 30 X 30 area and it works really well. It’s not that expensive either. My septic lines run through clay and it works wonders for them. If you have a septic system and see really green grass growing around your lines it’s time to add some gypsum. The really green grass means the nitrification field isn’t working at it’s best. Just an extra tidbit about what gypsum can do in your yard/garden.
Smarter than the average bear
Stick, go to a seed & feed and buy gypsum (calcium sulfate). It comes in 50 lb bags like fertilizer. Use a bag every 10,000 sq ft for very dense soil. Instant softening of hard pan soil. Makes it easier to water too (soil actually absorbs water). If you need more it’s easy to add more later. best thing in the world for clay type soil.
Smarter than the average bear
My raised beds are the way to go, at least for me. MUCH easier to keep water on everything. Been really dry last two weeks only a tenth inch of rain. been able to keep everything watered with just 30 minutes or so every other day of watering. Corn stated coming off and it’s the sweetest I’ve ever tasted. Turn all my neighbors on to some and they were tickled.
Only problem is seeing all the cukes since they are closely planted with the maters and onions. Had two yesterday that I overlooked two days earlier, they looked like small watermelons. Over a foot long and couldn’t hold em with one hand. Straight to the compost pile.
Peas are coming off and I have squash and zucchini coming out of my ears. The big plus is how easy it is to get rid of the weeds. With the corn coming in so early I plan to get a second crop in maybe. We shall see.
I love this method of gardening, tons of veggies in a very compact footprint. Wish I’d done this years ago! Have a few things I’m gonna tweak for next year but overall I’m all in with this stuff. It is DA BOMB!
Smarter than the average bear
As I was watching coastal hanging on to the lead my mind went back to our game with TCU and the meltdown we suffered. The Chants were able to “git er done!” My hope is Beckwith will be ready to go on Monday.
Smarter than the average bear
if they beat TCU they are in a best 2 of 3 for the championship. No final 4 in this championship.
Smarter than the average bear
Beckwith does it again! As does Parrett! GO GO Chicken Little! They keep this up and they should be called Chicken Big!!!
Smarter than the average bear
That kid behind the plate tonight was awesome. you gotta read this
Parret has career nightSmarter than the average bear
Found out from reading some of the write ups on that game Beckwith came up with that low sidearm curve pitch supposedly when he was warming up in the bullpen before the game. If that is so (and I have no reason to believe it isn’t) the sky fell on the heads of the gators. Sorry, I could NOT resist the pun. I didn’t see him pitch against us but one would think if he had that stuff against us I would have heard about it in the commentary. In any case it was timely and bonked the gators big time. I can tell you this, All the “other” teams are going to be pulling for “Chicken Little” when they aren’t playing ’em.
Smarter than the average bear
That’s Chicken Little wuf! Beckwith had the stuff! Wuz thinking when I watched him pitch how REALLY nasty his delivery is. Never know which direction it’s coming from and that LOW sidearm with the slider, YUCK! Catching for that dude would be a blast! Give him a low target and watch ’em either whiff or get a called strike. Who could hit that? And not many did! #1 poof, into to the LOSERS bracket you go! GO GO Chicken Little!!!
Smarter than the average bear
