Mountain Gardening

I am going to bite the bullet and start planting my veggies this weekend.

I miss having home grown veggies through this winter.

Designing a year-round green house ( dug into the hillside) to overcome our need for home grown. Wish me luck on that!

Speaking of veggies...

Somebody we all know turned me on to composting via a worm condo.

Built my own, was concerned that we wouldn't have enough "scraps" to feed them. lol.... I just didn't realize how many veggies we eat each week! Our weekly trash has been cut by 2/3 with feeding the worms. Looking forward to the future compost for the garden!

Now to find the veggies I want and hope for no freeze, eh?

Bruce,
This IS the weekend we are "allowed" to start planting!! I am so excited!! The saying on the mountain has long been to not plant before Mother's day, and since Sunday is Mother's day,.... PLANT!!! Have fun!
Dak

YAY! Planting is upon us!!

I actually cheated and planted very few radishes and a Tomato plant to 'test' out the ground as I haven't planted yet in our current location. My next task is trying to construct a planter box... a rather LARGE planter box that I can back fill, say 6" high? Anyone have any clue what would be best for something like that? My first instinct is to nail a 12' pieces of wood together but from past experiences, im not great with things of that nature! eek... help!

Will this planter box be for vegetables?

Dimensions?

Will this planter box need to be portable?

Built on the ground or??

Lots of factors in my mind before deciding on what material to use in the construction.

Materials NOT to use, especially if the planter box will be growing vegetables include:

Pressure treated wood products (contain arsenic)

Railroad ties (creosote)

For the greenhouse I am designing, I will be using a combination of cinder blocks(filled with 3/4 gravel) and redwood. Well, that is the current design anyway.

In the past I have made some planter boxes from those "cherry" looking logs you can buy for landscape edging.

My elderly neighbor told me not to rely on a specific date for planting. She says that as long as the oak trees' leaves are bigger than the squirrels' ears, the threat of frost has passed. I still havn't found the time to plant anything yet.

I couldn't wait and started planting early last month. squash corn radishes lettuce tomatoes herbs eggplant beans...everybody's happy!!!

I also heard from an old timer that if the dogwoods start blooming there will be no hard frost again. Compost and put your veggies right in the ground. I never use raised beds unless I am going to grow potatoes in a few old tires stacked up...but that looks so sanford and son.

Yes it will be used for veggies- my thought is about 12'x12' square. It does not need to be portable and yes I will be putting it directly on the ground.

Since we finished construction, the ground is REALLY rocky, hard, no minerals, etc and thus I thought it be better not to plant directly.

Anybody know exactly how close to railroad ties or pressure treated wood you can plant veggies?? I've got both in my yard and trying to figure out where I put a small garden.

oops---there should be a "can" in that last sentence.

Toxic chemicals leach into the soil and can accumulate. Who knows what concentrations and how far unless you have the soil tested. A good rule of thumb is to keep toxics out of the ground and if the soil is exposed do not plant food crops there.

Driving330,

Here is a link to an article for you to consider related to your question:

http://www.ecologycenter.org/factsheets/pressure-treated_...

This article focused on pressure treated wood products.

If I understand the article correctly, the soil you need to be most concerned about close to pressure treated wood products is 6 inches.

I would take a close look at your drainage from these products and consider that, even tho that factor is not mentioned in this article.

I am just being cautious

Some excerpts for you:

"In a more specific study of a raised garden bed constructed of pressure treated wood, four samples were taken at specific distances from the wooden sides of the bed. The pressure treated bed had been in use for 3 years prior to these tests.19

1. Sample #1 was taken in a bed constructed of untreated wood. It showed a background level of 4.4 ppm arsenic.
2. Sample #2 was taken in the pressure treated bed 2 ft. from the treated wood sides. It showed a level of 4.2 ppm arsenic.
3. Sample #3 was taken 2 inches from the sides and showed a level of 20 ppm arsenic.
4. Sample #4 was taken 6 inches from the side and showed a level of 4.8 ppm, nearly background level.

