SQWIB
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"SQWIBS Urban Garden Adventure 2019"
Welcome to SUGA 2019
I am back for another year of gardening.
Let's start with a quick breakdown of this page. Like in my SUGA 2018 page , the first part of this page is an intro of my thoughts.
The 2nd part of this page is a recap of my 2018 garden strategy, what worked and what did not.
Part 3 will detail my upcoming 2019 garden strategy. I consider my gardening year to start last harvest and fall cleanup but for the sake of keeping things organized, I'll just start this page as of January and recap the winter prep.
Part 4 of this page I'll be posting daily updates with plenty of photos throughout the 2018-2019 year.
Let's start with my "Long Winded" intro! You can skip to part 4, if your eyes start to bleed, don't worry I won't mind!
Part 1
Intro
Before I go into another long winded intro of my upcoming gardening year, I'll answer a few questions that I am sure many of you have asked.Intro
Why does he post everything he does?
Well for quite a few reasons, when I write in my blogs, taking notes and photos, it keeps me interested in gardening all year long, especially in the winter months. I take photos of the wildlife in the yard, label them and do some research on them.
I use it as a reference, referring to past years with what worked, what hasn't, timing of planting, starting seeds, pest problems, plant diseases etc... to sum it up, it keeps me, interested, organized and hopefully a better gardener.
But why not just keep notes? Why tell the whole world?
That's because I learn a lot from others that I chat with on forums, I see what other folks are doing, talk to them, ask for advice and do a ton of research. A forum is a great motivator, especially in the off season when making preparations for the upcoming year.
Sometimes I'll get some friendly advice on what I am doing wrong, kudos on what I am doing right, suggestions on what plants to grow from folks with first hand experience, and other great ideas.
Not only are we sharing knowledge but were also sharing plants, seeds, supplies and other things as well as making friends. I also like to think I may be helping others as well. It is also a great way to minimize the learning curve a bit. This is what keeps me interested year round.
OK now back to my long winded intro.
It's funny how your perspective changes over the years, I guess there really is something about the saying, "older and wiser".
For years I tried to keep a nice yard, this meant, a "somewhat" green lawn, some ornamental shrubs, arborvitaes hedges, trees, flowers, etc..., you get the picture. Through this, I always had a little vegetable garden in the back yard.
Over the years I have nibbled away at the yard, mainly because I can't grow grass.
I added a few patios, installed a few ponds. In more recent years I added more gardening space in the way of Hugelkultur beds, Raised beds, vertical spaces, trellises, planters and small section gardens.
I removed most of my Ornamental plants, shrubs and trees and replaced them with more Bio-diverse plants like edible perennials and fruit trees.
So how has my perspective actually changed? Well for one thing, in the past, I would purchase plants for the yard not giving thought to Bio-diversity, after all, what the hell is Bio-diversity? Sure I still have a couple flowers out front that aren't as beneficial, native or multi-functional as they could be, but I do need to keep up some curb appeal and keep the wife happy, with that said I am working on becoming even more biodiverse.
Here are a few more observations.
Bugs... Bugs are a PITA, but are they? For years I would be bothered by the amount of bees, bugs and other flying critters in the yard as their were just too many, it seemed no matter where I was, there were bugs in my face! Now I am worried about bugs in the yard as there are not enough. It also seems that the insects stay off of the living areas more when my plants are in bloom, go figure, more bugs but less nuisance. Hover flies, and flies are quite the pollinators. Wood lice are rampant and welcomed in the garden. I installed a ceiling fan on the patio and have one on the bar on the deck, and these were mainly installed to keep the bugs at bay without using pesticides.
Other Bugs... Bugs like earwigs seem to be OK, slugs were a pain a few years back and were treated with sluggo, now I just heavily mulch the garden. There are also beneficial slugs like the leopard slug that keep the smaller slugs at bay and are a good food source for the turtles that live in the yard.
My biggest problem are ants, they can be beneficial but once they start farming the aphids, I end up with a really hard to control Aphid problem. I really hate to knock these guys out but sometimes I have no choice. Mosquitoes seem to be less of a pain during the early summer but are unbearable in the late summer especially when we get a bit of rain. I installed a few bat houses to hopefully alleviate this nuisance.
Keeping the grass trimmed and having all the marigolds all over may be helping a bit but not much. The mosquito problem is one of my 2019 projects I have been working on since the fall.
Stinging insects... Years ago, Carpenter Bees, Bumble Bees, Honey Bees, Mason Bees, Hornets, would make me nervous when gardening, now I just brush past them and they dont seem to mind. I am however allergic to bee stings. Mud daubers look scary but aren't a nuisance, other than the occasional nest that makes its way into a door jam.
I do have to be careful of the Carpenter Bees as they love tearing up the deck.
Birds and Squirrels, I didn't care for the birds that pecked at my tomatoes, now I love seeing them because I know they keep a lot of my plants pest free, and to be honest they don't seem as destructive as they use to be, maybe it's the sunflowers I have planted everywhere. I have been seeing a lot more different species of birds, like Humming birds, finches and woodpeckers.
The squirrels used to be horrid but not so much anymore, every now and then one will grab a tomato that is growing over the fence and what's funny is the same squirrel will come back later and eat that same tomato. I now put "over ripe" tomatoes on the fence and they seem to leave everything else alone, somewhat, with the occasional pepper being a snack.
If I have to sacrifice a few tomatoes and a pepper every so often, so be it!
Weeds... guess what, I'm fine with weeds, on occasion I let them grow to just before they flower and chop and drop right in the beds. Last year I had a prickly lettuce weed 4 foot tall that I chopped and dropped as mulch, think about all the nutrients that thing pulled from deep in the soil that is now available to the plants. Even if it is not a true dynamic accumulator, it at the least aids in tillage and bio-mas that feeds the microbes and beneficial insects. So I consider weeds beneficial for no till and free mulch and compost.
One thing I am getting better at as a gardener is to become more cut throat with my gardening, I used to let volunteers grow in places they shouldn't, leave near dead plants still growing if there is any bit of life to them, I used to prune like I'm afraid to hurt the plants and I start my fall gardening and winter prep too late. This past season I got much better at that.
Part 2
This year I plan on adding a few more strategies to my gardening, but first let me touch on a few strategies that I outlined for the 2018 growing year and see how I did, followed by a few mistakes that hurt me this season.
- Rules for Raised Bed Garden Strategy - Compost, Chop and Drop, No Dig, No till, No Fertilizers, No Bagged amendments, Accumulate Materials locally.
Last years end of season prep was a success using cover crops followed by Bio-char, Leaves, mulch and compost without relying on bagged amendments and fertilizers. I should clarify the no fertilizers part, I do use my own fertilizers like potash and urea but nothing purchased in the raised beds.
- Plant in way of Guild
- Add more edible perennials
The sunchokes didn't make it, and I ditched the Artichokes, they take up too much space for what they produce. It's too soon to tell if the grapes and Hardy Kiwi were a success, but time will tell.
- Stack Functions
- Increase Bio-diversity
- Mistakes
Labeling - I need to be more diligent in labeling the plants when transplanting.
Support - I need to support my plants better.
Inter Planting/Cover crops - I planted some cover crops too soon and they competed with the vegetable plants, this season I will under-plant cover crops once the plants are established.
OK now that last years strategy recap is done lets take a look at the upcoming year,