Doug's Garden - A RL Dynasty... of sorts

[Doug5984]

A little back story here... We had a tree fall on our house right at a year ago. Anyway- long story short we bought a new house in July. It has always been a dream of mine to have a lot of edible food in the back yard. I figured I'd start easy. Hopefully over time the plants will grow, as well as I'll be building beds / hopefully a self watering system, other various things I think I need.

This rl dynasty is more just to follow my own progress, watch the progress of the plants, and keep track of notes / thoughts / ideas. If anyone has advice, words of encouragement or anything feel free to post them. I'm pretty much a complete noob when it comes to gardening so we'll see how it goes.

16 blackberry bushes - for the black berry bushes I took an old swing set left by the previous owner, put some lattice on it so the vines will climb it, and I put some cross boards to be able to hang a hammock inside of it. It turned out pretty awesome, can't wait to relax on the hammock and pick blackberries right off the bush.

I ordered 4 of each of the following plants:
Product: Tupi Thorny 1 gal. Size
Product: Prime Ark 45 1 gal. Size
Product: Kiowa Thorny 1 gal. Size
Product: Brazo Thorny

Finished product:


This is one of the types of blackberries planted:


I planted these all on Feb 16. So it has been almost a month, all plants are showing signs of growth except 1 Kiowa, I'll give it another week or so as the weather has still been pretty cold. If no sign of life after this warm weekend I'll go ahead and order a replacement.

I planted 6 Blueberry bushes:
Product: Ochlocknee ( Rabbiteye): Zone 7-10 late season 1 gal. Size
Product: Biloxi ( southern high bush): Zone 8-10 mid season 1 gal. Size
Product: Jewel (southern high bush): Zone 7-10 early-mid season 1 gal. Size
Product: Misty (southern highbush): Zone 5-10 early season 4 inch Size
Product: Windsor ( southern high bush): Zone 7-9 early season 1 gal. Size
Product: Sunshine Blue (southern highbush): Zone 5-10 mid season 1 gal. Size

The beds (were left by previous owner):

As you can see to the far right, I replanted a Satsuma the previous owners had- it was in bad shape where it was located, and doesn't appear to making the transition well. I'll most likely pull it up in the coming weeks and plant a new satsuma in its place.

One type of the blueberries I planted:


I also planted 6 pepper plants, I did 2 to each pot (rather large pots)
2 Jalepeano


2 Bell Pepper


1 Cajun Belle - Bell Pepper


1 Banana Pepper:


The cajun belle & banana pepper were actually mistake purchases- someone had put them in the wrong spot in the store, but when I got home and noticed I decided to just keep them. All the peppers were planted this past weekend, March 9th


I don't have many pictures of the plants yet, if I get home at a decent time tonight I will try to take a picture of each so I can follow the progress starting from today.

[Doug5984]

Pictures of my actual peppers, planted 3/9






Hopefully I get off of work in time to get some good pictures of the actual plants, for all the different types.

[Doug5984]

Just wanted to get these uploaded, I'll come back later and identify each...

Product: Brazo Thorny



Product: Tupi Thorny 1 gal. Size



Product: Prime Ark 45 1 gal. Size



Product: Kiowa Thorny 1 gal. Size



Jalepeano



Green Bell Pepper



Sweet Banana & Cajun Belle



Product: Windsor ( southern high bush): Zone 7-9 early season 1 gal. Size



Product: Ochlocknee ( Rabbiteye): Zone 7-10 late season 1 gal. Size



Product: Jewel (southern high bush): Zone 7-10 early-mid season 1 gal. Size



Product: Biloxi ( southern high bush): Zone 8-10 mid season 1 gal. Size



Product: Sunshine Blue (southern highbush): Zone 5-10 mid season 1 gal. Size



Product: Misty (southern highbush): Zone 5-10 early season 4 inch Size



R.I.P. Satsuma

[Izulde]

Very cool.

My parents have a blackberry bush in their backyard that has basically taken over. The blackberries not only killed off my roses, they put a good dent in my mom's ferns, which I didn't think would ever happen.

Great eating once they're ripe, though.

