The experimental garden – as it was dubbed this year, was the old vegetable garden. Fruit trees growing there include apples, peaches, pears, cherries and plums. There are numerous herbs planted throughout the garden and a small tunnel house for year-round vegetable growing. We intend to put in several hot beds for winter growing and this year tried straw bale gardening. I have numerous plants in this area growing in a wide array of containers – and really, anything goes in this area. It truly is for experimenting.
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- The tops of this cold frame are removable. There will be two sets per cold frame – one set that is covered with frost/row cover and one set that is covered in plastic. We will paint it later in the season, but the goal was to make the area protected so we could plant. This cold frame sits right outside of a raised bed.
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- Another view of the straw bale gardens. You can see the bird garden and the back of the barn from this spot in the experimental garden.
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- Another view of the straw bale gardens. The key to success with these hanging planters is to water everyday. Don’t let the soil dry out or the plants inside will die.
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- Another view of the straw bale gardens.
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- Another view of the straw bale gardens.
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- Another view of the straw bale gardens. Last year I grew tomatoes and peppers in the black planter. This year I am growing red salvia and cinnamon basil in the top and four tomatoes will hang from the bottom, just like last year.
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- Another view of the straw bale gardens. I used the black container garden and the green tomato planter last year with pretty good luck.
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- Another view of the straw bale gardens.
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- Another view of the straw bale gardens.
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- Another view of the straw bale gardens.
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- In the four straw bales going across the fence I planted a tomato, a marigold and watermelon plants.
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- This is a long view of the straw bale area. The dark colored containers are filled with compost and topped off with mulch. They are carrot growing bags. The tall green container is for growing tomatoes. The black container allows you to grow four tomatoes underneath and other plants on top.
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- This front bed has two straw bales in it that I will grow plants in. The rest of the raised bed is filled 1/2 of the way with soil and compost and 1/2 of the way with mulch. I have several varieties of herbs growing in this mixture right now and they are doing very well.
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- This is the experimental vegetable garden. We are trying straw bale gardening this year. We are also experimenting with growing vegetables in mulch as well as in a number of various types of containers.
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- The Poncirus trifoliata ‘Flying Dragon’ that I planted outdoors in the spring of 2005 finally bloomed on May 3, 2013!
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- Musa basjoo growing in my garden. Yes, it is hardy here in Indiana with winter protection.
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- Look at this birds nest in my fruit tree!
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- Look carefully and you will see tiny plums forming. This is the first year that it looks like I am going to get some. The trees were planted in either 2005 or 2006.
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- I picked this tomato on May 26. It was the first red tomato of 2013.
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- These are blue and yellow peas. The seeds came from Cook’s Garden. I planted the seeds in the small tunnel house, which is unheated, on February 17, 2013. We have had a really cold, wet spring here so the peas did not germinate and grow as fast as I expected, however by the end of May I was picking them.
Dee Bolster
Monday 3rd of June 2013
Love the page! Very informative and neat pics!
Sheri Richerson
Monday 3rd of June 2013
Thank you Dee! Please check back every so often - and feel free to sign up for the newsletter on the front page. I will be adding new pictures from time to time.