Raised Bed Gardening - Cement Blocks > Greenhouse!

At OVF we are not allowed to have standing water under any circumstances due to mosquito's except if you have mosquito fish to eat the larva. It's been working around here since the 1970's. Also, there is a whole science to aquaponics using fish as the fertilizer.
As a side note, mosquito's need calm water to lite on the water. Fish need water the is oxygenated with bubbles. Between the fish and the blubber, IMO, mosquito's should not be a problem. Let us know how it goes.
 
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... Week 3 - June 8 2019

Laid down ground cover cloth around Tomatoes. Should prevent weeds and should prevent "bacterial wilt" from rain water splashing soil on leaves.


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Peppers, eagerly awaiting a full day of rain!


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Peas growing, Green Onions ready for harvest and Lettuce actually noticeable.


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Strawberries galore with a few getting red.


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Winter Squash fence with Sunflowers being slow to get going.


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SW view of Family Beds


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NE view of Family Beds


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Front Gate revisited


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Some "Families do a little extra!


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Deep Potato bed experiment.
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And some cheat? Must be cheating if looks better than mine!


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DrkAngel said:
.......... Air to water interface is usually sufficient for oxygen transfer.
Click to expand...

That is true if the surface water is agitated, like it might be if a little waterfall was added to a tank. Or changing the tank water periodically does the same thing. It adds oxygen supplied water. The proof of this is to watch a fish in a small 1 gallon fish tank placed in a still place. At some point, the fish begins to labor, as if panting, as the oxygen is depleted. If the water is not changed or a bubbler or other other oxygen transfer system like a aquarium waterfall, not added, the fish will eventually die.
 
https://fishlab.com/aquarium-oxygen/
Where does the oxygen in your aquarium come from?
Even though H2O (Water) is part oxygen, it is bonded with hydrogen – essentially locked together, thus making it inseparable.

Your fish can’t breath this.

So if that’s the case, then where does the oxygen that your fish breath come from?

Believe it or not, plants and fish actually breath the exact same oxygen as you and I.

In order for your fish to “breath” oxygen, it needs to get inside the water. And how it gets there is actually very interesting…

The surface of your aquarium is always in contact with the air. And it is here, at the surface, that oxygen enters the water through a process known as gas exchange.

The reason it is called gas exchange is because the air and water do a trade. The water in your aquarium swaps carbon dioxide (CO2) for the oxygen (O2) in the air.

I find that a diagram makes it much easier to understand…
Gas-exchange-of-oxygen-and-carbon-dioxide-in-aquarium-at-surface-water-diagram.jpg

Pretty simple, huh?

Since fish breath in this oxygen and give off carbon dioxide, this exchange is a continuous process.

It is also worth mentioning that the larger the surface area of the water, the more efficient the gas exchange.

So a larger tank is much easier to oxygenate than a small one.
Once the oxygen enters the water, it is referred to as dissolved oxygen. When discussed online, dissolved oxygen is often shortened to DO.
 
Well, there is actually a way you can “artificially” increase the surface area of your aquarium.

And that method is surface agitation.

To put it simply, water movement on the surface of your aquarium increases its surface area, allowing more oxygen to dissolve and more carbon dioxide to escape.
Any product that helps produce water flow is perfect for agitating the surface of your aquarium, including:

Aquarium bubbler (like an airstone)
HOB filter, or point your filter return at the surface
Powerhead
Wavemaker
Spray bar
Lily pipe

By agitating the surface water in your aquarium, you can potentially stock more fish than you otherwise would have been able to without it.
https://fishlab.com/aquarium-oxygen/#increase-oxygen-levels
Click to expand...
 
Week 3
Better pics

Tomatoes surrounded with ground cover fabric, to kill weeds and prevent Bacterial Wilt, (caused by water splashing dirt onto leaves).
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Strawberries, producing a bounty!
Transplanted less than a month ago.
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Peas and GreenBeans against the fence
Green Onions in the middle (to be harvested out over the next 2 weeks)
and, Lettuce in the block holes (Romaine and Buttercrunch as "head lettuce" the 2 types of leaf Lettuce, some type and Black Seeded Simpson
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... Week 4 - June 16, 2019

Onions, perfect for harvest as green, for cutting up in salads etc. Personal favorite is adding to Tuna fish or Egg Salad sandwiches.
Peas and Lettuce doing well, lost a section of Green beans to Snail plaque, pick over 100 Snails from bed along fence! Dropped them in bucket of water with some Ammonia added, will use as fertilizer later ... Ammonia is great source of Nitrogen! - Must be diluted!!!

