Large Backyard Planter

Originally posted by telemetry
Those are some serious tomato plants you got going on in there... I'm curious to know your growing season and how long those bad boys have been in there. That height is amazing.

From the time I planted them in early June, they started producing fruit after only one month, and it took about two and a half months for them to reach that height. They continued fruiting right on into October, until the first cold snap finally shut them down.

But here's the kicker — once they reached a height of 7 or 8 feet, they started falling over under their own weight, then they'd try to continue growing vertically... So, the maximum size of the largest tomato plant (a Mr. Stripey, I think), was 11 feet total, although it fell over at 7 feet.

I'm giving credit to the composted cow manure, the river bottom sand and the built-in irrigation — when the water was running, you could almost watch those tomatoes growing.

— Doc Velocity

reply to post by Doc Velocity


Good god man, that is the (snip) is all I can say right now... no miracle grow?!!
I imagine they would be pretty hard to keep upright, that is a lot of water weight.

Got me thinkin'
If the season is good where you are, you might want to look into growing some potatoes in that sort of vertical idea.. a 16x16" box built to about 4' in height can produce some serious spuds. (up to 200 Lbs of yield they claim) If you want some more info on that idea just let me know, I'm trying it out this year.


T-
Out for the night

Inspiring...

You've reminded me that growing your own food doesn't have to be done in fear, it's actually enjoyable. If we'd all started doing this 50 years ago we could've removed a major governmental control mechanism from our psyche. The story about your wife made me laugh too.

Super Grow Formulas: I've heard a lot about sea mineral agriculture from
people I respect. There's a tutorial here and a commercial site with good info here

Apparently mineral clays like azomite are good. I'm no expert though...

I heard about that Aussie as well, but I can't remember any more details, I will search though.


[edit on 15f20090amSun, 03 May 2009 02:02:24 -050024 by HiAliens]

great post one could learn a lot from you

ive just started the past couple years working on a vegetable and herb garden

no where near the level of yours

i obviously have a lot to learn

one of my main questions though is about your setup

what are some of the advantages of having such work put into your garden rather then just having a simple garden without all the brick work

for example if you wouldve just had the circle and skipped the masonry step but did everything else the same, what would be different as far as the quality of your outcome?

ive heard containment but outside containment from what?

the masonry looks great and i guess keeps it much neater but are there any other additional benefits i may not be aware of as a newbie?

Originally posted by Dramey
what are some of the advantages of having such work put into your garden rather then just having a simple garden without all the brick work...ive heard containment but outside containment from what?

Well, if it was up to me alone, I would've just plowed the backyard under and had a cornfield out there. But part of talking my wife into the project was making something special for her. Hence the planter.

I needed a level container to prevent the soil mix from washing away downhill during storms. The foundation has also proved a barrier to the moles that tunnel around here — haven't seen a mole hole in this planter yet. As I mentioned, we have a lot of pecan trees on our property, where the squirrels are constantly burying or digging up pecans, and they do dig up new seeds and young plants; the planter has kept the squirrels out of the garden, particularly with my Owl standing guard. Same goes for rabbits.

— Doc Velocity

reply to post by free2live


Nice garden - perhaps a little overkill with the wall/fencing - but each to their own
I'm based in north-eastern CT.
For myself, I grow potatoes, onions, broccoli and tomato - the basic crops to live on and have a supply of food for when TSHTF. However, one additional crop that I'm sitting germinating seeds for, is about 10 different varieties of tobacco. Both because I'm a smoker - and because 60+ plants will provide enough basic leaves (after harvesting & 'curing') for me to smoke with for a loooong time to come - but also, if the world ever changes radically - people are gonna need food, and their usual vices - so what I don't use myself, I'll be able to barter with (tobacco when its cured and stored can keep for a very long time)

That said, well done with the mini garden - hopefully you're getting into 'canning' and methods of preserving your crop, so its not just stuff to show friends, but actually starts filling up your pantry, for you to use. (Also, you might want to gather seeds and store them for next year - assuming you have non GMO plants there which will provide real seeds that'll grow).

US soil, by and large is pretty fertile, I figure most folks should try getting large pots and growing something. If you have a porch and some sunlight, you can have your own food (and/or barter material) on standby if things ever fall apart.

This is seriously good work sir. My hat is off to you. But I would go and get some aluminum framing and build a green-house dome over the planter to keep insects and animals off of my food. I'm working on getting permission from my landlord to build a green house on the second floor deck of our apartment building. They like the idea but they are doing renovations currently so this project will have to wait.

He's an old survivalist hippy kinda guy, and likes the idea of having on site food. He's also going to open up the basement for a hydroponic garden. We already have solar panels on the roof and a whole host of other tools for self sufficiency in case the SHTF.

