Radish sprouts,seeds about three years old.Seem to be germinating well,this is start of day four.Can make a sprout jar from a lid with small nail holes,or use screen or nylon stocking on top of jar,we rinse 2-3 times a day if we remember. got some more alfalfa going,they with maters will be our fresh salads for a while.

No garden space?

This year we experimented with the topsy turvy growing thingies.A buck each at dollar stores is a fair price,some we paid 2 bucks.

My squash failed (as always here) from powdery mildew.

The cherry tomato did great,grew slower than ground but the plan is to bring in when it freezes and see if it will produce in a window with some light added.

Son did peppers in his,huge success in desert.

Warning,hot weather in direct sun you may have to water twice a day,morning and evening,when it gets down to 80F once a day works.I also added some miracle grow to mater.

Mrs just made me a sandwich and radish sprout/tomato salad,dang but that salad was good!!!

FRESH FRESH FRESH,tastes just like an iceberg lettuce type salad.Only slightly more flavor.

LOVE this stuff!

Last time we ordered seeds we got them here,AFAIK the price seemed really good and the quality is very very good IMO. If you have other sources you use,would you post em please?

IE,1 lb alfalfa seeds for 10.50,thats a deal!

http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/bulkherb/r.html

Got your pumpkins yet?

Around here we can get em for 20 cents/lb,thats cheap squash for sure. One of my favorite fall treats,love those seeds.We will cook as squash,do up seeds,make soup,and Mrs wants to look into canning pie filling this year.Got 3,going to get more.

Pumpkin Selection and Storage
Choose smaller pumpkins for eating

http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodstorage/a/pumpkinstorage.htm

Finished canning the last of our tomatoes last weekend, about 50 quarts this year. We probably gave half the tomato crop away this year to friends and family.

Gary,how much space did your maters take in garden?

OK,saw this about wood chip gardening,called Back to Eden (Like garden of Eden).

Basically its making your garden like a forest floor,no tilling,no watering to a point,kills weeds like crazy with a 4-6 inches layer of wood chips.NO need for fertilizer after it starts composting,doesnt use pesticides. Its the biblical approach to healthy plants,and he has the garden(s) to prove it.

You do this in fall and can plant in spring,each rain sends a compost tea into soil.

Soooo.....up here the bark beetle caused a lot of trees to be destroyed,they chipped the branches,about 1.5 years ago? So 2.5 miles from house is staging area,went up and hauled off 3 trash cans of left behind already composting chips for our small garden,pics when I lay it out.

Chipped WOOD,not Bark! Bark is bad.Chipped branches.

OBTW,thinking about it area of chips we went to had zero weeds growing,amazing,and the area a couple/3 inches below top of chips was moist,it hasnt rained here in months! Just like he said it would be.Chips 6-12 inches deep there.

This video is 1.5 hours,when you have some dead time really worth the look.

http://www.backtoedenfilm.com/#movie

Spuds, I would guess 400-450 sq ft. leaving luxurious row space.

For weeds, my weapon of choice is a swoe.

http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/57700-product.html

They are manufactured by Wilkinson Sword Company. It works super fast, no mulch required. I maintain giant gardens with this one tool. I have over 10 acres of landscaped yard.

Nice hoe Gary,little pricey,would you say its lifetime quality? I will always pay more for quality,cheaper long term IMO.

Small yard is my drawback,could never grow enough to feed us,good on you having all that space,awesome!!!

Water is buku expensive here,mulching may be a really good answer for us,I mulch before season....a season worth of mulch from one chips application ....I like the concept,my soil is like talcum powder.

Actually I used to get free chips at dump,they decided to sell em to a company.Where water used to pool it was now dry while raining,and I did see soil improving under the chips.When I first moved here and we didnt garden,now that we are gardening I know the utility of the chip method,cant wait to get back into it.

I'll do lots of pics as this progresses.

I got about 70 lbs maters from 80 sq feet this year, 4x20,next year we will double it.This was preseason mulching,dug in with chicken poo.My learning curve on that was its easy to go overboard on poo and be a nitrogen,green leafy overgrowth at fruit expense,or even burn up the baby toms.Got the right amt figured out now. With the chip compost the fertilizing aspect will balance itself,so his do.

Example,I have 3 dogwoods,1 is in the compost pile.Its green and leafy now and grew notably this year,the other 2 grew little and leafs are dying and falling now.

Do you know If I can grow maters over potatoes? Or would they shade em out? Been playing with potatoes,havent got it down yet.The woodchip method requires no hilling,as potato grows it doesnt get 'pushed' to surface from firm dirt below,it just kind of displaces the chips laterally and doesnt rise much at all.

Learning to grow in a shady treed area,in a short season/winter freezing area,has been a multi year challenge.

I grow taters in boxes. It works great and takes a surprisingly small amount of space. Here is a link to the general concept. http://tipnut.com/grow-potatoes/

The swoe is not useful as a hoe, for breaking up dirt. It's a single purpose tool for weeding. I have two, one for me and one for my wife. The quality is top notch. I learned about the swoe while working at an Arboretum. You can see my testimonial on the website link I gave you.