Vertical Growing Progress - Not Quite Mittleider

It has been a month now since we arranged the garden into the sort of Mittleider Method, so I thought I would show you the progress of the beans and tomatoes and also my other tomatoes, in what has been nicknamed  The Mermaid Garden. (This is because I jokingly said I buried a mermaid there due to the fact that the huge junks of fish pieces I was given were probably off a marlin type fish with a huge mermaid type tail.) The grandchildren were not impressed by the way.

Well anyway, first up I didn't like the look of the strings when I first put them up, flapping in the wind, and the tied up knots at the top are very loose and when trying to undo them to give the bean more growing room had to unwind the beans next to each other in order to let the string down longer and not snap the others. I may not have been as vigilant in watching the growth, but sorted it out anyway. Now though, I have given up and the beans go anywhere up they want. I have picked 4 good meals and they are a nice bean in flavour, different to the King purple ones out back which I also love,  so will definitely keep seeds, as it does say this on the pack due to the rareness of them.

 

Giant of Stuttgart Beans.

The covering is not as thick, so the strings still annoy me, so next time will use long bamboo poles which I have painted aqua and will look much prettier. After all this is the FRONT garden.

Tomatoes wrapped around string.

The watering method is working very well and I do like the measurements of the garden, reminder of  18 inches (45.72 cms.) between, and the fact that I have made it two gardens together is no problem.
I have slowly started clearing up old plants, and the sweet peas are dying off now,  so waiting on seeds, but the Mittlieder  "look" is starting to happen, or though I can hear dieheart fans of the method saying "its nothing like that" but in my mind it is as close to the system as I will get.

Pathway between to fill in and "rows starting to happen

On the other side I have planted carrots today. According to moon planting now is the time for root vegetables. My sure fired method is to make a bed for the seeds water lightly then cover in newspaper and keep the newspaper wet for 3 - 4 days till the seedlings just appear, cover with shade of some sort, hay  or shade cloth, and keep damp till well established and voila you have carrots. I water them every day.

Two rows of Carrots, next to a Black, then a White Eggplant then a Capsicum.L-R on my Painted Bamboo Stakes.

Now out the back I have found a couple of tomatoes, which are growing so well, with the dreaded caterpillars inside, they like green ones, so I have gone over all the leaves and now covered with a net, both against fruit fly and the night moth that lays the caterpillar eggs. I will spray with organic Dipel once I get it, but for now happy all the tomato babies are safe.

Out of the 3 types this is the Roma side.

All covered with King Purple beans growing happily on LHS.

Couple days ago I froze a bag of beans from both types, they were outdoing us, and I never buy frozen beans if I can help it. After I blanch them in boiling water, I then put them in cold water and wrap in a clean teatowel to take most of the moisture off, lay them out individually on a flat tray or lid, with cling wrap between layers and freeze. Then I unwrap it all and put them all in a  zip lock bag. Each bean is individual, as if frozen in a bag straight away you end up with a solid block that is hard to break up.

Layers of beans just taken out of the freezer on lid.

In the Bag

Last of all I will show you some pictures of my beautiful smelling sweet peas. I have given hundreds away to friends, for about 3 weeks now, and this is the last of them, they are just starting to go to seed.

Ones out the Back

The ones out the Front.

Bye for now and thank you for reading. Do comment someone!! lol

Not quite Mittleider - Tomatoes and Beans

I came across the Mittleider Method, and was very impressed with the way it was used to grow vegetables. Unfortunately two things put me off. It wasn't completely organic, and sawdust and sand was the soil mixture.Also the fertilizer system is not available in Australia. The beds though were impressive being narrow and also the watering system. The crops also, have very impressive yields, being planted close together, with the use of a weekly dose of the special fertilizer. If you are interested in reading all about it this is their official site.          The Mittleider System

If I was starting again with a new garden I would definitely do the grow boxes like this. Narrow beds 18 inches to 3 foot wide if a double and a watering system hooked to each one.

    

Unfortunately changing an already established garden is a little hard,  being  an odd shape, and  with good soils established. So as best we could, we have organized a watering system using conduit with holes drilled all the way down, and made walkways between 3 foot  beds with pavers or sleepers, and one high post system to try the method of growing up string.Also allowing the rest of the garden already planted to keep growing and then" fixing" the area after it is  finished growing and eaten.

Putting up Poles for Beans and Tomatoes.

 I have then planted climbing beans and tomatoes after connecting string from the top and tying to the bottom. The idea being that you can drop the string down as the plant gets taller.

Climbing Beans Giant Stuttgart

As you can see, the irrigation pipes in the middle of the beds . The poppies are one of the things I have to see finished growing before I can fix this bed properly. Also a great tower of sweet peas on the RHS still to flower. Why don't I ever see these things when just renewing the garden as a whole and not 1/2 way into the Spring growth?

Tomato plants note pipes behind .

The water is turned on every day for 15 mins. and I feed down the channel every week or so with  chicken manure that's had extra added. The idea is either side of the pipe is a row of plants, closely planted. The climbing frame is on the path side due to the sun and the shade will be on the path and not on the plants. It will be interesting to see how this garden progresses, which is also our front garden.

While I am at it about tomatoes here is a photo of the 3 I planted out the back with the fish bits. Its been 7 weeks since the last photo.

 

Purple Climbing beans and Camp Joy tomato

Other side.

The weather is now warming up quite quickly and this weekend we go into Daylight Saving, so looks like getting up early to beat the weather will begin. The first week of Daylight Saving is always the hardest.

Happy Gardening.