New Garden Site

Just got started today on a new site for containers north of the house.  I decided to go ahead with plans for more large pots, and this spot gets more sun than the others at this time of year.

I'm using #20 pots on concrete blocks, this seems to be the most efficient way to garden at my location.  My native soil is all burned out and sandy and it gets bone dry in the cool season.  That makes it so hard to keep garden beds moist.  My neighbor has a watering system and just floods his garden with water every evening with a timer.  That's not my way of doing things.  In containers I can more efficiently use my irrigation water.

The first pot at the new site is going to be pole beans.  Those are tried and true producers of nourishing food for me.  They're not as fine and tender as the "green beans" they sell in markets these days, but they're highly productive and they taste good to me.  I've always liked pole beans.  Usually I grow them in planting beds, but this year I'm trying them in the big pots to see if I get more pods in the better soil.  Next pot is going to be Romaine lettuce, they're overdue for transplanting...and I could use something mild for salads.  My digestion has been put to the test lately with all these radishes and the mustard greens I've been gobbling up.  The radishes did very well this year, as they usually do.

I've been trying to figure out which gardening method works best...containers large or small, planting beds, etc.  So far it looks like #20 nursery pots on concrete blocks is the winner for efficiency and healthy plant growth...plenty of room for roots to expand, no root invasion from trees and shrubs, easiest to set up, better grade of soil, better control of plant-parasitic nematodes.  In the planting beds there's no getting away from PPN, they live in the surrounding area and just migrate in again if you deter them.  But with a lot of fallowing, I've been able to reduce their numbers in my potting soil.

At ten bucks a pot delivered, plus a few dollars for the block, you can't beat the price in my opinion...not with the prices they charge these days for produce.  If all goes really well, who knows?...maybe I'll be able to grow a substantial portion of my food and greatly reduce my grocery bill.  It sure would be nice....I always remember one of the rules of business management...reducing expenses is the same thing as raising income.  I consider my gardening as my job now...no reason not to consider it as such.  I do work for food.

The turnip plants have filled in the row now, and they're starting to make turnips.  This is a milder variety of turnip, so I'm looking forward to those.  I've never grown a whole row of them before, due to the way they give me indigestion at times.  So it's a gamble, and I'm hoping for the best...as gardeners always do.