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Tomatoes looking god and healthy.
Began tying up plants using 2 different methods ...
#1 vinyl coated steel cable tied to overhead bar and and stiff enough to shove 8-10 inches into ground to stabilize
#2 Polypropylene twine tied to pipe and ground staple. then clipped to plant with plastic clip.
(will expound in later post) .
Some critter been chewing on leaves of 2 plants haven't caught yet ...

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Peppers ... still waiting on soil to warm to optimal temperature for growth explosion.

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2nd Tomato beds received ground cover.

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Beetle sticky traps deployed, will add cups with sticky paste and attractant soon.

Unsure if should deploy upwind or downwind of of crops to protect ... ?

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Awaiting expected teenager help for tackling final fence cleanup and block deployment.

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... No Stake Tomatoes

Last year, we built overhead supports for twine strung Tomato plants.
Organic twine did not hold up for the entire season, trying 2 new systems this year.
Vinyl coated steel cable, thinnest I could find, local surplus-bargain store had 200' rolls for $12.
Polypropylene twine, could use heavier variant.

Cable-twine tied to overhead support (pipe).

Tied Tomatoes1.jpg

End of cable shove 8-10" into ground.
Tomato plant wrapped, in stages, around cable.

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Polypropylene twine tied to ground staple, connector clipped around twine and stem.
Tied to overhead support.

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... Just for Fun!

Too much like work?

A few pics to just enjoy ...
Snap Peas flowers, remarkably beautiful from useful vegetable

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Strong, healthy Tomatoes, but plucking flowers to allow stronger plant before dedicating plant strength to fruit. (Same with Squash and Peppers)
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Healthy Lettuce, will try transplanting some, when I thin out.

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Squash, from seed, caught up with early started plants.

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Beets doing nicely, planted in April.

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Sweet Onions from "sets" about 3' tall with no seed-flower stalks! ... ?

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French Marigolds getting into bloom!
Yes, cement block hole will support a large healthy Marigold "bush".

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Alternate Marigold variety.

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... High Tunnel (greenhouse) progressing.
Will be laying down beds and planting some, before end walls and roof are completed. Leaving 3' center aisle, near 4' paths against end walls, for storage, tools, bench, possible heated and lighted cold frame for starting plants?
Large picture - click on picture then click again (+ sign) esc to return


High Tunnel.jpg


Testing block layouts:
5x 48" wide x 8.5' beds, with 32" center and 24" walkways
or
6x 40" wide x 8.5' beds, with 24" center and 24" walkways
or
6x 48" wide x 8.5' beds, with 32" center and 16" walkways
5x or 6x per side, 10 or 12 beds total

I think 16" walk ways will be fine, as long as block holes limited to smaller plants, herbs etc
Beauty is blocks can be easily rearranged
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... Week 5 - June 23, 2019

Summer is here!

Tomatoes getting tied up. Will need to get more diligent about trimming "suckers" etc.
Upside down hanging Tomatoes, green bags , in background, Will not be trimming Suckers. Hoping for wider, rather than longer, plants




Harvesting out most the Green Onions this week, makeing room to properly weed the Peas and Beans.
Lettuce doing great, did some sample tasting of leaf Lettuce, and chopped Green Onions, on my Tuna fish sandwiches ...


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Beans - Green Onions - Romaine Lettuce


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Left 1 persistent Sunflower in with the Tomatoes



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Squash doing well, along the fence. Whole garden ... getting green!

Thinning the Lettuce from Pantry fence bed and transplanting some into Family section fence bed (block holes)



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Over populated or max use?
Covered by mesh, so minimal imsect intrusion!



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Each Family bed getting it's own personal touches and personality.



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Sticky cards being "sticky" ... no Cucumber Beetles caught yet.
Finally letting some Squash plants flower, so will be deploying Yellow Sticky Cups w/Clove Oil attractant.
Still plucking flowers from most Tomatoes and Peppers, letting the plants get bigger and stronger 1st!


Judging by bug pieces, and 1 covered in feathers, birds might be picking bugs off the sticky traps?


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Harvested this 3" Beet



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... Green Dog Pixie?

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High Tunnel Progress

11 "beds", Might widen center aisle another half block.
"Ends" left with large storage-work areas, as they will have limited sunlight.


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250 gallon storage tank for rainwater irrigation. I think I have a reasonible method of collecting rainwater and dispensing it.
Will likely paint storage tank black to prevent algae growth.


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... Week 6 - July 02, 2019


Tying up the Tomatoes and trimming the "Suckers" ... delayed too long and it looks like a Tomato massacre!

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Peppers are noticeably larger, still plucking flowers, till they get larger. Thunderstorms and rain predicted. 75-80 degree rain is ideal for rapid growth!

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Summer Squash
Harvested out our 1st batch of Zucchini.