It seems certain that the extra 15 ppm in sample #3 is the result of leaching inorganic arsenic from the treated wood. This arsenic seems to be well attached to the soil particles and not likely to travel further. It does means that this 6 inches is permanently contaminated. You should not grow vegetables in that strip nor turn that soil into the rest of your garden. It means that children, dogs, turtles or any other animals you do not want to die cannot ingest this soil. "

"So the final questions remains. What about the vegetables grown in this soil? There have been at least three major studies done on vegetables grown in arsenic-enhanced soils. Their results all clearly show that arsenic accumulates only in very small amounts in vegetables. For example, crops grown in soil with total available arsenic of 24 ppm had the following arsenic levels in the edible parts: green beans, 0.29 ppm; carrots, 0.11 ppm; and tomatoes, 0.14 ppm. These were total arsenic levels. Carrots, for example, grown in soil with no added arsenic contained 0.05 ppm arsenic.21 So it seems that the arsenic taken up by vegetables grown in contaminated soil is not the major concern. Still, to be on the safe side, you should avoid foods with elevated levels of inorganic arsenic. These compounds are not readily excreted by the body and government agencies who set these levels of safe ingestion of chemicals are often more sympathetic to large industry than to the lowly consumer."

I am frustrated at finding info you seek regarding creosote

Thank you, Bruce! I plan to eventually get rid of all this PT/creosote wood but there are so many other things to take care of on this house that it probably won't be for several years. I'll keep searching on the net, too, and if I find anything, I'll post the link. If I get a chance, I'll call the county extension agent this week. They may have some info.

NoOthrButMe 12'x12' bed isn't the best idea. You would do better making 3 or 4 smaller raised beds where you could reach the plants from a path between the beds. This way you won't compact the soil around the plants. You could still make a large bed if you want just make sure youwalk the same line each time you inside the garden. Mulch the garden it helps conserve water (less evaporation), keeps the roots cool & smothers weeds if they are a problem in your area. The biggie is it adds organic material to your soil as it decomposes.

NoOtherButMe,

Sorry for the delayed response...

Regarding your garden, as was just mentioned, doing those demensions may not be the best way to do this.

Here is a link to a square foot gardening website you may want to consider:

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

I have done this method for years and is very effective

The book I hear can be found in used book stores for under a dollar. I paid retail for the book and couldn't believe the amount of information regarding gardening it contain!

Whether you do the square foot garden method or not, watch for this book!

Some suggestions on the construction...

I know you feel that you have solid rock you are putting this planter on, but, rock breaks down... gophers and voles are VERY vigorous and creative at finding vegetable gardens. So, I recommend putting 1/2" wire netting at the bottom of the planter before you fill it with soil.

Regarding materials..

How much do you want to spend?

A product called TREX can be used and doesn't rot, but is expensive.

Cedar or Redwood 2x6 can be used. If you do the full 12', bracing will be needed.

If you choose to do 4' squares, bracing is not as much an issue.

If you are doing deep root vegies, then consider going 12-18" high (minimum). For this you might consider doing cinder blocks with sand packed into them. Keep in mind that over time, cinder blocks lower the PH so you will have to amend as appropriate.

If astetics are a consideration, then you may consider doing brick and mortar, slump stone, etc..

Hope this helps

Well, in the process of biting the bullet

I have weeded the area, thus far plant 6 tomato plants and one japanese cucumber.

Has been a slow process...

I had problems finding 1/2" poultry wire to make gopher baskets out of (sounds like I am prepping for a holiday, eh?).

I made 6 baskets from 1" vinyl covered poultry netting. I purchased some 1/2" hardware cloth and made 3 baskets. That stuff is an SOB to work with

So, 3 more tomatoes to plant, one cucumber, 12 peppers (jalapeño, tai, green bell, yellow bell) to go

We won't talk about all the flowers I bought!

Love this time of year !

The pine tree pollen has arrived. Planting time!