My first exposure to vegetable gardening was by my parents. While living in the Delta region of Mississippi, in my early teens, my parents grew a rather large garden. As memory serves me the garden seemed to spontaneously produce vegetables without much effort. The soil was rich and the sun plentiful. I remember working side by side with my dad and enjoying the produce as prepared by my mother. Looking back now, I am sure that garden helped spark my interest in plants.
Today I live in a suburb of Seattle and have a garden of my own. Comprised mostly of raised beds and containers I enjoy the harvest as much as the planting and maintenance. My raised beds are made from 2″ x 10″ untreated boards and are 4′ x 8′ in size. This year with help from my brother we built and installed six more beds. I have chosen to garden in raised beds for a number of reasons. Raised beds can provide higher yields, better soil conditions, less labor and even a better approach to pest control.
Better Yields
Traditional in ground gardening on the home scale level can produce on average 0.5 pounds yield per square foot. Research has shown that raised bed gardening yields on average 1.25 pounds per square foot, more than double the conventional method. Most of my experience in raised bed gardening has proved that research to be accurate.
Plants are planted closer together in the raised bed situation. Elimination of pathways allows for rows to be placed closer together, additionally plants growing closer together will help shade the soil surface and reduce competition of weeds adding to the plants ability to achieve a higher yield. Avoid the temptation to over plant as that will reduce the plants ability to produce a good yield. [click to continue…]
My exposure to horticulture began while working for a large commercial greenhouse while in high school. While in the employ of the greenhouse I was exposed to several different aspects of the trade and swore I would choose something different for a life’s occupation.
Well time passed and the next thing I knew I was staring at my BS degree in Horticulture and was off to work in the nursery trade. It was those early experiences and connection to the growing process that made an impression on me. I also recall with some fondness a vegetable garden that my family had while we were living in the Delta region of Mississippi. Plants just seemed to spontaneously fruit there. My parents allowed me to have a little patch of my own and I grew a few quick and easy veggies.
This website has been my attempt to educate myself as well as share some basic plant information over the past couple of years. I have not shared much of my experience or interest in favor of just posting about plants. While I will continue posting plant profiles I plan on developing this site further into a place to collect and share my interests in vegetable gardening and preservation as well as pruning and even raising chickens.
So expect to see a few changes in content and a more personal perspective in my writing. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and feel free to contribute to the conversation.
Butternut also commonly known as white walnut or oilnut is a deciduous tree native to the eastern U.S. and southeast Canada. The rounded topped canopy of this species of walnut reaches 40-60′ in height and 30-50′ wide.
Light gray ridged and furrowed bark. Leaves are dark green, alternate, pinnately compund 10-20″ long comprised of 11 to 19 leaflets that are 3/4″ to 2 1/4″ wide.
The most serious disease of Juglans cinerea is butternut decline or butternut canker. This disease has caused widespread decline of butternut in regions of the US. By contrast, black walnut seems to be resistant to the disease.
I saw this TED talk a while back and came across it again today. Researcher Kamal Meattle shows how a selection of three common houseplants can result in measurably cleaner indoor air quality.
For a more exhaustive list of air-filtering soil and plants check out this Wikipedia entry. The list was compiled by NASA as part of the NASA Clean Air Study, which researched ways to clean air in space stations.
My first exposure to vegetable gardening was by my parents. While living in the Delta region of Mississippi, in my early teens, my parents grew a rather large garden. As memory serves me the garden seemed to spontaneously produce vegetables without much effort. The soil was rich and the sun plentiful. I remember working side by side with my dad and enjoying the produce as prepared by my mother. Looking back now, I am sure that garden helped spark my interest in plants.
