Garden Project

Day 1

For several months I have been toying with the idea to restart my small kitchen garden, on Sunday I finally decided to go pull the bush from what was once a semi decent attempt at growing okra, sweet peppers/bell peppers, spinach, tomatoes and at some point cucumbers and pumpkin.

As I started pulling the grass that had taken over the garden space I realized that the recent rains have been good to me, it seems that some of the okra seeds from the previous plants had gotten away from their pod and were somehow scattered in the area. I now have several okra plants spewed all across the small area, I also found that my spinach vine which was mowed over several months ago started to spring up once again. YES!! I am well on my way to getting everything back in order.

My intention for this blog is to document my progress from beginning (the debushing phase) to the end (the reaping phase) and also include updates on the maintenance of this project. Let's hope all goes well.

The current state of "the garden" Sept 2nd 2014

In this project I will also be attempting to start a small container garden, too start I have two half drums that are badly in need of some soil. So its off to Carters and Massy Lawn & Garden stores for my supplies (after I have cleared the area and located suitable containers of course).

Day 2

Must keep motivated... so day two... the debushing continues. Outside was very overcast and rainy, I was almost tempted to not step foot outside in the mud and bush, however I pressed on. Ate some Chefette chicken tenders drank two Banks beers and off I went to the wet bush, with my little helper in tow (my 7 year old daughter).

Of course my little helper wasn't very impressed with the wet mud nor the bush for that matter, so she was very content to play with the dogs. So lets get those weeds out. When pulling weeds try to pull from the roots, get the root out so as to prevent the weed from growing back, if necessary use a small hand fork to help get under those stubborn roots.

After about 30 minutes I finally made some progress, and look what I found several clusters of okra trees.

No More Bush

Now that all the bush is removed I used a hand cultivator to turn an spread the soil as well as remove the smaller weeds that I couldn't get a proper grip on.

Hand Fork

Hand Cultivator

                         

Ok... so the weeds are out... now to re-position the orka trees from the clusters. In doing this you need to be very careful, gently digging around the plant with a hand fork so the roots will be easy to remove from the dirt.

Too conclude day two, I pretty much just replanted the okra trees with adequate space for them to grow ( a few still need to be relocated) I think I might put them in container as soon as I get me some soil. The below picture shows the garden at the end of day 2. Spent about 1 hour in total in the garden today.

End of Day 2 September 3rd 2014

One Week Later

So one week after the transformation from bush to what resembles a maintained garden. I have started watering the okra trees twice a day (early morning and evenings) the days here in Barbados are usually very hot so I try to keep them hydrated. 

Garden at on September 8th 2014

As we can see in the picture above the okras are doing well, of course some didn't make it through the replanting phase, but hey, there is enough left to compensate. Furthermore I found a bigger okra tree growing in the same area where I found the spinach vines, yes! vines... seems there was another one springing up.

I have so many ideas of things I would like to do with the area designated for this garden experiment, so many thoughts... need to put them all in order of importance and feasibility. As far as the spinach vines go I was advised to put some nails in the wall and use kite cord to allow the vine to run freely up the wall, an option I am going to look into as it seems to be a very economical option. I believe I mentioned earlier in this blog that I will be looking to build a small shade house and use containers to grow various crops, I have an idea of what materials to use to build the shade house, also with some help from youtube I have some ideas on how to go about building said shade house. More on the shade house as the materials are purchased. 

Area Identified for Shade house as at September 8th 2014

The area shown above is where the shade house will be placed. The plan is to come out from the wall about eight feet and use the length from the garden bed to just past the column to the left. Basically working with a 8ft x 20ft space.

On Monday I started to pull up some of the grass in the area proposed, but it looks like some heavier equipment apart from my hands (maybe a fork and hoe) will be needed to effectively carry out this task. Stay tuned for more updates. 

Update October 1st 2014

Hi guys, it has been a while, but everything is going great, had some small set backs but the garden is progressing might be a little slowly; but progressing none the less. My last update was around September 8th 2014, however I have taken a few pictures during the course of the last couple weeks.

Cleared Area for potted crops

This project started just about one month ago and after a few hick-ups some progress has been made. This evening i started to spread mulch over the cleared area designated for the potted crops. I was also given some soil and soil mix for my half cans and pots. In laying the mulch i realized that i might need to get another bag or two to complete the area as well as to add to the area the okras are so as to reduce the growth of weeds.