Have you thought about planting tomatoes at all? My folks did that, too, and had great success with it until they stopped growing them after a few years.

[Doug5984]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Very cool.

My parents have a blackberry bush in their backyard that has basically taken over. The blackberries not only killed off my roses, they put a good dent in my mom's ferns, which I didn't think would ever happen.

Great eating once they're ripe, though.

Have you thought about planting tomatoes at all? My folks did that, too, and had great success with it until they stopped growing them after a few years.

I have a lot of wild blackberries at my hunting camp and I love them, only problem is that they don't get very big and are a pain to pick.

Have thought about tomatoes, but I don't eat them, so wouldn't do me much good. I still may though, could get some to mix with my peppers and make a good salsa

[Doug5984]

Added the plant names to each picture.

Also wanted to post this just as a reminder to myself down the road



That is the Oasis Complete Gardening System- they are going for around $600 online. Which I couldn't see paying, I'm thinking I could build something similar, for cheaper. This would be a next year at earliest project, if at all.

[Doug5984]

Added a couple more things today- the stawberry pot, was able to plant 8 stawberry plants in it.

Garlic Chive? and a few onions.

[Doug5984]

Would like to build one of these in the future... looks pretty simple


http://www.chesapeakecrafts.com/STRAWBERRY_TOWER.php

[chesapeake]

Cool idea for a dynasty.

What is your plan for the self-watering system? I'm currently planning one out for my house in NoVA and am not above stealing ideas that sound good.

[Doug5984]

Something I've just thought about briefly right now, I'm a tax accountant so busy as can be this time of year- but some type of watering system is a must before the summer really gets going- it gets very hot down here in south Louisisna and a month without rain isn't uncommon.

Easiest would be simply bury PVC pipe in the yard to each plant area, then set up a nozzle at each area with a short hose into a spinkler- then connect that to my hose line, when I get home every day turn it on for 15 minutes or whatever is needed, and then turn it off- or hook up to a timer if there is one that would work for what I need.

The other is simply just the little hoses that lowes sells, my yard isn't that big so digging to each area wouldn't be that big of a deal. The only hard part would be digging from each bed to the other and burrying the line so it doesn't get damaged when doing yard work...
Basically would be one of these timers to hit the 3 areas in my yard

Amazon.com: Orbit 56233D 3-Outlet Digital Watering Timer: Patio, Lawn & Garden

And then this hose system...

Amazon.com: Nelson 50180 Simple Soaker Flower Watering Sprinkler with 50-Foot Tubing, Five Nozzles with Plastic Spikes, Risers, End Plug Set, and Deflectors: Patio, Lawn & Garden

Can buy 100 foot line for $10, so that would cover me... I haven't actually touched one of these to know the exact set up, but it looks pretty simple.

Amazon.com: Rain Bird Landscape Dripline System 1/4-Inch Tubing - 100-Foot Roll T22-100: Patio, Lawn & Garden

[Doug5984]

I told my wife I was done with planting, but I think one more bed won't hurt...
I'm thinking of a two-tiered bed like this...

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I haven't decided if I would double up on 2x4s (could maybe use 1x's if they have them treated) to make the front bed 8 inches high, the back 16 inches high, or 2x6s (a lot less work... again 1x's if they have them) but a lot closer to the ground...

I think I will do a 12 foot bed, just to make it easy and less cuts.

Will probably cut a scrap 2x4 I have laying around into stakes to put into each corner to be able to sink it into place a little bit and give it some good support.

[Doug5984]

Ok, I looked into my sprinkler system a little.
I'm thinking a timer will run me $25-$35.

PVC I will probably do one pipe out to the middle of my yard and do a 3 way split there, going to my 3 areas. Then I will come out of the ground in an area I don't hit with the mower (not sure how I want to do that...then come out of the ground and I think it's just a matter of simply putting a sprinkler head on it. I may look into the kind that pop up, and go back down if possible, would make my life easier- not sure how they connect, or work exactly though)

[Doug5984]

To save on dirt cost and not lose any planting space I came up with a little better design for my bed.



