Garden in Progrress

The Cabbage, Broccoli an Cauliflower are doing well

now that their fenced in and protected from the chickens.

The beans have sprouted around the bean trellis

and I got the cucumbers planted along the cucumber trellis

that the husband built for me over the weekend.

All the peppers are planted, 

beets are sprouting,

peas are popping up 

and tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe and squash have been planted.

I just need to plant the pumpkin seed, add a little more watermelon seed

and possibly plant potatoes.

Hopefully all those wheelbarrows full of composted maure

will give us a plentiful yield this summer!

The Cucumber Bean Trellis

Last year I made this cucumber trellis.

It served its purpose for the most part,

but it wasn't the greatest.

The chicken wire allowed the cukes to grow through them

but it sometimes pinched off the growing veggie.

It also wasn't very sturdy, so Big E and I knew we'd either have to improve the design of this 

or find something else.

So I found something else here: The Rhinestone Beagle.

Basically it uses 8- 1x2's and 7- 2x2's

some galvanized nails and some twine.

The original design uses 8 foot lengths

but I opted for 6 foot 1x2's for length and

stuck with the 8 foot 2x2's for height.

You're going to use 6 2x2's as your vertical posts and the 1x2's for the cross pieces.

Lay them out and then nail them together.

Be sure to use 2 nails at each juncture to prevent the board from spinning.

The bottom cross piece we nailed 12" from the bottom

and the top piece was about 2 feet from the top

and I think the other 2 were spaced about 18" apart from the others.

(you can tell I'm not one for exact perfect measurements, that why Big E built it)

The original plans called for the 7th 2x2 to lay in the crook at the top

of the trellis and everything gets lashed together with rope or twine.

Because I was too lazy to walk to the barn to get twine 

we were running out of time,

and Big E wasn't keen on lashing, 

he suggested we nail the sides together at the top.

So using 3 1/2" galvanized nails

(they were a little too long but it didn't matter)

he nailed the sides together at each of the 3 posts.

This also made the trellis able to close as if hinged.

This makes it easier to carry and a cinch to store in the winter.

(this is why I'm learning to let Big E build things how he wants 

because he usually knows what he's doing)

 

 And here we have the finished product.

Cucumbers are planted on one side

and pole beans on the other.

One improvement I think we'll have to make is that 

I think there needs to be either 2 more vertical pieces 

and/or extra cross pieces to make for easier climbing for the plants.  

But I think that's something that I can add after the fact 

as it won't be for sturdiness just for the plants' benefit.

Also, because it's so easy to get under the trellis,

I'm going to grow my lettuces under there.

The cucumbers and beans will provide some shade for the lettuce.

We also managed to get nearly everything planted

with the exception of the plants I started

and the tomatoes.

That's on for the weekend.

Bean Trellis

We like beans around here,  

but I only managed one measly row of bush beans in the garden.

So I decided to find a spot to fit in a bean trellis for some pole beans.

So I hiked to the back 40

which is really only the back 2.

Or Tick Haven as I came to call it.

It needs to be mowed.

I found some straight locust branches growing on the stump of a tree 

we cleared from the fence line

and cut them off. 

I'm guessing they were around 10 feet long.

I dragged them back up to the garden and cleaned off all the smaller branches and leaves

and cut them to about 8 foot lengths.

Abby watched, 

probably waiting till I turned my back so she could mess with them

(don't leave iced tea cups on the fence while you garden, she sticks her tongue in them)

I ended up needing 2 more poles

and the help of Big E because he's taller.

We tied the poles together and buried the ends in the ground a few inches for stabilization.

I planted the beans.

Now I just need to tie twine around it for more area for the beans to climb.

We'll see what happens.

The end result should be a crap load of beans in a much smaller space.

In fact, Big E thinks we need to go with pole beans entirely if things go well with this one.

I agree since I discovered the chickens have trampled some bush beans

because they were impeding their route between the shade of the cucumber trellis

and the shade of the squash plants.