To the OP, when I read what you said about the mix in the horn to revitalize the soil I instantly remembered reading something similar. It was an old alchemical text that was uploaded on www.rexresearch.com... They have many pdfs on alchemy and I believe one was on types of fertilizers and one sounded exactly the same as what you mentioned. Might be worthwhile to take a look. Well done on the planter by the way! I recommend that site to everyone with a curious mind as well. =)

reply to post by Doc Velocity


very nice work. And you did it in the NC heat/humidity. Just so you know, most freemasons know exactly jack (cow crap) about laying brick. But we can tell you how to make that brick a better brick.

all joking aside, it looks like a bunch of work and a project well done.
Nice shirts in the pics too.

awesome! Great post I love it and show my wife. She love it.

Hi Doc,

I must say I think that is way to nice for a veggie garden planter myself.

If I was your wife I would of said, let's modify it a little and make it a hot tub and have drinks hunny, bunny. Since it was meant for a veggie garden I would suggest bloody mary's.

Originally posted by ichi_and_scratchy
hopefully you're getting into 'canning' and methods of preserving your crop, so its not just stuff to show friends, but actually starts filling up your pantry, for you to use. (Also, you might want to gather seeds and store them for next year

Yes, we've been into canning for many years, as well as dehydrating foods for indefinite storage. We also gather seeds from a variety of sources and replant regularly — which accounts for the pumpkin episode of last year. Pumpkin plants nearly overran my backyard last year — pumpkins are a unique crop, if you ever get into it, requiring special maintenance and special planning.

— Doc Velocity

This is the best post on the board! I wish more people would share what they're doing and how they did it. I have a small garden in my back yard; but truth is? I'm close to ignorant on how to grow good veggies.

Thank you for posting! I hope you encourage more to post what they're doing in terms of self sufficiency.

Charlotte

reply to post by Doc Velocity


Doc, do you have it filled with veggies this year yet? If not may I recommend a source for some tomatoes you probably couldn't find at your farmers market? I only ask because your tomato list had the same ones I grew with my parents through childhood until I found out about these 'other' types last year. The 5,000+ other types. Like one you pick pieces off of like a garlic bulb or hollow ones that look like bell peppers when you slice em in half. I swear I could talk your ears off about maters all day Doc. Anyway, you think you'd be interested?

Originally posted by beaverg
If not may I recommend a source for some tomatoes you probably couldn't find at your farmers market? ...Like one you pick pieces off of like a garlic bulb or hollow ones that look like bell peppers when you slice em in half.

Hey, yeah, I'd love to hear about alternate food crops. This year we seeded the planter with tomatoes and peppers, and those items have a good start already, but I still have plenty of room for several experimental plantings. Fire away!

— Doc Velocity

reply to post by beaverg


Here's a couple of books you should look into. These have helped me build a very self sufficient system.

Gardening When It Counts
Growing Food in Hard Times

By Steve Solomon

ISBN: 978-0-86571-553-0 $19.95

The next one is a VERY comprehensive manual for long term survival:

When Technology Fails
A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency. Revised and Expanded Edition.

ISBN: 978-1-933392-45-5

The second book covers the following:

Self-Reliance, Sustainability, Peak oil, Climate Change, Emergency Survival, Supplies and Preparations, Energy-Heat-Power generation, Low-Tech Medicine and Healing, Metal Working, utensils. Engineering Machines and Materials, Water treatment, Food, Shelter and buildings, First Aid, Clothing and other textiles, and low-tech chemistry.

It is a species continuation book basically. And well worth the money.
It is $35 USD and can be bought online or in a book store.


Edit to add:

Scroll down the page as the top portion was left blank.
www.survivalseedbank.com...


[edit on 3-5-2009 by projectvxn]

[edit on 3-5-2009 by projectvxn]

I have a thread in existence about the square foot method, which is for people like me with not much yard, money or skills

Square Foot Gardening for Hard Times and Survival

That's a beautiful planter, but I'm wondering how you reach things in the middle that need weeding or harvesting. Do you have to climb up in it and walk on the soil? I realized a while back to make my garden beds narrow enough so I can easily reach the middle parts without stepping in the beds--I don't want to compact the soil.

Originally posted by Charis
That's a beautiful planter, but I'm wondering how you reach things in the middle that need weeding or harvesting. Do you have to climb up in it and walk on the soil?

Yeah, you can't really see it in the photos, but there's an opening in the brick wall with 3 shallow steps leading up, so we can just stroll right into it. In the original layout, we planted in concentric rings with a central pathway, the idea being to make all areas of the planter easily accessible for weeding and harvest.

As it happened, the plants loved the soil mix so much that they grew like crazy, quickly overrunning the access paths, and harvesting became an expedition into a miniature jungle...I didn't mind it, personally, except when the bees flew inside my shirt.

That's another thing — a while back they said the honeybees were "disappearing," but I can tell you where they went. They're all out there in my planter... It's like Club Med for bees.

— Doc Velocity

OR you could have just laid down a couple of sleepers and filled it with soil - take about three hours - still - one day when you sell your house someone will have to come in and spend three weeks smashing that thing to bits to get rid of it, then of course decontaminate from all the cement.....horses for courses I suppose.