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Winter Squash along the fence, Acorn and Butternut

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Peas and Green Beans and lots of Lettuce

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Herb corner, getting some red from Scarlet Runner Beans

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In the background ... getting greenhouse beds started.
 
With so many projects this year, the North fence got neglected, became a dumping ground and went to weed.
An older volunteer got inspired and cleaned and cut down all the weeds.
Got me shamed ... so rototilled, tore out the falling apart wood and built a nice straight block fence bed.

Broken down wood, garbage and weeds replaced with ...


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... nice straight, durable blocks.


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Northern Fence Bed curves gently into the Western Fence Bed.

Center bare area was freshly leveled by rototiller and rake, spread grass seed and clippings then rolled with white cylinder. (6" drain pipe filled with concrete, 3/4" pipe through center, still need to make handle)


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As always, impressive work~
 
Got started on Greenhouse beds, no "plants" yet, not till we get some walls, so planted periphery with Lettuce, Radishes and Onion sets.
2 beds with ButterCrunch and Romaine Lettuce, to be thinned to 1 plant per block hole.
2 beds with 4 Radishes per hole.
Onion sets around interior of 2 beds
Will see how well everything holds up to Summer heat ...

Still debating ... solid or clear end walls.

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Experimenting with 2 tiered facing Southern exposure.

1 flower ... for ornamental purposes?

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Nice garden!
To let it be known. Them blocks are called concrete blocks. Cement is just one part of the recipe. Also those blocks with the space in the center. Home Depot? Think space is so you can crack them in the middle. Not sure why but I am bothered by those type of blocks. Heavier? Smaller holes in the center? Home Depot not wanting to stock 1/2 blocks? Buy concrete blocks from a dusty concrete supply type of place. Get them delivered. And no don't even think of asking to return any extra ones. Labor to move blocks can be more then what the blocks are worth.
Best video on YouTube.
block_no.jpg
block_yes.jpg
 
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... Week 7 - July 8, 2019

Tomatoes accelerating growth, with plenty of flowers and small green starters.

Tomatoes and Cucumbers doing well in "stand-up beds".

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Peas everywhere, 7' and growing, shucking type, unless you really like fiber?

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Edible pod type, delicious unless you let Peas get too mature.
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Peppers, finally filling spae between plants.

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Squash, healthy enough to produce quantities of fruit.
Unsure of effectiveness of Cucumber Beetle traps?

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Leaf Lettuce ready for staged harvesting. Romaine will likely be more weeks ...

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More Tomatoes, mostly tied up, am experimenting with pruned vs unpruned for each type. Roma are a Determinate "bush" type which might do better unpruned?

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Family plots doing great ... but for 4 untended plots, we keep track and limit - restrict future allocation.

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Someone transplanted Corn(?) into fence bed, not sure how well that will work?
Room for another new bed ! ?

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Neglected taking pictures of beds near front gate ...

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Greenhouse progress
Applied the wood "hips" for plastic sheeting attachment.
Laid down the "sills" for the endwalls.

Hips left long until final design determined.
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"Plans" detailed a 2x4 bottom sill with uprights toenailed into bottom sill. We decided to bury additional 2x4 flush with surface, build standard frame wall and screw into buried 2x4 for simplicity and structural stability.

This should ensure a nearly airtight seal and deter Rabbits and Groundhogs from tunneling in.
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End walls should be going up this coming weekend.

Having a difficult time maintaining remainder of of started Tomato and Pepper plants for planting.

Will be rooting Tomato "suckers" for greenhouse planting. Small 4" suckers set in water, still alive after full week, exhibiting root growth. Will add rooting hormone to next test batch. Try larger size suckers also.

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Nearly 20lb of Squash probably more ready by Monday.
3 Squash last week, 14 Squash this week, looking for 1st crop from late blooming Yellow Crookneck.
Will be more, each harvest ... till the Cucumber Beetles or the mildew ruin everything.

Did my 1st spray of Neem Oil, even sprayed inside every Squash flower, where the CBs congregate.
Willing to sacrifice 1 crop of Squash!

More progress on the Greenhouse tomorrow ...

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We used 200 mm x 50 mm jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) sleepers as our garden beds. They aren't raised very much, just enough to keep the compost in and the grass out.

Well done on your beautiful garden!
 
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... Progress on Greenhouse ...

End walls framed up and mostly sheathed.

Redoing the "hips". ... more level with drainage capability.

Oh, got some more grant money so beds are going 2 blocks high. More dirt coming, so start filling the block holes.

Framed and endwalls started.
Yes, block beds being raised to 2 blocks = 16". For better crops, less bending and can sit while tending.


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Framed and endwalls started.
Yes, block beds being raised to 2 blocks = 16". For better crops, less bending and can sit while tending.


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4' sliding door planned for front

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