this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2024
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Less specific plants and more anticipating results for some new infrastructure.
On the left I'm trying potatoes in vertical towers. There's about 8 inches of compost and soil in the bottom of each and as they grow, I'll add more straw. I put some irrigation in the top of each, so we'll see if it can penetrate down as it gets bigger.
On the right I'm scaling up an experiment from last season. I has some success with growing peas in pots next to trellising. Their roots make them perfectly happy in a pot, freeing up real estate in my other beds and allowing me to move the peas as I expand. My main issue last year was my trellis wasn't pea-friendly, so we're giving them more space and smaller spacing between trellis rungs (as they grow out, I'll add some wire to the trellis to help them climb)
I've also got a squash arch, but that's less exciting because I've seen them work
We tried some balcony potatoes in a thing from HD, didn’t go terribly was just a lot of extra work compared to the other veggies. Need soil to top up the crown.
You just gave me an idea for peas. I’m kinda saying eff my arm right I gotta get my garden ready. I do have a steroid shot, it’s just 2 months out unless a cancellation happens (obvs others are on list first too) so I’m expanding with 6x 4x2 metal beds. Doing it out of lumber was damn near the same price in the end WTF. I have two feet between them and dead space against the fence. I can maybe put a trellis on the fence with pea pots on the ground!
I did potatoes in tubs last year. Few inches of rich soil and instead of mounding dirt, just building up in straw. I found they needed to be watered a bit more often, but I got a nice bunch of potatoes from the ones that didn't rot (had some drainage issues). I'm hoping I might be able to address that rot and create more vertical space with these guys. Maybe also get some more leaves out and feeding the plant from the sides. We'll see. I'm still a tater tot.
Sucks for the arm, but I feel you. I do agricultural contracting and I'm already feeling it on days I just wanna get some stuff done. Every old injury I got usually has something to say during the week.
And man, prices are nuts for materials still. Instead of building more beds this year I also went with some prefab solutions. Only paid about $20 more than what I would have paid for the materials and both went together in under an hour. I'm getting more next year, hopefully.
That's a pretty good idea, too. Peas don't weigh as much as other vines, so you could probably just hook something over the fence rather than having to drill into it. Take it off with all the vines on in the summer and clean it up for the fall grow
Do you think this would make good pea lattice? I’ve got some length and I was gonna toss them.
Hell yeah. Maybe brace it with some plywood on the ends or something, but that's about perfect
Yeah I would space it from the fence with some 2x, my worry was is the slates were too wide or not.