I'm happy to report that my Mesa Garden project has been very successful thus far. The only drawback is that the constant construction has made me wait very late into July to actually set out transplants. I'll start here with the Mesa in front of the greenhouse. This was taken on July 4, 2012.
This was my first free standing Mesa and the beans are doing well.
I decided it was about time I set out some signs to let the furry bastards know that I mean business!
On July 12, 2012, my Maximilian Sunflowers were in bloom at the end of my driveway.
Now I have three Mesa Gardens at the front of the house. Each one is 8 feet by 2 feet.
I am amazed at how much can fit into a relatively small area. The best part is that there is no bending or kneeling - all transplants were a breeze to put out, all I had to do was stand and work at table height!
Watering is easy too. It only takes 10 minutes a night after the relentless sun goes down.
The following week I tackled my most ambitious Mesa structure (so far) by building a 24 foot long base in three 8 foot sections. This will be accommodating my heirloom tomato collection.
I then built three 8 foot by 16 inch soil beds out of fur strips and 2x3s.
I dread the digging part of each garden, but 14 holes later, I'm ready to level and set the legs. Note that I omitted 2 legs on the last 2 sections.
This saved wood and I was able to temporarily clamp the sections during the initial set up. I simply drilled pilot holes into the 2x3s and used nails to connect the last two sections once the legs were set & secure.
Now that I've learned that putting poultry fence around a garden is a useless defense... (good one!)
I'm recycling the fencing, using it as my base in conjunction with the black weed guard to hold the soil in place.
Each 8 foot section gets 5 cubic feet of soil. I made the legs shorter because the average tomato plant can be 5 to 6 feet tall. I will have to later install a fence because whistle pigs can and will climb!
I added a 3 foot tall wall for the tomatoes to be tied up and allowed to climb. I can make it 3 feet taller when needed. Those funny looking flowers in the front row are called Balsam Flower a.k.a. Touch Me Not.
Hey, you Ground Hogs -- Any questions?
This is what the front of the greenhouse looked like on July 15, 2012. The cucumbers are being trained to climb up the jute netting that I created earlier in the season.
Close up of a cucumber blossom.
Close up of a zucchini blossom.
Close up of Ruby lettuce.
Side view of greenhouse Mesa Garden.
On July 22, 2012 I harvested the garlic in the cool of the morning. I filled the trailer with just over 250 plants.
At this point, it's best just to shake-off the dirt (don't wash them) they need to be tied in bunches of 10 and hung in the hot, dry rafters to cure.
That's me, hanging the garlic in the rafters of the breezeway!
These can be hung until the October planting day or can be used in as little as 2 weeks.
I didn't bother hanging the smallest of the bulbs. I cut the necks to 1 inch and trimmed the roots and they can cure in this basket. I will use these in my daily cooking.
The pumpkin plant in my cedar mesa needs a bit of gentle persuasion... so I tied a small block of a 2x3 to help train it to grow down and away from the beans.
The onion sets that were planted this season had a rough year due to heavy rains in May (over 5 inches) and then no significant rain to speak of since then. The dry of July did them in with most of the tops dried to nothing, so I had to dig them up today. Most are about the size of a golf ball - still very usable!
This was the first year I ever tried to grow shallots. Apparently, you plant one and it morphs into three! These were the only ones ready today, I should have many more in a week or two.
:)
