Patchwork, Aquaponic, Pragmatic Delight

Tomatoes in Earth-boxes

This week has been all-out gardening weather around here. The weather is warm and fine and things are growing fast. At work I have been clearing out the greenhouse getting ready for hot weather. It is already hot in the greenhouse. When I remembered to check it was about 87 degrees F. I only have a box fan for an exhaust fan so I try to empty out the house as much as possible because it will soon be too hot for most things in there (including me). I put as many things as possible out in my shaded shrub yard and I try to get everything planted out that I can.

After that the race will be on for watering. At work, I water thoroughly 3x a week. Right now I can slide a little if it is cool, or if it rains, But in a couple of weeks, it will be water or else. I would like to install a constant drip system but that will have to wait a little while. I am still finishing beds and reconstructing shrubs that have been improperly pruned for several years.

Peppers in homemade boxes from storage bins

I took a few minutes to swing by a family-friend, fellow gardener's homestead. He has been telling me about his Earth-boxes and how much he likes them. He even copied the idea and made some up using other materials. He said he will let us know if they do as well. He hinted that it might not be that much cheaper to make your own if you had to buy most of the materials new.

One of my co-gardeners heard about a plastic tub clean out that a landscaper friend's mom was conducting. He swung by and scored a huge pile of storage bins and tubs. He will probably convert some of these to planters. Unfortunately he missed out on the large plastic pool that he was wanting to incorporate into his aquaponic plan.

The last garden shot is of the other co-gardener's square-foot design. It is turning into a delightful patchwork effect garden. He has had excellent germination of seed. It is fun and educational to be able to compare the different gardening approaches and attitudes.

Square-foot bed (Larry Gray blog)

I am pretty pragmatic about gardening, food production first and experimentation second. But I always try to incorporate some new things and some beautiful things. I think a lot about the results and I watch other's efforts closely. Wait... that sounds like a sound approach for daily living- pragmatism about the basics, learn as you can, include something new and something beautiful, pay attention to what is going on around you. Yeah, not bad, not bad at all.