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The new raised bed

Remember the sad little patch of red dirt outside my side door that I posted a picture of a few months ago? If not, click here for a reminder of what it looked like then. Now, you can see why I am pleased with the development that has occurred since.

Having never built a raised bed before, this required some book consultation, many trips to Lowe's, some cursing and one smashed thumbnail. But Voila! Now I have a place for my kitchen herb garden and a few vegetables.

Granted, it's not a big enough garden to have a corn crop, or even a row of zucchini. But I think it's often better to start slow and learn as you go along rather than tilling up a whole chunk of the yard and blowing money on a bunch of plants you can't take care of.  So far, I have two green pepper plants and four yellow tomato plants. For experimental purposes, I've planted two tomatoes in this bed (on the very sunniest end) and put two in pots on the other side of the house. I'll probably round this out with a few bush beans.

The best part, so far, is the kitchen herb garden (below). As you can see, I have rosemary, thyme, sweet basil, common sage and Greek oregano. I'd like to eventually add dill, parsley and cilantro. I also put in a clematis just because I wanted one and it seemed like a good place for it. Let the pinching and cooking begin! Who else has planted an herb garden right outside the door closest to their kitchen? If so, how is it going? Below the jump, I'm going to share a recipe that I plan to try very soon with my fresh herbs.

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This is the side of my house. For five years, it has been a bed of dirt. Mainly, we didn't want to plant anything there until the gutter was fixed because it would only wash out the bed. Well, the gutter is fixed now.

It's close to the house, which doesn't bode well for the quality of the dirt there. So it seemed like a great place to build a raised bed for some vegetables this summer. That way I can put in some new soil and organic matter. Doesn't look too difficult to build such a bed there, right? Well, here's the problem:

It's on a slope.

At any rate, we hauled out my Grandfather's old circular saw and bought a new drill that wasn't too wimpy to drive 1/2-inch holes in treated landscaping timbers. And now we are only two lengths short of finishing the raised bed. After that, I'll have to line the inside of the timbers with plastic, since they are treated and I don't want those chemicals in my vegetable garden.

Once we finish up the bed, I'll post pictures. And then it will be time to talk about what to plant. I may have some sun issues ...

The ground is still white outside my office window, but I'm thinking about all things green.

On the first warm weekend, I'm going to build a raised bed for my vegetable plants. It's also time to choose what I want to plant so I can start the seedlings indoors, getting them ready for when spring rolls around.

Last year, the task was much easier. I knew I wanted tomatoes and I knew I wasn't quite ready for a full garden. So I went with two cherry tomato plants and two Better Boy plants in pots on the deck.

This year, I'm dreaming of yellow tomatoes for sure. The rest is a world of possiblities almost too difficult to cull. Gourmet radish blend? Broccoli? Italian or otherwise? Heirloom zucchini? What if the neighbors bring a bunch of zucchini again; do I really need my own? Pole beans or bush beans? Jalapeno peppers or Thai peppers? Do I dare try watermelons or cantaloupes in my first official garden?

The answer to all of these questions can probably be answered by looking at the small size of my garden space. Not everything that I want can be crammed in there, so with a little research I'll figure out which varieties will fit in the space, what plants compliment each other and what can be preserved for later in the year.

Holly Scoggins, a horticulture professor at Virginia Tech, gave me a list of her favorite seed companies. If you don't see your fave on this list, let us know. What are you planting this year?

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While it's cold and cloudy (and preparing to dump some form of nasty precipitation on us), let's think about summer. Ahhh, summer. Time to grow and harvest big, plump, juicy tomatoes still warm from the sun.

It may not be too early to think this way. Gary Ibson, the founder of TomatoFest.com (a great site for buying heirloom tomato seeds), has already sent out a list of what are expected to be the most popular heirloom tomatoes this summer. If you are planning your garden, take note:

Brandywine (pink)
Paul Robeson (purple/black)
Aussie (red)
Julia Child (pink)
Cherokee Purple (purple/black)
Black Cherry (purple/black)
Kellogg's Breakfast (orange)
Gold Medal (yellow/red striped)
Aunt Ginny's Purple (purple/black)
Carmello (red)

The Brandywine and Cherokee Purple were also popular last year, I believe. Black tomatoes like the Cherokee are beautiful in many dishes. If you haven't grown any, give it a shot.