I also sought some advice regarding my shade house and was advised that it is not necessary unless i am going to be growing sun sensitive crops such as lettuce. Therefore i have put shade house construction on hold. Maybe I will look into hatching seedlings and earn some extra money :) 

October 1st 2014 The start of the mulch spreading & can setup

Current Progress of the Okras

As we can see above the okras are doing well, I was able to reap one okra thus far... lol... I some how lost track of then other two okras and the grew to big and old :( . Must remember to check okras more regularly! I guess the recent rains kind of hampered my care and attention, although the okras have matured and really not in need of the attention they were given the first few weeks. The "old" okras I will let them dry out, and use the seeds to hatch a new batch.

My first harvest :) 

October 6th 2014

Ahhhh yes!! what a productive weekend. On Saturday my good friend Freddie decided that we were going to get some seedlings and old tyres and really get this project going, so my behind was up earlier than usual for a Saturday morning and heading down to Massy Trading on Spring Garden to see what they had on sale. I was expecting a crowd as the last time such a sale was on there were long lines at the cashiers and barely elbow room to maneuver, this was not the case this particular sale, I was able to take my time and browse their selection of seedlings and other gardening equipment and seeds. It also helped that I received a further discount on my purchases by using my Massy card... Whoo Hooo!!!

We finally decided on the following seedlings: Lettuce (red and green), Broccoli, Hot Peppers, Sweet/bell Peppers, Tomatoes and cucumbers. (What a variety!!) As we were driving out of Massy car park we noticed that their tyre repair service had some old tyres to discard of, we stopped and inquired on then procedure for obtaining a few of said old tyres. The nice gentleman said "take what u need" so we packed about five of the tyres into the jeep and homeward bound to get everything setup.

Seedling Selection

Back home the tyres were offloaded and the seedlings placed in a safe area until we decided how we were going to setup everything. Freddie was mostly the brawn and some of the brain behind the layout and we were well on our way, cutting sections in the tyres to maximize on the use of the tyres, filling them with soil mix and some sheep manure.

The Setup Front View

The Setup Side View

After about four hours of nonstop work we were finished all that we could do, all five tyres were in position and filled with soil, it was time for lunch and a couple cold beers :) we decided that the seedlings would be transplanted a little later in the evening when it was cooler.

Around 5 p.m. I was back in the garden and planting my seedlings. In my quest for souse I was given a piece of oregano to add to herb collection, which really isn't much, basically the oregano and some mint. (definitely a work in progress). Right so on to the planting; two of the tyres were used for the red and green lettuce I mixed them so as to add a little colour to the lettuce setup. The six tomato plants were separated into to tyres and placed in the holes closest to the wall to make it easier to let the vines run, those two tyres also have broccoli and hot peppers. The fifth tyre was home to the sweet/bell peppers and finally the half drum became the home of my cucumbers.

Cucumbers

Sweet/Bell Peppers

Tomatoes & Hot Peppers

Oregano, Tomatoes & Broccoli

Red & Green Lettuce

Since the weather here in Barbados is so very hot these last few months I figured it would be wise to give my lettuce some shade, from my research it was realized that lettuce is particularly sensitive to too much sunlight, so I covered them with some shade netting.

Lettuce with shade netting cover

For the first two days I started wetting the newly transplanted seedlings twice per day (early morning and evening) however, I realized that the soil was still relatively wet when the evening watering was due so I am rethinking the twice a day wetting and just reduce it to maybe once in the morning. We will see how it plays out.

I will give an update maybe in a week or so an show the progress of my efforts. :)

October 22nd 2014 

So! its been about three weeks since I have planted my seedlings, I got caught up in some other interest and did not have the time to do weekly updates. Here goes, in that three weeks I have officially lost one Jalapeno pepper plant and one red lettuce plant :( R.I.P on the bright side everything else seems to be doing well. Some watermelons have been added to the collection and I am going to attempt to grow them out of a drum (lets see how well I can control those vines.) I am also doing some experimenting with growing english potatoes in a relatively small plant pot, but like I said its an experiment maybe later I will try in a bigger pot and see how it turns out. The intention is also to experiment with growing sweet potatoes in pots as well wish me luck.

Now in the last three weeks I'v been harvesting roughly four to six okras per day, been doing most of my watering in the mornings before work and only watering the crops hatching from seeds both morning and evening. The watermelon seeds took about three or four days to germinate I actually thought they would have taken longer.

Melon Seeds bursting out

Melon seedlings about 5 days old

Melon seedlings in Drum

Above you can see the melon seedlings at varying stages. the drum stage being the more up to date picture, I have since added two more seedlings to that drum hopefully there isn't any over crowding.(fingers crossed.) 

Some modifications have also been made where the cucumbers are concerned, and I made a tresill out of plastic piping and wire so that the cucumber vines can run on it instead of running wild on the ground.

Wire Tresill

Now for a look at how the other plants are doing.

