The Muddy Bucket Farm so far this year

[ContainerTed]

Thought I'd put up some pictures of how the garden is progressing this year. We feel like we're behind on getting things planted, but then remember that two years ago, we had just finished having frost at this time of the year. Anyhow, we still have a bunch of things to go into the dirt. Enjoy the tour.

There are 3 rows of the Dwarf Project plants. . Row #1 has 30 plants. Row #2 has 41 plants. Row #3 will have the remainder. It currently has 15 in the picture below.

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I really like fresh green beans and Rows #5 and #6 contain some Blue Lake Bush beans and, in the second pix below, between the white topped T-Poles, some Half Runners. All of them will be blooming soon.

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Next are a couple of rows of "non dwarf project" tomatoes. Row #7 has 28 plants and row #8 has 14 so far.

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In row #9, I put in some peas. I expect them to start showing some pods any day now. Just to the right of the peas in row #9. I've just planted some Rattlesnake Pole beans, some yellow sweet corn and a second crop of Clemson Spineless Okra. This is how I use up left-over seeds.

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Row #10 will also have some Non Dwarf Project tomatoes and Row #11 has 17 plants of Cherry type tomatoes so far.

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At the end of Row #11 are some cabbage sets that are doing very well so far. I did have to "dust" them down when a small green catepillar started munching up the leaves.

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At the end of Row #1 is the cucumber setup. Burpless cucumbers on the left half of this CRW section and pickle cucumbers on the right half. Starting to see a few cukes developing. Just beside of them is the first Okra planting that have germinated well and are starting to show first true leaves.

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In Row #2, just behind the cukes, are two volunteers from last year - a cucumber and a tomato. I'm always fascinated with volunteers and these two both got pardons for showing up and will be raised this year to see what we get.

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Some of the tomatoes are showing some fruit. This one is Arctic Rose (vial# 3228) which is from Sherry's seeds. The damage is from bird pecking early in the life of this plant. It is also the earliest fruit in the garden.

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Row #4 will contain most of my sweet peppers.

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Up at the house, I have begun filling some containers and they are also doing well. This is "100's & 1000's" on the left and "Hawaiian Cherry (two plants) on the right. A bit fuzzy, but the "100's & 1000's" is putting on fruit.

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This is a "Big Beef" that is just going crazy with fruit. Around 20 fruit so far, with another 7 mature bloom trusses and more showing up in the tops of the growth. This plant is really putting out.

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Other things going on include my adding a second "rainbarrel" tank and tying them together so that the pipe coming from the gutter on the house will fill both tanks at the same time. The closeup is included so that anyone who wants to do the same thing can see the parts involved.

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I was planting some tomatoes a couple days ago and, instead of killing some of the extra plants, decided to poke them into one of the compost piles. I also poked in some volunteers in there as well.

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Lastly, here's my one and only helper in keeping up the garden. This is Miss Cookie. She's been busy this morning using her short legs and low altitude tummy to help dry up some of the heavy dew we got last night. Her other main job is "watering" certain places in and around the garden. She has complete authority in choosing the places that are in need of her "efforts". In our family meetings, she has a full vote.

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Hope you enjoyed the tour.

[g8shot1]

Everything looks great! Miss Cookie's labor is paying off.

[Heritage]

It's all looking great Ted! That's funny... with your username I always thought you grew everything in containers

Steve

[chalstonsc]

Ted,
Glad to see you are staying out of trouble. Miss seeing the pics of the Atlanta buckets!

[ContainerTed]

Originally Posted by Heritage

It's all looking great Ted! That's funny... with your username I always thought you grew everything in containers

Steve

That used to be the case. When I came up with the name, I was living under the influence of a Bitter Hickory Tree that was killing everything I tried to put into raised beds or in the ground itself. I moved here to Eastern Tennessee in 2010 and found a place where I could have an "inground" garden. I cut that garden out of raw pasture that had been grazed for about 15-20 years. The soil is fantastic and anything put into the garden almost jumps out of the ground.

I still do some buckets up here at the house, and am planning one or more raised beds over near the shed just out of the back door.

Thanks for the good words.

Y'all take care.

[mdvpc]

Ted

Looks really good!

[akgardengirl]

Beautiful Ted and Miss Cookie certainly does a good job on the gardens. It looks like way too much work for me. You can be the dwarf king now with all those impressive plants.
Sue B.

[ContainerTed]

Hey, thanks, Michael. It's a lot of work for an old man.

Sue, KING????!!! You know that there can be only one Dwarf King NCTOMATOMAN and one Dwarf Queen PATRINA.

Besides, like the man said at the end of the movie SILVERADO, "I already got a job". It's teaching my youngest son how to fish. Here's a picture of his second lesson this year. Lots of big Bluegill, Channel Catfish, and a couple of small Bass. The leftovers from cleaning go into the garden (you know I can't stand to waste anything).

[PA_Julia]

Beautiful looking garden Ted!!!

[amideutch]

Looking good for an old man, tomatoes that is. As far as the fish is concerned, I think you need some more practice. Ami

[sprtsguy76]

Ted everything looks outstanding. I love the rain barrels!

Damon

[ContainerTed]

Ami, that's "his" lesson. I only let him use crickets - no other kind of bait - and only for about 4 hours. For a healthy handicap, he had to do that right in the middle of all the jet skiers and the "let's make some big waves riding around harassing fishermen" ski boats.

Last year, we were casting to the bank with crank baits when a ski boat with a skier in tow went between my boat and the bank we were trying to fish. Now, why didn't that idiot use the 3/4 of a mile of open water behind us??? It is my considered opinion that owning a jet ski or a ski boat causes gross stupidity to infest the brains of the drivers. (My perception is my reality).

[Sherry_AK]

Very nice, Ted. Your little helper is a real cutie!

[Mlm1]

Just saw this. That is a beautiful garden. I would love to have all of that open space and fantastic looking soil. Looks like the gardens I grew up with.

Marla

[ContainerTed]

Thanks, Sherry. Those first three plants on the top row are from seeds you sent. I have at least two plants from each of the three vials assigned to your seeds - 3228, 3229, and 3230. I also have a couple Sleeping Lady types out there as well. I am still loading things into the main garden. Should be done in a couple of days, though.

Mim1, thanks. I cut that garden out of raw pasture back in 2010 mostly with only a small Garden Machine Roto-tiller. This fall, I will be adding some "fluff" to break up the soil compaction a bit.