What are you dreaming of planting in your garden this year?

Loyal blog reader Dennis sent me this picture of his first ripe tomato of the season. Here's his comment: "I just sent this pic to some of my family, telling them 'this is being sent to you w/ the sole intent of making you jealous!' Picked today, June 28, 2008, is this delicious looking tomato, a supersonic this is the first tomato to ripen from any of our 14 plants."

I like the way Dennis notes the month, day and year almost with the precision of a new father reporting the birth of his first child. I'm surprised that Dennis didn't include a weight in there somewhere. Ha!

I have to tease him, but I'm quite familiar with that sense of pride. It was with much excitement this weekend that I discovered tiny green fruits on all four of my tomato plants, which are the first ones I've ever grown on my own. Until I saw those tiny gems hidden in the foliage, I wasn't quite sure that I could make it work. I guess I'd better not count my tomatoes before they're ripe, though.

All of this reminds me of my grandfather's rivalry with my dad over who would produce the first ripe tomato of the season. One time, Paw-paw bought a fire-engine red plastic tomato and wired it onto one of his plants just to tease my Dad. Until Dad realized it was fake, he was practically crippled with jealousy.

Ahhh, good times in the country.

I got an e-mail this morning from the folks at Riverside Nursery in Salem, who are fully stocked for the summer gardening season.

Apparently, owner Bruce Feldberg noticed the rising popularity if heirloom and specialty tomato varieties in gardening magazines and on food shows and local plates. As a result, he has not 10 or 20 varieties for sale at his store, but 90!!

Feldberg also has 40 different kinds of peppers, so head over and check those out, too.

So far, my vegetable garden consist of two cherry tomato seedlings in paper cups that I got from a co-worker. I'd also like to get a few Better Boy plants, but my plot isn't quite ready for anything yet. I've also purchased some seeds for rainbow chard, yellow squash and zucchini.

I guess I've got some work to do!

Thanks to everyone for their great garden tips following yesterday's blog entry!
Here's a quick-hit list of the advice for first-time gardeners:

-- Don't plant too early.
-- Try watering with used dishwater.
-- Don't overwater your plants.
-- Mix in top soil and/or manure if your soil isn't already rich and dark. (This is a particularly helpful tip for me because my soil is almost straight red clay. Yuck!)
-- Hot peppers are a great beginner's plant because they are quite easy to grow.
-- Grow what is expensive in the grocery store in order to maximize the benefits to your grocery bill.
-- Try Liquid Fence to ward off deer. Hopefully, I won't have a big deer problem in the heart of Northwest Roanoke, but those little buggers will find a garden if there is one, I know.
-- Prepare well. Don't rush into the garden because if your soil and fertilizers aren't great, you'll have a big weed problem.

My next question has to do with controlling pests of the smaller variety. I know bugs can be a big problem with a home garden, but I don't want to use any harsh chemicals. If possible, I'd love to be able to use organic methods. Does anyone have any suggestions on that front?

Conveniently, I just received a big, beautiful cookbook in my mailbox called "Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes: Recipes from a Modern Kitchen Garden" by Jeanne Kelley. I'll attach a recipe after the jump.

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It's been four years since we bought our first house over in Northwest Roanoke, and it may finally be time for me to start my first garden.

I can't believe it's taken me so long.

As tempted as I am to go whole hog, planting row after row of tomatoes, green beans, squash and peppers, I think I had better start small this year. So I plan to spend this weekend tilling up a small square in the corner of my yard -- a patch just big enough for a beginner.

After my family relocated to Virginia from Colorado in the early 1980s, my parents always had a garden in the back yard. It was barely half the size of my grandparents' garden, but it still turned out all of the veggies I mentioned above, along with spring onions, asparagus, corn, lettuce greens and much more.

My father has a green thumb. When he ran out of space in his own backyard garden, he borrowed a big plot on a friend's farm and planted enough green beans to feed five families for a year.

I doubt if I'll ever get to that point of infatuation, but I know I have it in my blood to at least grow a few Better Boys. In light of the tanking economy and the burgeoning slow food movement, I figure it'll save money and help the environment if I can do at least a portion of my produce shopping in my own backyard.

How many of my faithful blog readers out there are gardeners as well as foodies? What are your favorite vegetables to grow?

If you've got any tips to share with a beginner, bring them on.