Left Tyre: Tomatoes(outer edge) Hot Peppers (center)
Right Tyre: Sweet/Bell Peppers (Outer edge) Jalapeno Peppers (centre)

Red and Green Lettuce

Cucumbers before tresill

Wide shot of area including the okras 

Bunching onions hatching

The parsley that was set to hatch a few weeks ago finally started to show some life, I think I miscalculated the germination period, no worries though... I am beginning to see some life, will post picture in my next update. Also I have started to use the space by my back wall for some drums which include the watermelons and the experiment with the english potatoes. I am also planning on planting some cassava in that general area to see how it does.

Back wall area (still a work in progress)

The week some celery, tomatoes, lettuce and a coloured selection of sweet/bell pepper were put to hatch, and I have started to look into a spreadsheet to manage my sowing dates, germination dates and possible harvesting dates.

A basic Excel file with a simple date calculation formula

Well that's all to report for now, will have another update hopefully soon

Duces!!!

November 19th 2014

Hi guys, its been a while I know but so much has happened since the last time I was able to update this blog it isn't even funny. First off I was bitten by a mosquito and contracted Chikungunya, for those that haven't contracted it as yet, let me tell you.... it's no picnic. I also lost someone very very close to me and well I am still trying to deal with that along with the still lingering pains from Chik-V kind of limiting my mobility in the garden.

What has been going on garden wise? again so many things, where do I start? let me start with the period where I was ill an unable to make it to the garden, sigh! The first week of my illness i was barely able to make it out of bed, and so my garden suffered tremendously. One day I took a look through the window and noticed my cucumber vine almost dried to a crisp, and my broccoli drooping in the heat, it took every ounce of energy I could muster and the help of my daughter to go water my plants.

My Poor cucumbers suffering

Please, please remember that cucumber vines need lots of water, the fruit of itself is made up of mostly water and once the vines start to produce fruit they need to be watered frequently. With some frequent wetting and care and yes talking to the vines sprang back to life.

Close up of the cucumber

Cucumber vines after some care and attention

 As you can see above the vines started to do well again and I even found a nice size cucumber hiding behind the leaves, if you look closely you can see it :)  A few days later I was able to pick my very first cucumber.

1st Cucumber

Not doing to bad for a first time dear I say "backyard farmer". Half of this fresh home grown cucumber was pickled before it hit the counter good and the other half was sliced and eaten in its natural state.The cucumber vines now have maybe a total of about seven young cucumbers growing nicely, one that didn't quite make it, seems a bird got at it and pecked it down in it's prime.

My next update is on my lettuce, my poor poor lettuce.... started out with twelve lettuce in total (six green and six red). So far seven have survived which i guess for a first try is not too bad, must work at improving that total next time. During the the time I was ill the lettuce were pretty much past their delicate stage and had become for the most part accustom to being exposed to the sun, so my time away from the garden did not cause them much distress.

Lettuce growth over the last few weeks

In losing my five heads of lettuce i decided to try hatching some from seeds to replace what was lost. That was going well, started to see signs of about three new plants coming through the potting mix, but alas! my excitement was short lived. I went outside one evening and watered the garden, everything was a okay, came out in the morning to check as i usually do and much to my horror two of my lettuce seedlings had been eaten down to NOTHING!!! boy was I pissed! I took the lone remaining seedling and placed it in the safe environs of my garage. That is where it stayed until November 15th 2014, when I transplanted it into one of the holes in the tyres. It appears I might have a slight snail/slug problem, since I am trying to have as organic as possible garden I decided to look for natural chemical free methods of detouring these pest. a few remedies I found included using a vinegar water mix which in my opinion wasn't an overly effective solution but it did work somewhat. Another suggestion I received was to mix about five spoons of coffee in some room temperature water and using a spray bottle spray it around the base of the plant containers. I am yet to try this option as it has been rain almost everyday, once I do I will report back on its effectiveness.

Next lets take a look at the watermelons, what can be said? these vines started to grow very nice, as mentioned earlier in this blog.

Melons state around November 4th

As you can see the melons really came long way from the little seedlings pictured in and earlier update. A few days later this was all shot to hell, those pesky slugs/snails took a turn in my vines, seems the vines were too tasty to be resisted.

Melons after the attack

Those slugs/snails started an all out war, I am now out to protect my plants at all cost (while still using as little chemicals as possible) yes, I'v moved from no chemicals to "as little chemicals as possible", mainly because I used some Sevin and sprinkled all around my drum and even dusted a little around the plants on the inside. Again when the rain holds off a little I will try the coffee option.

Every morning and evening I am not just in the garden checking to make sure my plants aren't in distress but I have a new hobby (hunting snails/slugs). Armed with a used water bottle filled with either a vinegar or bleach solution, I punched some holes in the cover and this was my new weapon. My first morning out I managed to find and destroy two snails and one slug. A few mornings later I found a slightly bigger snail than the previous morning.

