By Charity Shumway |

This Week in the Garden

Sprouting beans in my raised planting bed

This week, I built some trellises, planted four kinds of mint, and tried to figure out what to do with the crazy root systems of my new grape vines. My beans are reaching for the sky, my tomatoes are ripening, and my evening primroses came back after what I thought was their forever farewell. And lots more! Click through for all the photos from this week on the terrace. 

A couple of weeks ago, I built this pretty cool raised bed for my vegetables.

It’s just two-by-fours, screwed onto a plywood base, with holes drilled into the bottom for drainage, then the whole thing propped up on some Ikea bistro tables. The full how-to here. I got the idea from a book called Square Foot Gardening, and I like how it looks, plus I like having all those exciting plants up higher for closer inspection.

I finally got around to planting seeds in the bed last week. Late in the season, it’s true, but better late than never. Here’s what’s coming up so far:

I’ve got a few varieties of beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, and dwarf carrots. Also, peas. I know I said you have to plant them early, and you do. There’s really no way these guys are going to make it in the heat. But I had the seeds, and after writing so much about them, I figured why not. At least this way I’ll be able to document all the horrors peas endure when you plant them too late in the season. I’m surprised they even sprouted. You may be wondering what’s up with the string squares. Nothing scientific, I just like how the grid looks. And you may also be wondering, don’t I need to thin those plants? Yes! I’m on it tonight!

While I was planting all those vegetables, I also planted some moonflowers vines (Ipomoea alba). The vines are fast-growing, and the flowers are big, beautiful, white night bloomers. At the rate the moonflowers are growing already, I figured I should get a support structure in there, so I built the easiest trellis ever:

Three bamboo stakes pushed into the soil, tops tied together with string. Boom. Done.

I also got a shipment of seedless Concord grape vines this week.

The roots came out of their wrapping looking like they could cast magic spells. I situated them in some long planters, and I’m hoping for the best.

Remember the wire strawberry jar I ordered? It arrived!

I filled it with four kinds of mint. That’s pineapple mint going in on top.

Then Nadia and I made a bunch of tasty beverages with the mint. More on that soon!

A bunch of other plants are looking good, too.

It won’t be long before those banana peppers are ready for eating. And I love all the different colors on the tomato plant. I’m plucking a few this weekend!

I think that white eggplant looks like an alien baby, and it’s a pleasure to be growing such a cute alien baby. I’m also delighted that my strawberries are still bearing.

I didn’t mention it before, but in the same shipment with the grape vines, I also got a bunch of semi-scary bare root strawberry plants.

They weren’t really that scary once I got them all separated. They’re sharing containers with the grapevines. Fingers crossed.

Last but not least, this Wednesday a big storm blew through New York. The wind tipped over a bunch of my planters and blew our grill across the terrace and pounded the garden with rain. Afterward, we got this awesome rainbow:

Look close — it's a double rainbow

Even better, I think all the rain was responsible for the return of my evening primroses. They’re delicate yellow flowers that open in the evening and bloom for only one day (or only one night, as the case may be). We’ve had a show of them for the past month, and then, they were gone. But last night, they bloomed again.

With the full moon rising and the pink sun setting and the yellow flowers swaying in the breeze, it couldn’t have been a prettier night.

2 Comments

  1. Dave | August 29th, 2011

    A very nice raised bed, but those look more like 2x6s than 2x4s. How long will the plywood last?

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