I'll probably make the 2nd bed separate, 3 1x4s high, attached to a 2x4, or 4x4 (imagine the bottom piece missing) then simply set it into place and use a scrap 1x4 to attach it to the other bed and hold it in place.

The reason for the two tiered is it'll be sitting up against a fence so I think it would look better, be easier to work in.

[Doug5984]

Ok- went ahead and got my bed built, and filled

23 landscape timbers, few pieces of re-bar...a lot of dirt, and a few plants.

Total to build was $100 in materials, probably close to another $100 in dirt, and around $50 in plants. Dirt was so much because I wanted to mix some good potting soil in with just cheap top soil. Could maybe save money here, but I'd rather put in a little extra and help them get started right.

Laying the foundation


Going together pretty easy...


Friend showed up, helped out- finished it up really quick


Took only an hour or so to build- really went together quick


Will get a close up, and pics of each plant to follow tomorrow... been raining all afternoon...

[sterlingice]

I don't think we've had a dynasty like this before. Good idea

I have three plants out on the balcony and that's it: oregano, parsley, and sweet basil. Such is apartment life, I guess.

SI

[chesapeake]

Nicely done. The bed looks great!

[Doug5984]

Thanks guys- I got a little sun this morning so was able to take some quick pictures of everything to track the progress. I'm going to move to 1 or 2 pictures per post to keep the thread from getting too image heavy and loading slow.

The finished product


Very happy with how it all turned out


I had a little bit excess dirt... just used it to sort of level the ground in front of the bed.

[Doug5984]

I've already ate 4 strawberries- they were really good

[Doug5984]

You'll notice I'm one pot short- I took those peppers and moved them to the bed, put the pot on my patio and am going to try to find a "Mosquito Plant" aka- citranella.

[Doug5984]

Satsuma hasn't been replaced yet, it's dead



Misty Southern Highbush


Sunshine Blue?

[Doug5984]

Jewel

[Doug5984]

Biloxi

[Doug5984]

Windsor


I really need to get in there and weed the beds soon. Tax season is almost over then I'll be able to put in some more work on everything

[Doug5984]

Ochlocknee?

[Doug5984]

Brazo



Tupi

[Doug5984]

Prime Ark 45


Kiowa

[Doug5984]

Lines a bed I had with onions just to see how it would work..

[Doug5984]

Onion Chives

[Doug5984]

Cayenne Pepper

[Doug5984]

No Tag = Cantalope

[Doug5984]

Watermelon - absolutely no idea how these grow, or how they will turn out. If they start vining too much and take over I'll just trim them back or rip them out

[Doug5984]

Can't read the tags, pretty sure it's basil

[Doug5984]

Squash

[Doug5984]

Parsley

[Doug5984]

Oregano maybe?

[Doug5984]

Pretty sure it's a Yellow Bell

[Doug5984]

Tabasco Pepper

[Doug5984]

Red Bell Pepper

[Doug5984]

Not sure, a "sweet" pepper though

[Doug5984]

Think they called it an orange delicious snack pepper?

[Doug5984]

Another red

[Doug5984]

No clue... some type of pepper

[Doug5984]

Cajun Belle

[Doug5984]

Banana Pepper

[Doug5984]

And with that I'm done planting for the year- with the exception of my mosquito plant, and my replacement satsuma.

[kingfc22]

Very cool dynasty. I'm feeling inspired!

[sterlingice]

So, uh- did you just pick plants at random? How did you not know what you were planting

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Doug5984

Can't read the tags, pretty sure it's basil

That's sweet basil, looking at the big leaves.

Originally Posted by Doug5984

Oregano maybe?

Yeah, looks like oregano

SI

[Doug5984]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

So, uh- did you just pick plants at random? How did you not know what you were planting

SI

Heh, I knew when I bought them. It was raining when I was planting so I had a general idea of how I wanted to group them- but wasn't sure exactly where each plant ended up where. I'm pretty sure I had them all labeled right except the peppers- that was more of a random lets plant a bunch of different types and see how they turn out.

[MacroGuru]

This is awesome. I want to plant some small herb pots for indoors, but since my girlfriend is anti gardening I will be the one planting her flower beds this year...she spends, I plant. We will see how that pans out for me.