One of the culprits 

December 2nd 2014

Greetings everyone! I kind of got side tracked with my last post, so let me pick up where I left off. The Snails and slugs. what more can I say about those pest? think I might have given them more time than they need.. never the less the hunt continues daily twice a day, I have seen a decline since I changed my tactics and  I have not used the vinegar mix recently, however I think I might have gotten a little "trigger happy" with bleach solution and well I kind of accidentally got some on my cucumber vines... more reason to dislike snails and slugs.. GRRRrrrr!!!

my poor  cucumbers just about dead :(

I guess its back to Carters or Massy for more seedlings. Also I believe my Jalapeno peppers and Sweet pepper have contracted some kind of fungus cause by Aphids I have been told, they are all suffering and are pretty much about to die. I pulled up all the Jalapenos and went to Carters and bought some more Jalapenos, Rocket Lettuce, Cucumbers and Broccoli, Cilantro and Rosemary . Made a visit to Massy and got some Red Lettuce, Red Mustard, Dill, and Sage. From the seeds I previously purchased I have Green Lettuce, coloured salad selection (which is like coloured sweet peppers), Yellow sweet peppers, Celery, Marjoram, Beets and Carrots hatching nicely.

Sweet Peppers & Jalapenos suffering

Gardening is tough work, it can also be relaxing and stressful all at once :( kind of a bitter sweet feeling, one minute you are excited about the produce you grow day after day, the next you are pissed off with slugs, snails and the weather. Here in Barbados we had lots of rain for a few days and the plants were basically swimming I had to run outside to save my poor struggling seedlings from drowning.

A few observations and I guess errors of a new gardener:

 1) Some of the soil  used might have been to dense and clay like and was not offering sufficient drainage (of course the excessive rain we had really didn't help)

2) Some of the plants namely the Broccoli and Tomatoes were planted too close together (Will rectify when it is time to replant)

3) Make sure that your containers are not sitting flush on the ground, elevate them slightly even if you use a few small rocks to give some leverage (I found that this seems to deter my little slimy nemesis)

4) If you are going to try using eggshells to deter pest wash them first especially if you have dogs (lol seems my two mutts like to pick them out of the dirt.)

As I mentioned before I bought some replacement seedlings, and I am trying the Jalapenos in different environments so to speak, for example I planted two of them along with two Red Lettuce in my mother's front garden directly in the dirt between her ornamental plants, another Jalapeno in a medium size pot with soil, another in Perlite. (Perlite can be used as a soil amendment or alone as a medium for hydroponics or for starting cuttings. When used as an amendment it has high permeability / low water retention and helps prevent soil compaction.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perlite My intention to see which environment the Jalapeno plant prefers.

During the course of the weekend I finally sourced some buckets so that I can start planting some more English Potatoes, the intention is to stagger the planting dates. The first two potatoes were planted in mid October in what I have been told is a less than adequate size pot, we will see how the bigger buckets size up to the smaller pot where yields are concerned come harvest time. My work plan for this week is to plant the other two English Potatoes that are just about ready to go into the soil, prepare some other containers (an old sink and a half  drum) to plant some sweet potato slips and lettuce. Thanks to my cousin I also acquired two 55gl drums, one of these drums will be used to catch rain water off of the roof to aid in the watering of the garden etc. the other drum iv asked my neighbour to cut into about seven shallow pieces to use as planting containers, will definitely need to get some more soil.

Oh! before i sign off for the night, if you are going to collect rain water i would strongly suggest using mosquito dunks in your drum along with ensuring that it is properly sealed just in case your friendly Chik-V mosquito decide to have babies, they wont stand a chance against the mosquito dunk. I came across a few other methods such as using a little dish washing liquid in the drum to form a slight film which essentially stops the mosquitoes from laying their eggs. Another suggestion was using bleach (keep in mind my little fiasco with the bleach) and KEEP IT AWAY FROM YOUR PLANTS!!! 

Mosquito Dunks

From my research I have found that one full dunk can treat about 500 gallons of water for a month, since my drum capacity is no where near 500 gallons I cut my dunk into four pieces. Here is a video to help you better understand how the dunk works.

Hope you enjoy the video and FYI they can be purchased at Massy Spring Garden and Carters, well that is all from me for tonight, will try to have another update by weekend :)

  

January 12th 2015

Happy New Year!!!! ok so its been a minute since I made an update so what's new in the land of Camille's Garden.. Well I got rid of my first set of sweet peppers as they were too far gone with their aphid infection, I also discarded the tomatoes, fresh start. So much to tell, everything is going great.