What to plant?

I've been trying to decide what to do with the raised beds that I built into my tiny garden a few weeks back. Since I'm only doing this for fun and not relying on what I grow as a main food source, I tend to try many different vegetables. I have already planted beets, daikon, potatoes, carrots, basil, tomatoes, onions, garlic, bitter melon, peas, and quite a few more. Most crops have been successful. Heck, I'm still swimming in lima beans that I grew from 2 years ago.

Here's a picture of a random beet that managed to take hold in my green onion section. It's doing quite nicely! Hoping the other will grow up to be the same(or better).

King of Pop told me to do it

Thanks to the radio, the king of pop got through to me. Beet it! This is what he meant, right? Dug out the old beet seed package from 2 seasons ago (expired 12/16, they'll still grow, right?) and then got to work!

The raised bed

The raised bed was built a few weeks back. Using 2x8 as the frame supported by some cheap epoxy coated rebar that I was able to acquire for a penny each! The size of the frame is roughly 1.5 Feet by 7.5 feet. The basil in the picture existed before the raised beds were put in. I simply build the frame around it and just added dirt. It didn't seem to care. The green stalks are garlic. Some eager beaver garlic bulb sprouted before I had a chance to eat them.

Good soil is key

Nature's cure raised bedding soil is some good stuff and mainly what I used to fill in the beds. Some steer manure was mixed in along with some garden and kitchen scraps for some added organic fertilizer that will break down over time. I am still working on getting some vermicompost with my worm bin, but that is still a few weeks away.

Finishing up and planting

The top of the beds is covered with some extra burlap sacks that I have acquired from fishing. They have been hosed down and sun-dried to remove the stench of old fish. I'm hoping they will keep down the weeks while retaining some moisture in the soil. Holes are cut into the sack roughly 4 inches apart based off regular beet growing recommendation. A couple of seeds were mixed into each hole at roughly 1/4 inch deep.

Now we wait

Once I get the automatic sprinklers set up, it'll mainly be a waiting game with some occasional TLC. Hopefully, they all sprout and the bunnies stay away.

Did you know?

Beet leaves are edible and quite delicious too! Talk about a no waste crop.
Beets can also be orange and yellow! If you can get your hands on all three, you can make a colorful beet salad!